FLIPKART - SALES AND DISTRIBUTION STRATEGY
Flipkart took off as a great E-tailing company. Over the years as it grew, it had to employ various means to increase its sales and incorporate various distribution strategies to ensure efficient delivery and customer satisfaction. Below diagram depicts the basic distribution strategy of Flipkart. All in all the primary focus of Flipkart is increased sales and reach as much customers as possible. Following are the various ways by which Flipkart strategize to achieve and meet its goals in the area of Sales and Distribution:
Flipkart is distributing and delivering in rural areas: Flipkart has now started delivering packages in sub-urban and rural areas also. It has tied up with various local courier services and India Post to deliver packages in such areas of the country. Recently they delivered Motorola phones to the rural buyers
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Zovi and Yebhi) in the clothing area have adopted similar strategies. Myntra, who is now merged with Flipkart, had launched a similar project back in 2012 and is working with Fitiquette to provide a virtual fitting room to its customers.
Flipkart also plans to provide some value added services along with the ‘try & buy’ strategy to provide a kind of differentiator for customer engagement. Services like open box deliveries, spot trials and returns is currently being experimented with and will be rolled out in the near future.
Own courier delivery service of Flipkart: Flipkart has its own courier service which it has named as Ekart. This helps Flipkart in ease of delivery of the products and it does not have to rely on third-party vendors or courier services for its delivery. After Flipkart on-boarded multiple sellers in the marketplace, they have provided the flexibility to use Ekart or any other courier service of their choice. But till today Ekart still remains the most efficient courier service of Flipkart and WS Retail is the most reliable seller of
Although retailers such as Walmart and Target do have loyal customer bases, they are not sitting idle as Amazon and other eCommerce firms obtain a greater market share. They are expanding their online profiles and offering similar shopping experiences. However, they hold one major advantage over Amazon. Every store can serve as a distribution center. Walmart is a perfect example. It has expanded its online profile to provide eCommerce services to its customers (Thau, 2014). Because every store serves as a distribution center, customers can receive their order much faster than Amazon can deliver it.
Distribution channels are organized in several ways: conventional, vertical, horizontal and multichannel (Kern R. 2013). Some of these organizational methods are more structured than others. When a distribution channel deals with more than one independent producer, such as wholesalers and retailers, the channel is known as a conventional distribution channel. (Kern R. 2013) These channels are not normally known to be strong and typically don’t give the customer the quality of product that they deserve. In a vertical marketing system, the retailers, wholesalers and producers, join forces to create a unified front, promoting an individual product (Kern R. 2013). Vertical distribution channels are stronger than the conventional distribution channels because all of the companies involved carry some of the load of power. (Kern R. 2013) In a horizontal distribution channel, companies join up and combine all of their finances and resources, in order to take on more than one company or product (Kern R. 2013). A multichannel distribution channel is where a large corporation uses two or more marketing channels to better target their desired customer segments (Kern R.
Different retailing businesses have very different distribution methods based on the types of product that they sell, some arguably more effectively than others.
vs. exclusive – Giving a limited number of dealers the exclusive right to distribute the
Currently, the company is a global giant, in terms of its ability to move goods. Also, the company is highly visible and easily recognized. Over the years, it has become the world’s biggest package delivery company. However, it has also evolved to offer many other offerings and services. On a daily basis, the company operates and manages how goods and information are shipped throughout the world.
“We fulfill the needs and fuel the potential of our guests…making Target your preferred shopping destination…by delivering outstanding value, continuous innovation, exceptional experiences…Expect More. Pay Less @ brand promise.” (CorporateTarget) In addition to fulfilling the needs of its guests and providing outstanding value of services, the company is also committed to proving services and relationship to its community, internal and external organization. Target’s objective focuses on its leaders, employees and to fulfill its consumer’s needs by offering excellent value of its brand. To gain competitive advantage and differential advantage, a Target’s corporate created a strategic unit marketing to provide multiple services to its consumers. Additionally, Target also offers its product brand to differentiate from its competitive market. Target retail store sells multiple products to provide its customer a single solution for its shopping destination. “Many organizations manage their differing…by providing customers a single-branded solution across multiple markets.” (Ferrell, Hartline, 2014) Target Corporation created a corporate strategy to have the opportunity and competitive advantage such as valuable products for fewer prices for a successful marketing
They also do things such as adding different things to existing products. For example they have added cookies to Galaxy bars this means that they can try and attract new customers.
Including special products, general products, 3-2-1 plan, and online shop, which helps them to increase their market share.
Distribution strategies exist in three forms: exclusive distribution, selective distribution, and intensive distribution. Kotler and Keller (2009) define each of the distribution strategies as: exclusive distribution limits the number of intermediaries used; selective distribution depends on a limited number of intermediaries; and intensive distribution works with as many outlets as feasible. The distribution strategy of the airlines industry was not a part of its early history, but is now integral to the success of airline organizations.
Focusing on sales which will include the building the sales in terms of the order amounts, numbers of our products through the internet, increase the sales of regular customers ,increasing the number of orders and selling content and advertising space for those who subscribe with us.
1. Describe the current distribution system of the company and explain why it is so important for its brand positioning? Please explain also how the brand is positioned on international markets.
Delivering goods such as gifts, files, and documents has always been essential for businesses and personal purposes. Before internet marketing and technological innovations, sending parcels to another location wasn 't so simple. However now days, there is a constant increase of internet users which according to The World Bank, around 38.1 billion people surf on the cyberspace. This boosts online shopping and services increasing companies to aim to send their products to different places. Because sending packages, nationally or internationally, have been a consumption of great time and money, both enterprises and clients hope for faster and affordable ways which lead to the popularity of courier
As far as Manipal and Udupi are concerned mainly the distribution is done via pull strategy. We have two strategies to go for -either a push or a pull strategy. Considering the product and its segmentation, we should go for pull strategy, in which the manufacturer uses advertising, promotion, and other forms of communication to persuade customers. When our target customer group is the youth who are highly exposed to advertising, media and promotion, pull strategy suits better. A marketing channel performs the work of moving goods from producers to consumers. A push strategy uses the manufacturer’s sales force, trade promotion money, or other means to induce intermediaries to carry, promote and sell the product to end users. In case of push strategy the other intermediaries need to have good knowledge about the product, also the product is such that until the customer sees the products performance, he may not be interested to buy it. Also intermediaries’ sales commission is a major issue. Sales via advertisement and promotions will help the customers to understand the product better and penetrate the market better and increase the customer
2. The reason of why distribution is such a key element of IKEA’s value chain.. 2
Distribution of the products or services is a vital thing of the sales of the organization. What is the customer want about distribution; how they want get their product or services by research all these things will help to get customers.