Mahatma Gandhi Vidyamandir’s

Panchavati College of Management and Computer Science, Nashik

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Assignment

Name of the Student: JAGRUTI HIRAJI SONAWANE

Class: TYBBA

Roll No. : 46

Topic: Case Study on Distribution System of Flipkart India.

 INDEX

1. Introduction of Point (Distribution System)

1.1 E-commerce

1.2 E-commerce businesses

1.3 Impacts on Supply Chain Management

1.4 Factors affecting

1.5 Logistics

2. Introduction of Company/ Organization

2.1 Introduction of Flipkart

2.2 History

2.3 Flipkart Sales and revenue overview

2.4 Business Model

3. Distribution Structure and Operations:

 Product and Technology

 Business Development Team
 Operation Team
 Customer Support Team
 Logistics
  Reverse logistics
 Warehouse Management

4. Implementation of Distribution System

4.1 Sourcing

4.2 Cataloging

4.3 Listing

4.4 Marketing

4.5 Ordering

4.6 Inventory Management

4.7 Packaging

4.8 Shipping

4.9 Tracking

4.10 Payments

4.11 Return Policy

5. Conclusion

6. Bibliography
 Introduction
1.1E-commerce:
The term commerce is defined as trading of goods & services or If ‘e’ for electronic is adding to
this the definition of e-commerce is defined as trading of goods & services, information or
anything else of value between two entities over the internet.
Electronic commerce describes the buying and selling of products and information via
computer networks including internet.
E-Business describes the broadest definition of E-commerce. It including customer service and
intra business task. It is frequently used interchangeably with E-Commerce.

1.2E-Commerce Businesses :
There are four principal categories of e-commerce:

 B2B (Business to Business) - It involves companies doing business with each other. For
example when a manufacture sell to distribution or wholesaler selling to retailer.
 B2C (Business to Consumer) - It consists of companies selling to the general pulic
through websites, without needing any human interaction. E.g. flipkart, Amazon etc.
 C2B (Consumer to Consumer) – In this model, consumer post a project with a set
budget online and companies bid on the project. The consumer reviews the bids and
selects the company. It is similar to tender process.
 C2C (Consumer to Consumer) – This takes place through online ads, forums where
individual can buy and sell their goods e.g. E-Bay.

1.3Impacts on Supply Chain Management:

The Companies have been long trouble on how to deliver supply chain technologies
benefits to customers. However, the emergence of e-commerce has provided them a
practical and effective way delivering the benefits of the new supply chain. E-commerce
has the power to incorporate department of intercompany and intra-company the
inventory management for companies. The information processing and financial flow
has allowed companies to have more efficient payment gateways.

1 Cost Factor: Companies with the use of e-commerce can reduce costs, Exexchange of
documents such as fright invoices, shipping etc. os done electronically.

2 Distribution System: E-commerce provides flexibility in managing it , customers can

directly manage information throughout the supply chain eliminating contact between
customers and distribution centers.
 3 Shipping tracking: Customer can establish an account on e-commerce website and
obtain real time information about individual shipments.

4 Shipping Documentation and Labeling: The Standard billing label, shipping labels and
carrier information are automatically produced thus reduce the needs for manual
intervention. With less paper work involves it makes shipping process more efficient.

5 Online Shipping Inquiry: The shipment is tracked accurately and proof of delivery is
quickly confirmed. A customer can analyze Shipping rates and negotiate for better deals
and it helps to improving the customer satisfaction.

1.4Factors Affecting E-commerce:

o Lack of IT knowledge to purchase online
o Banking facility still eludes large population India
o Reluctance of old generation to switch to e-commerce
o Complex taxation laws
o Complex websites interface sometimes makes customers tentative to shop
online

1.5Logistics:
Logistics in E-commerce is different as compare to traditional retail logistics. In
conventional retail customers from shop or showrooms pick goods. Supplier are in
direct contract with retailers. In case of e-commerce, goods are deliver to customers
using means of transport such as rail, air, road, etc. it also sells goods from 3 parties

1) Suppliers
2) ROC (Regional distribution centre)
3) E-retailor ( parcel delivery company)
And finally product reach to the end customers.
Case Study - Flipkart India

2.1 Introduction
Flipkart is an e-commerce company headquartered in Bangalore, Karnataka, India and registered
in Singapore. The company initially focused on book sales before expanding into other product
categories such as consumer electronics, fashion, home essentials, groceries, and lifestyle
products. Flipkart held a 39.5% market share of India's e-commerce industry.

2.2 History
Flipkart was founded in October 2007 by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, two alumni of the
Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and former employees at Amazon. The company initially
focused on online book sales with country-wide shipping. Flipkart slowly grew in prominence
and was receiving 100 orders per day by 2008.] In 2010, Flipkart acquired the Bangalore-based
social book discovery service WeRead from Lulu.com.

2.3Flipkart Sales and revenue overview

Average Shipments a day – 1,00,000

Current Annualized Revenue – 33.55 billion INR

Valuation – 99 Billion INR

Revenue of 2019- 20 – Rs 34,610 cr

Customers – 10 million

Cities – 150

2.4 Business Model

Flipkart started on inventory based model and currently operates on both inventory and market
place model. Since 2013 flipkart has been slowly shifting to a market place model, where it
connects customers to thousands of third-party sellers rather than sell products only through
WS retail due to the new FDI rules in India. WS retail is the largest seller on its platform and
accounts close to 40% of the total sales of the company. As part of a complex arrangement, WS
retail sells goods from flipkart india, the B2B arm of the main group holding company, and sells
the same goods to customers on flipkart site. WS retail also owned and run flipkart key logistics
business called e-kart that delivered products to customers.
 3 Flipkart Distribution Structure and Operation
The entire organization structure of Flipkart is organized in three broad terms as

Product and technology Business Development Operations

Website Management Vendor Management Procurement
ERP System Sales Management Warehouse
Pricing Strategies Logistics
Customer Support

3.1 Product and Terminology Term

The product and technology term is the core strength of the company. The team manage the entire
process right from listing of item to serch engione optimization to maintenance of website.

3.2 Business development Team

Business development term is responsible for all the activities related to sales including vendor
management to pricing and discount strategy.

3.3 Operations Term

Operation team deals with all the supply chain aspects of the company right from procurement and
warehouse management till customer support. The term support the customers both online via
telephone as well as offline via email.

3.4 Customer Support team

Flipkart has a strong focus on customer delight as the top most priority. And to fulfil it the company
guarantees a 24/7 full customer support and to cater this facility it has a dedicated customer support
team which offers both inbound and outbound support.

3.5 Logistics

Flipkart ships more than 100000 items per day, which makes logistics a very important aspect of the
whole operations of the whole operation and also difficult to manage. Flipkart uses its own logistics arm
as eKart. The reason to have its own logistics arm to save commission which is usually around 2% which
has to pay to courier firms

Around 60% of the total orders are deliver by eKart and rest is done by 3PL means third party logistics.
Flipkart has tie uo with 15 courier companies such as bluedart etc. more than 90% orders are COD
means cash on delivery. It most india only in case when its own sevices as well as third party cannot
deliver in the particular area. In ekart , the item first delivered to the main hub and then to the local
delivery hub where last mile delivery is done by suitable means of transport such as two-wheeler, foot
etc. in case of third party the company allocated slots to different courier firms to pick up the items it
efficient. Delivery cost in india is relatively low due to cheap labor availability.

3.6 Reverse logistics

Flipkart has 30 days return policy, which helps in building trust with the customers. Usually return is
around 2.6% of the total delivered items. A detail return policy is available to customers at flipkart
website. This logistics comes into play when the customer request for replacement, refund.

3.7 Warehouse Management

Flipkart has seven major warehouses in the country

1) Mumbai
2) Kolkata
3) Delhi
4) Noida
5) Pune
6) Chennai
7) Bangalore
It has regional distribution centre around 500 location in tire 1 and tire 2 cities

4 Implementation of Distribution System

The business implimentation process of Flipkart

4.1 Sourcing – Acquiring goods from the seller to store in warehouses

4.2 Cataloging – Taking pictures of items acquired

4.3 Listing – Uploading pictures on websites

4.4 Marketing – Advertising its website to attract customers to its website to purchase

4.5 Ordering - Customers after opening the website , select the one or more items for purchase this
provider the information about the pricing, delivery time payment mode etc. And then customer placed
the order. Order processing is a crucial is an e-commerce company as it involves setting up the system
standard to meet customers requrements.

4.6 Inventory Management - To clearly understand customer delivery need, To coordinate with the
wholesale supplies and independent seller to make customer available to customers both current and
soon to be released products.
4.7 Packaging – Once the order is accepted for execution order detail passed to the inventory manager
or directly to the third party for filling packaging. To pack sold item for shipping.

4.8 Shipping – Delivery the item to the customer.

4.9 Tracking - Customer always know the current status of the item during transit.

4.10 Payment - Their are so many options are available for payments like credit card, debit card, online
banking, cash on delivery, coupons, paypal.

4.11 Return policy - in case customer are not satisfied with this product then they can return in limited
time period and get refund or get another subscription.

All this process is done electronically. The delivery detail will be immediately conveyed to the customer
via email and sms along with invoice.

Conclusion
Flipkart has very clearly prioritized customers delighit as its chief avenue for customer acquisition and
retention. This cause them to build a lots of slack into their existing system causing higher cost at several
points in supply chain.

Flipkart has entered in indian market at perfect time, the growth of indian economy is growing and
improve people living standard overall.

Flipkart regularly comes with newer ideas finally it should broad its reach in indian market and adding
new areas under its delivery range.

Flipkart launch innovative payment methods such as payZippy for online sellers and buyers also accept
paytm etc.

Flipkart also have to address some of the basic threats that loom over the industry such as heavy
discounting policy innovation in payment gateways, logistics expansion etc.
Bibliography
www.Wikipedia.com

www.Quora.com

www.Flipkart.com

www.Researchgate.net