After spending (better say wasting) hours on flipkart today as part of their “Big Billion Day” promotion I shopped for almost 40k.
Going by flipkart’s reputation, my shopping volume will be reduced as they will cancel few orders tomorrow with different excuses.
I already have my Apple iPod order stuck which has very less chances of getting completed because of server error or some “evil” programming/business logic! 😉
Frustrated with my flipkart experience, I turned to Amazon.in towards evening.
Out of curiosity, I went to Amazon’s deal section and found few needed items there.
I noticed few things about Amazon’s deal section which I wish to be present on flipkart or any other e-commerce site. The way Amazon handles deal left me amazed!
How Amazon Handles Deals!
Have a look at following screenshot taken from “Lighting Deals” section onAmazon.in deals:
- Each item has a timer indicating time left before deal for this item will expire
- Each item has a progress bar, indicating stock available under deal price
Both these helps you decide better when to click “Add to Cart” button as well as both these provides transparency!
As usual, there is “Join waitlist” button, in case you are late to the party!
Also, for upcoming deal, they show similar timer so you can make better use of your time rather than staring flipkart whole day!
As item I was looking for out of stock under deal-price, I hit “Join waitlist” button. Amazon showed me my waiting status (IRCTC style).
Below is a waiting status screenshot for a sample product:
For the product I purchased, I don’t remember waiting status, but as it wasn’t too costly, I opened that products’ page and decided to buy right away.
On individual product page, Amazon showed regular price and deal-price difference very clearly.
As difference was less than Rs. 100, I choose to go with regular price and continue shopping other stuff.
After few minutes, Amazon showed an in-browser notification, saying the item is available at deal-price!
Amazon “encouraged” me to save further by replacing regular-priced item with deal-priced item!
In few clicks, I saved few bucks. Who doesn’t like to save extra bucks!
I continued shopping again, forgetting to check-out.
But unlike flipkart, Amazon did not use this opportunity to take away that discounted item from my cart after few minutes.
Instead, Amazon showed another pop-up with timer saying, I have 10 minutes to checkout existing cart, in case, I do not wish to loose deal-price I was being offered!
While waiting, if deal-priced stock gets over they inform you that as well, so you can decide to purchase finally at regular price or look other sites for lower price!
Takeaway for flipkart
Looks like flipkart needs to spend some bucks on engineering and user-experience division! I wont’t say flipkart is not hiring best talent. But it seems user-experience is not a priority at flipkart.
Flipkart’s hunger for creating noise by aggressive marketing reminded me of “Times of Boobs” video by All India Bakchod! I love marketing but it shouldn’t overshadow other aspects of your business.
Forget website, Flipkart’s helpdesk also broke today!
On top of it, I saw prices manipulated highly. Some considered this a scam!
Though such kind of pricing manipulation is common practice in business community, both offline as well as online world, I prefer to stick to my dad advise here.
As a businessman, my dad never did any pricing manipulation like this. He never offered deals and discounts in first place. He offers lowest price he can afford to run his business at.
My dad’s business logic is very simple:
When you say lowest prices are guaranteed, you have to make sure price is lowest every single time. That way, you will start building trust to the point where your customers will not bother to crosscheck your prices with competitors. Once you reach that point, just make sure that trust never gets break!.
Well, my dad’s advise may sound impractical for such large stores. But pricing manipulations can still be avoided. At the end, it is all about building trust!
Of course, if $100 million sale in a single day is only thing Flipkart cares, they have something to celebrate tonight. But the way it left its own userbase frustrated, Jeff Bezos might be having his signature laugh now!
Update on Flipkart’s pricing scam!
Yep. It turned out to be a scam indeed. The scale at which flipkart manipulated prices cannot be called “manipulation”. I checked all items I purchased pricing of yesterday’s shopping through buyhatke addon.
I purchased a Pizza Pan yesterday on Flipkart.
Flipkart listed in at Rs. 5,795 as regular price and after 80% discount was selling at Rs. 1359. Amazon’s regular price for this Pizza Pan is still Rs. 1299! Rs. 60 less compared to BigBillionDay deal flipkart offered.
Flipkart’s original price was also Rs. 1299 on Oct 5 and less that that on Oct 4. See pricing history for this product for last 3 months!
I checked every product. I ended up buying few at higher prices even after “mega discount”. So after spending Rs. 40000, my real saving turned out to be less than Rs. 1000! What Flipkart wants to believe is – I saved more than Rs. 40k as most stuff offered was at 50-80% “discount”!
Lesson learned: Use Flipkart only to buy Moto-G, Mi-3 and other exclusive products only! For other things – use Amazon, Snapdeal and other portals!
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