Flipkart vs Amazon India: Flipkart says it’s still the king of e-commerce kingdom

After the end of festive season sale, war of words between Flipkart and Amazon India sharpened as the former said it is still the king of the e-commerce jungle, as its internal estimates show that Flipkart sold more high-value product while spending less on marketing and logistics as compared to Amazon India.

According to Flipkart, the company said that it sold 70-80% more than Amazon India by value in the festive month of October, though the units sold were less when compared to Amazon India. The numbers included sales by its subsidiaries Myntra and Jabong.

"The wide lead we have established during this month proves that a home-grown startup can successfully take on a 22-year global company (which) is pouring money to buy market share,” Flipkart CEO Binny Bansal told TOI.

He also claimed Flipkart has a 75% market share in the high margin fashion category and double the market share of Amazon in electronics and smartphones.

Amazon, however, didn’t comment on this statement and termed these as "speculation or rumours." The Seattle-based company also said that a person who isn’t a part of the company just can’t offer "credible comment on Amazon's internal sales numbers or any other data not in public domain.”

“We track customer focused metrics from reputed and independent thirdparty industry sources like SimilarWeb, App Annie and comScore and believe we are leaders in all relevant metrics," the company said in a statement in response to queries from TOI.

Flipkart’s response comes after Amazon India claimed it sold 15 million units, including a range of everyday essentials and debuted membership or its Prime subscription service.Flipkart said it sold 15.5 units, a day later.

"We are winning in India very , very well. The team led by Amit Agarwal, the country head for Amazon in India, is doing well, they have passed Flipkart and they are the leader in India now," said Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, in an event.

He also said that Amazon was focusing more on FMCG products like juices, biscuits etc unlike Flipkart which focused more on smartphones and bigger appliances.

However, selling FMCG products will be a priority for the Bengaluru based Flipkart as well in the next few months.

"We don't believe in selling FMCG at negative 100% gross margin contribution. We will be launching in a very different way," said Bansal, without divulging further details.
(image: Indiatimes)