Since it’s launch, Flipkart is considered to be Amazon’s biggest competitor, with just one biggest drawback; Amazon is an international and renowned brand all over the world. However, Flipkart evened by field in 2018, as it has been acquired by the retail giant Walmart. With both the companies advancing in the same direction, including encouraging digital payments, providing groceries, launching private labels, etc., the competition is undoubtedly close. Be it logistics, technology or the range of products, both Amazon and Flipkart are bringing out the big guns to dominate the Indian eCommerce sector.
While it is difficult to determine which company is the clear winner, we have compared certain factors in this article that can hint to who has the upper-hand currently.
An Introduction – In this section, we will go over certain the basics of both the companies:
1) The Founders
Amazon
It’s easy for a brand to make a name for itself, but people around the world are rarely aware of the founders’ names. Few examples of this are Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and of course, the Amazon Founder; Jeff Bezos. Jeffrey Preston Bezos, or commonly known as Jeff Bezos is an American industrialist, media proprietor, and investor.
Flipkart
This platform, which is now Amazon’s biggest competitor in India, has literally taken birth within Amazon. It’s founder, Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, previously worked at Amazon. Both these millionaires are alumni from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi.
2) Headquarters
Amazon
As a world leader in eCommerce, Amazon delivers products and services across the globe. However, this company is headquartered in the United States at Seattle and Washington. The Indian office is situated in Hyderabad.
Flipkart
Flipkart is exclusively an Indian platform, which delivers products pan India. Its headquarters is located in the Silicon Valley of India, Bengaluru.
3) Employee strength
Amazon
Amazon has many offices located in various countries. The combined employee strength of this company is 840,000 people.
Flipkart
As of 2016, the number of employees working at Flipkart was reported at 30,000. However, there aren’t any recent updates about the change in the employee strength since Walmart has taken over the organization.
4) Subsidiaries
Amazon
When it first launched, Amazon marketed itself as an eCommerce platform; however, after being a leader of the niche, they now position themselves as a technology company. Considering the wide variety of subsidiaries, this is true as well. Below is the list of Amazon’s subsidiaries:
- A9.com
- AbeBooks
- Amazon Air
- Alexa Internet
- Amazon Books
- Amazon Game Studios
- Amazon Lab126
- Amazon Logistics, Inc.
- Amazon Publishing
- Amazon Robotics
- Amazon Studios
- Audible
- Body Labs
- AWS
- Book Depository
- ComiXology
- Goodreads
- Graphiq
- IMDb
- Ring
- Souq.com
- Twitch Interactive
- Whole Foods Market
- Woot
- Zappos
Flipkart
With many other eCommerce platforms and technology companies, Flipkart is surely putting up a huge fight for Amazon. Here’s a list of its subsidiaries:
- Myntra
- PhonePe
- Upstream Commerce Ltd.
- Liv.ai Pvt. Ltd.
- FK Myntra Holdings Private Limited
- DSYN Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
- AdIQuity Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
- Ugenie, Inc.
- Jeeves Consumer Services Pvt Ltd
- Mallers, Inc.
5) Revenue & Profits
Amazon
Primarily, both the brands have shared a similar journey through 2019. However, home-grown Flipkart was able to garner more revenue than Amazon, which was at US$280.522 billion. But, Amazon enjoyed a higher growth rate of 82%, as compared to Flipkart’s growth rate of 47%.
Flipkart
The eCommerce sector in India has undergone quite the change in the last four years as it has made a strong foray in Tier II and other locations. This has greatly helped elevate Flipkart’s revenue, especially in the festive sale seasons as it received positive traction from these locations. The revenue of Flipkart in 2019 was ₹43,615 crores (US$6.1 billion).
6) Future Plans
Amazon
As a technology-focused company, there are some exciting plans in store for Amazon, some of which are:
Cashier-Free Stores: By partnering with Hyundai in South Korea, making use of its Web Services subsidiary, Amazon aims to create the world’s first cashier-free department store. It promises to put technology at the forefront to provide customers with a highly convenient shopping experience.
AI Home Robots: In 2018, Bloomberg reported that Amazon was working on a project that could really revolutionize the entire AI market. Amazon is creating a next-generation smart robot for homes, which are powered by artificial intelligence.
A Fleet of Drones: In 2013, CEO Jeff Bezos reported that Amazon is working on creating Amazon Prime Air Drone delivery service. The program is now rolling out as it has the capacity to deliver packages weighing up to 5 pounds within just 30 minutes using miniature drones.
Flipkart
Consider Flipkart has been acquired by the US retailer Walmart, the retail giant plans to repeat its US-success formula in India. Hence, Flipkart is looking to aggressively looking to tap the retail food market, which is expected to be at around $800 million markets, through physical stores.
Considering foreign direct investment (FDI) is allowed 100% in food retail, home-grown Flipkart is the ideal platform for the Indian marketplace route. Walmart has over 50% of its sales coming from the food industry and plans to launch Flipkart’s offline stores fit in their whole scheme of things.
The Verdict
Both Flipkart and Amazon are doing exceptionally well, especially considering they are major giants in progressing the world’s involvement with technology. While Amazon is moving towards advancing technology, Flipkart is using the appeal of offline stores to garner more customers.
Amazon is definitely the bigger giant here; however, backed by Walmart, Flipkart is on its way to success.
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