Big Billion Day Sale II: Why Flipkart needs to deliver this time around

E-commerce giant Flipkart is back with the second edition of its Big Billion Day sale which is scheduled to start from the 13^th October and last until the 18^th October. However, unlike its maiden year, this time around the Big Billion Day sale will be restricted to only app-users.

Umpteen reports have been constantly emerging about how the company has been beefing up preparations in order to ensure customers get a smooth shopping experience and have no room for any complaints.

Last year’s much anticipated Big Billion Day Sale landed Flipkart in quite a soup with customers complaining of products going out of stock, cancellation of orders, accusing the company of marking up prices and not being able to log into the website. The backlash ultimately resulted in the founders issuing an apology mail.

However, it’s imperative that the company avoids any goof-ups this year, which the company is aware of.

To start with, firstly the sale being app-only has raised a huge concern on how feasible its reach would be. Granted Flipkart has been actively promoting its app-only strategy from the beginning of the year, but discounting the strength of its online audience and forcing them to adapt to the smaller screen is bound to leave many unhappy.

Add to that, the regular complaint of Flipkart being unable to handle large traffic during sales or festive season is another area that needs looking into, keeping the app in mind this time. The company seems to have acted on this matter and reportedly added its own data-centres across major metro so as to manage the traffic during the app-only sale. Achieving success is key to deciding whether Flipkart’s Big Billion Day Sale will be a hit or a miss this time.

Additionally, the company has also tried solving the common issue of products going out of stock during these sales by asking its vendors to keep a large number of items ready. The company has agreed on selling a larger number of products at cheaper price instead of selling products for as low as Re 1, like last year.

It also has a fleet of 19,000 delivery boys at its command during this time with an aim to cover atleast 20,000 pin codes across the nation.

This is great news, except that Flipkart also needs to keep in mind that unlike last year, this time it won’t be the only one offering such discounts or hosting such a sale. Its rival Amazon has also entered in the field announcing its Great India Festival Sale, with most deals being available to customers on the web as well as the app, though app users get some perks.

Flipkart, thus will not only have to guarantee that its own sale lives up to the expectations of its customers but also have the added task of bettering the efforts of Amazon.

That sounds like a difficult task, no doubt, but considering how the stakes are high and ground is set for battle, Flipkart, has to deliver, now more than ever.

Image credit: Indiatimes