Flipkart's struggles to match Amazon's catalogue

In 2019, Flipkart tasked 18 seller acquisition teams with one job—onboard Amazon sellers and products. A year later, the project is on life support, dogged by claims of compliance breaches and a lack of traction

Flipkart and Amazon dominate Indian e-commerce and while it is often a neck to neck race, Amazon has a product catalogue and sellers that far outweigh its rival's

Walmart-owned Flipkart gave its Seller Acquisition Teams a mandate to onboard Amazon products and sellers to bridge the gap in selection

But 11 months in, the project ran into compliance issues and a lack of demand for the products that were brought on board

This led to 40 workers being asked to go on a 2-week leave after handing over their laptops, while the project itself is likely to be stopped

“mStick Baby Safety Adjustable Anti-Lost Harness Extends upto 1.5 meters”

“Coolkart Professional Safety Security Spiral Coil Elastic Harness Leash Anti-Lost”

There’s nothing particularly unique about these wrist links, which keep a child and parent leashed together, available for sale on Amazon India’s website. An Excel list of these products, along with details like their Amazon product identity number, seller name, and pricing is also innocuous.

Except this list was in the hands of special seller acquisition teams at Walmart-owned Flipkart, Amazon’s fiercest rival for supremacy of India’s e-commerce market.

AUTHOR

Abinaya Vijayaraghavan

Abinaya is a Bengaluru-based writer, covering the sprawling and exciting world of Indian e-commerce. When she is not trying to understand alpha sellers and complex supply chains, she enjoys travelling and playing badminton. Abinaya was previously a reporter at Reuters.

View Full Profile

Others tell you what. We tell you the ‘So What?’

Read articles that decode the most significant shifts happening around business, technology, startups and healthcare. 1000+ articles for subscribers of the India edition. 150+ articles for subscribers of the Southeast Asia edition. Plus premium newsletters that help you make sense of the world around you.

So much journalism in India is superficial.

Articles are generic, almost cookie-cutter in their approach. And they don’t provide enough context on the issues they cover. The Ken is different. I don’t always agree with everything they say but I appreciate their commitment to publishing deeply reported narratives and investigations. Their reporters find new ways to analyze tech among other industries. And that’s always worth a read.

Sid Talwar / Co-Founder and Partner / Lightbox Venture Capital

As entrepreneurs, we thrive on being in the know at all times.

A personal subscription to The Ken was a no brainer. But as startup founders, this isn't enough. Team members also need to be in the know, for everyone handles customer-facing responsibilities and an ecosystem change that impacts customers also impacts us

Kiran Jonnalagadda / Co-founder / HasGeek and Internet Freedom Foundation