Flipkart to give gift hampers to families of defence personnel during Big Billion Days sale
Amid the festive sales season, etailer works on giveback initiative.
Online shopping season is here again, and e-commerce market leader Flipkart is getting ready for its annual flagship event – the Big Billion Days – from September 20 to 24. Apart from launching new offers and initiatives, this year, Flipkart will also honour families of soldiers manning the borders as well as those killed in the line of duty.
Over the next few days, the etailer will ship festive gift hampers to the families of deceased soldiers as well as Army, Border Security Force and Central Reserve Police Force personnel posted in remote and hostile locations. The specially packaged boxes, numbering a few hundred, will contain an assortment of dry fruits and a gift voucher worth Rs 10,000 that can be used to shop on Flipkart.
Flipkart for India
The online marketplace, which is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, is undertaking this effort as part of its "Flipkart for India" initiative, according to Smriti Ravichandran, Senior Director at Flipkart.
“Looking back, we want to do something that symbolises what Flipkart is and has been for India. Recently there has been tension at the national border. So we decided to do something for the army personnel who can’t see their families for Diwali. This is a humane effort, a giveback initiative rather than a business move,” Smriti told YourStory.
New areas of focus
Flipkart is going into the festive season sales this year with a multi-pronged strategy. This includes:
- Focus on tier-2 and tier-3 cities, women shoppers, parent shoppers
- Raising customers’ affordability capability with EMIs on debit cards too (HDFC, ICICI, Axis Bank)
- Buy Now, Pay Later option for up to Rs 5,000 a month
- Those buying on Flipkart during BBD will be given discount coupons with validity till October 31
- No-cost EMI and product exchange programme
“Women shoppers buy across categories although they are fewer compared to male online shoppers. Flipkart is also expanding its range in home, kids, and books categories with selections that women will like,” Smriti says.
To lure parents, Flipkart has expanded its portfolio for children under 12 years of age with international and Indian brands. In fact, Smriti claims that Flipkart is now the largest retailer for the kids’ portfolio.
Also read: Flipkart relaunches furniture to create perfect homes for online shoppers
Also, under the ‘Festive Pass’ offer, Flipkart customers can buy Hotstar subscription at discounted rates – Rs 99 for three months. Last year, Amazon Prime Video was the best-selling category during the festive season for Amazon India.
No marketing extravaganza
Earlier this year, Flipkart launched an ad campaign as part of its fashion category's revamp. It claims that the campaign drove up fashion purchases on the platform.
When they launched large appliances in August, Smriti says the ads focused on Flipkart’s unique capabilities like same-day delivery and installation.
Although festive season sales are accompanied by marketing extravaganza across channels, Smriti says this time a conscious decision has been taken to not spend a lot on marketing the Big Billion Days sale.
“We want efficient means to spending. Our m-site and mobile app traffic is higher in tier-2 and tier-3 cities and hence CRM, push notifications are higher on these new initiatives. We have grown beyond being just an e-commerce player only because India has been supportive. Our DNA is to not compromise on customer experience. In tier-2 and tier-3 cities, the customer segment with disposable income is rising – this is the next strata of customers predominantly buying. For them, EMI options are relevant even for a phone costing Rs 12,000,” she says.
While its competitors Amazon and Paytm Mall are prepping for the biggest sals season of the year, Smriti says Flipkart’s USP is that customers can get anything they want at best prices with multiple payment methods.
