The journey from Flipkart to Flopkart: Will Amazon learn from it?

For the last few days, Flipkart was omnipresent first for the promotion of its Big Billion Day and later on for the failure of this "BBD." Ads about the "Big Billion Day" made sure everyone knew about the epochal sale, but the very same promotion will keep haunting the image of Flipkart as the big sale turned out to be a big disappointment for the customers.

Things did not really go too smooth for Flipkart, but still it seemed that Big Sale got a big amount of money for them. A statement issued by them said, "The Big Billion Day is an unprecedented day for us as this is the biggest sale ever in India. We are delighted by the overwhelming response from our customers since 8 am today. With a range of exciting offers on quality products at disruptive prices available throughout the sale period, we have created history in Indian e-commerce."

But whether the sale was really a milestone for Flipkart or a big mistake will be known in the days to come.

Now other online giant Amazon is promoting for its big day which is expected to come in 3 more days. So should Amazon learn something from the mistakes of Flipkart or will it also commit the same mistakes and invite negative publicity. Well, as they say, one should learn from the mistakes of others, Amazon and other such giants should also learn from the mistakes of Flipkart:

Prepare before you advertise and don't think that consumer is a fool

Definitely, the e-Commerce giant received a lot of hits and great orders, but at the same time was also criticised heavily for a number of reasons. They managed to garner a sales target of over $100 million (GMV) in just 10 hours but the reputation damage also came free with sales target they achieved. Better planning can always save such giants from committing these big time bloopers

Don't mislead the consumers

Don't think that the customers will blindly buy things in the name of Big Billion Day. Even if you give 90 per cent off on certain products, still your beloved customer will not miss a chance to compare it with other sites. And in case you thought that the buyers will just blindly buy it, then you better be more prepared next time. And yes, to get success only offer things that others don't have.

Somewhere in Bangalore a bunch of Amazon execs are getting drunk between peals of laughter #flipkart #BigBillionDay

— Arvinder Gujral (@arvindergujral) October 6, 2014

Don't give discounts by increasing the original price

By being an online giant, the biggest loss is that the comparison on what is being sold at your site and at what price can easily be done with other similar platforms. And as per our buyers it was being alleged that Flipkart increased the prices of products and then gave 80 to 90 per cent discount on them. If so, then a better strategy would do next time Flipkart, for now you have given a lesson to others.

Fulfill your promises

Half of your products went out of stock within an hour, if the big Billion Day was to happen then the stocks should also have been maintained in the same ratio. the out of stock symbol on screens left many of the buyers felt cheated and made them realise that such big billion days are only to fool people and not to give them products on discounts.

#flipkart aur #AAP party me kuchh jyaada antar nahi hai dekha jaaye to! Showing a lot promising a lot.did nothing. wo 1month ye 1 day !

— Mayank kumar (@myselfmack) October 6, 2014

Be ready to take the heavy load of traffic

With such days announced, the servers of Flipkart should also have been prepared in the same way. With a mega sale day, definitely more traffic was expected, and to handle more traffic better preparations were need. With the onset of the sale, the site also started crashing within few minutes which again left many of the buyers irritated and made Flipkart turn into Flopkart.

So, dear Flipkart, next time you get better strategies to win people's heart or may be a new name will soon be given to you.