FlipKart, Bangalore based startup launches online book store
FlipKart is a Bangalore based startup that has launched an online e-commerce store for buying books.
Currently, FlipKart has over 1 lakh books available in the store, and their USP lies in the focus on site usability and support. The entire book selection/payment process is a breeze and intuitive enough to understand what you are doing (unlike stores from rediff/sify)
Books are available at ~ 15-20% discounted rate and FlipKart doesn’t charges shipping fee or tax to the customers. FlipKart’s current model is based on partnership with local book vendors who keep updating the inventory.
In my opinion, this is a great start by Sachin and the team and they have done a good job of keeping the site neat and intuitive.
Vertical ecommerce store will thrive in India and apart from FlipKart, another example is books.yulop.com – which is doing really well after tying up with Kannada publishers.
E-commerce, in India is still a “need based” phenomena and vertical stores like books are for extreme user bases : at one end you have price sensitive customers (who will jump @ 20% discount number, but will still check out several other places, including the roadside piracy shops); and at the other end, experiential shoppers who do not care about big discounts, but is more interested in “trying out” interesting books.
FlipKart’s success will be dependent on how quickly they can get their customers to click on the pay button, i.e. before they abandon the shopping cart (one of the challenges Amazon’s online store faced initially was that customers will look at the discounted price in the site and then they would go to Barnes & Nobles to buy the book!);
FlipKart, in my opinion needs to add lot more juice to keep the eye balls rolling – maybe by adding “related books” or a recommender engine, or elements of community interactivity.
What’s your take on FlipKart? Will you buy books from the site?
tags: FlipKart, Yulop
About the author - Ashish Sinha is a Startup Mentor/Product Strategy Coach, and the founder/chief editor of pluGGd.in.
He has launched/managed couple of products (consumer as well as enterprise) in US and India, and now consults with startups/small businesses on their product/media strategy. He can be reached at: ashish (at) pluGGd.in [+91 98452 06443]
Flipkart sells Double the value of Book.
When i compared the Price of “The Search”: Flipkart vs Strand Book Stall: Flipkart sells @ 716 while Strand Sells @ 375.
I am amazed the rates that Flipkart offers. Although i like the Free Shipping but it should have affordable rates.
On the other hand, they are cheaper than sapnabookonline..
I guess these are not trivial issues that will be sorted out as the site expands, overall the usability is great, but missing piece is stickiness..
Having a pure transaction-based site may not really help since I (am not sure about others) don’t buy books very frequently, and fall in the second category of users (as ashish mentions in the post) – its more of a “lets see how the book is” type funda rather than a focused effort on “i want to buy this book”!
@Pravin: We do plan solve the second problem sometime in the future. But right now, we believe that there are some basic problems with e-commerce in India which needs to addressed before we move to things like recommendations.
@Mahesh: The book you are talking about is the Paperback version. Only a Hardcover version is available with us right now, which obviously is a bit more expensive.
Cheap Amazon clone… please do something new
Hello Sachin,
Can you give me an email id I can contact you on? I might have business to discuss and your online bookstore fits in perfectly.
Sincerely,
Leonard
mine is leonardfernandes at yahoo dot com
[...] QuarkRank, FlipKart, , YehiSahi, SadakMap, i-msgr, YepMe,Antya, OrderMonger, MetroMela, ShoppingShouts, Ghoomo, [...]
@Sachin : Good job man…i just bought my first book there..checked out firstandsecond.com, rediff,sapna but pricewise and ease of use wise, u r the best…i also liked the debit card option…after all i donot have a credit card…keep up the good work and i really like ur site..
Really good job..Bought some books and liked the design of the site. Wish I could contribute on the design of this online store. Would that be possible?
Hi,
Sachin, why does your business advertise books which aren’t published?
hi sachin!!!
first of all i would like to appreciate you….I am an engineering student from BIRLA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ,Mesra
i have a business idea which i would like to share with you….hope you contact me back
Hi,
Nice site I bought some books…. I mainly amazed by 2 qualities of them…
1. debit card option,
2. time they take to deliver a book
But many medical books are imported editions as indian editios are available in market…..cost become unaffordable…for example Nelson’s review of pediatrics available in marker from 2900 to 3500… but flipkart taking 8000-12000 on them!!!!! Also they are having many out of stock medical books which I think present all the times….ny how a nice site to begin business….. hope such business will grow up..
Sachin , I’d like to ask you why u have quitely stuck a url called
flipkart.com/bb/0-0
.. 
on the ‘2008-2009′ at the end of your page. And it point to a group of links..
and you have removed the text decoration
I somehow feel that you have done this cos u dont want the user to know that such a link exists.
SEO is it??
Can neone give me the Active contact no. of Flipcart.com. The number on the website doesn’t exist
I happened to look at the tags on all book pages and see all kinds of sex related keywords – I was looking for children’s books from disney and saw these there too. And then these keywords resulted in similar ads on the site which probably earns them enough money to keep site running. Seems to me like a porn site. Good business model. Which other shopping site would do this and run ads on their site?
I am not so sure about FlipKart now! yesterday I register and ordered a book.
Till now, now mail confirmation.
I tried to sign in. can’t. tried the Forgot your password? For a few hours now, I haven’t receive the email to change my password.
Hi,
Greetings frm cellPAY…
I have gone through your website and suggesting you ‘cellPAY- Mobile Payment Service’.
cellPAY is solution which enables your Customers to transfer payments to you through their Mobile Phone (find attached information of cellPAY Service)
Through cellPAY you can receive payments from your customers PAN India which will be easy & economical for your business in comparison to your existing billing solution. Here you will be able to receive payments frm those customers also who are not able to access internet.
We expertise Mobile Payment solutions for enterprises that will. ..
Enables enterprise to receive payments using mobile phone .
Customers can initiate payment on their own .
Enterprise can remind customers about making payments .
Brings convenience in Payment and many more.
We expertise Mobile Technological solutions for enterprises that will.
M – Commerce – Will Enables you to receive payments through mobile phone. We call it cellPAY.
Bulk SMS – Various alerts can be pushed to registered members on your site
Short Code – People can send SMS to 56677 for various activities.
Pls find the attached PPT file as more details abt the cellPAY Service.
We look forward to listen from you soon …..
Thanks & Regards
Rahul Srivastava
Asst Manager Sales- MC
Cellnext Solutions Ltd
GSM : +91-9810921199
Phone no : +91-11- 26818449-50
http://www.cellpay.co.in
http://www.cellnext.com
I find the flipkart site good and fast but the service can improve. I have been buying books online regularly at Indiaplaza.in and quite satisfied with their prices and service. Flipkart has to do something different to stay ahead of Indiaplaza.
That’s right Sudheendra. I was talking to a friend of mine in the book industry and he was telling me that Indiaplaza.in is now offering serious competition to offline bookstores also like Crossword and Landmark. That is real cool.
I recently ordered the Dan Brown book and got a free DVD and also 24 hours delivery at my house.
yeah its true that indiaplaza is a good place to buy and they have recently revamped their UI. I think infibeam one of indiaplaza’s competitor is also very good with their books section. I think they too have had a good growth in their traffic much like flipkart
Hearty Sachin,
I hope your success reaching to the sky . I am a researcher and cultural anthropology writer . I want to sell some of my good books through you which is exceptonal .How this will possible .Mail me ,
My sincere respect to your parents and family members .
Sincerely
Dillip PhD
Bhubaneswar
I have been following flipkart for sometime now. I ordered a book once and it was delivered within the promised time. Infact, the prices are comparatively better than other book stores in India and the website is really convenient. Although Amazon.com remains my prime source of catching reviews, flipkart is the best in India that gets close it.
Keep doing the good work ! I’m impressed to the core !
So costly books compared to bookstall. Online should be cheaper compared to Bookstall.