Don’t get surprised if you see Flipkart's Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal at your doorsteps!

Are Snapdeal and Amazon India aware of Flipkart’s new strategy to create a niche for itself in the e-Commerce sector? Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal would now personally deliver goods and try to gain insights into the online buyer's psyche.

They will now show up at the doorsteps of some of the customers. "Over the next 15-20 days, everyone will go out and deliver to customers, starting with some of the leaders," Flipkart co-founder, Binny Bansal said.

While the India's largest online marketplace has grown to become an eCommerce juggernaut valued at more than $15 billion, the gesture is also a reminder of Flipkart's early days in 2007, when the two Bansals scurried across Bengaluru on their scooters to deliver books.

Binny Bansal said that they wanted to learn more about the market, customers and understand what they need in future. They want to thank their customers too.

Meanwhile, his personal fortune swell because of Flipkart's valuation. Both the Bansals debuted on Forbes' rich list this year with an estimated wealth of about $1.3 billion each.

Earlier this week, after Flipkart kicked off ‘Big Billion Days’, a five-day shopping festival offering discounts, the company sent 50,000 postcards to prospective buyers in some of the remotest areas in India to encourage them to shop online.

Unlike last year sale season, this time there were fewer glitches. "This not only changes things for Flipkart, but it changes the course of e-Commerce in India. It pushes the boundaries for everybody in the ecosystem, including sellers and logistics providers," Bansal said.

An average seller will now easily be able to handle five times the regular shipments, he said. Flipkart is targeting sales of over 10 million units of different products over the five days. "That's the sales we do in a month," said Bansal.

Over 3 million phones were sold on the first two days of the sale. Traffic to Flipkart, mainly through its mobile app, reached 70 million visits, the company said.

Anticipating huge demand, the company had moved operations to a bigger data centre in Chennai earlier this year. It also ramped up its logistics and seller capabilities. From less than 4,000 sellers on its platform last year, Flipkart now has 50,000 sellers.

"We've had to pick up a month's worth of products in five days and we've already shipped lakhs of units to customers," Bansal said.

(Image: Indiatimes)