[F150]

Originally Posted by msdivy

Yes, their indicated normal delivery is too long, sometimes 12 days. They usually have next day delivery option for Rs 90. Probably they want users to opt for faster delivery by making normal delivery obscenely long.

Just to clarify, next day delivery and same day delivery options were disabled for big billion sale.

[vikash49]

Originally Posted by kiku007

I can understand your disappointment but I'll reserve my judgement on their service and delivery efficiency for a couple of weeks. Apparently they had received a lot of orders, so such delays are expected in reality. e-retailing or Supply Chain Management in India is not so mature to be able to expand and contract for such situations...

Like I mentioned in my post, 2-3days is all it takes to deliver stuff to Guwahati from any major town across country. But I was still ok with their original 11day delivery schedule as I was expecting they would be a bit overloaded due to the sale.

Originally Posted by kiku007

...If I was getting a surprise gift, I personally wouldn't have gone this route. I mean, what's the priority here, to have the gift ahead of a certain date or discount?

True. But it was still 17days to Diwali and at 5~6 times the normal transit time, I thought I had enough buffer. Who, in their right senses could imagine a 20day shipment time from Delhi to Guwahati, that too by AIR!

Originally Posted by jaibir

Even Amazon shipping efficiency has dropped during the past few days. Shipping is delayed and standard timelines have been increased from 3-4 days to 8-9 days (with even those not being met).

See, 8-9days for Amazon versus 20days for Flopkart!

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

Good luck to you with that 25th Oct delivery date.

LOL!

If it weren’t for the discount, I would have actually cancelled the order.

Originally Posted by msdivy

Yes, their indicated normal delivery is too long, sometimes 12 days. They usually have next day delivery option for Rs 90. Probably they want users to opt for faster delivery by making normal delivery obscenely long.

Sadly, they do not have this Next Day delivery option for my location!

[F150]

Originally Posted by vikash49

Like I mentioned in my post, 2-3days is all it takes to deliver stuff to Guwahati from any major town across country. But I was still ok with their original 11day delivery schedule as I was expecting they would be a bit overloaded due to the sale.



True. But it was still 17days to Diwali and at 5~6 times the normal transit time, I thought I had enough buffer. Who, in their right senses could imagine a 20day shipment time from Delhi to Guwahati, that too by AIR!


If it weren’t for the discount, I would have actually cancelled the order.

I am not sure if it really takes 2-3 days for Guwahati, but it takes 3-4 days for PUNE which is in the mainland.

17 days should be more than enough to deliver the product, but I think it is more like 2/3 times the normal delivery timelines.

Yeah the same discount lead to several orders and ideally flip-kart should have given a disclaimer.

Please note that usually shipments are clubbed, it depends on how many shipments are to be made to your location.

To summarize, the product should have reached GUWAHATI in a week or 10 days. Logistics planning wasnt excellent for the big billion sale which lead to this dissatisfaction and flipkart should have given a disclaimer upfront and should have set the expectations accordingly.

[binand]

This just hit my feed: http://www.financialexpress.com/news...ipkart/1298837

"ED’s investigation into Flipkart has so far not found the online merchant guilty of violation of FDI rules and any immediate show cause notice to the company was unlikely and that the firm’s business structuring fell in a grey area of law"

Originally Posted by kiku007

Every other day I see FK or Myntra or SD with their First/Front Full Page Diwali Sale ads. When will this hype die?!

I, for one, don't want this hype to die. At least some people are getting great deals, aren't they?

Originally Posted by kiku007

I certainly don't know about the CCI laws but I cannot accept to this particular statement. That's clearly disruptive and cannot be in the interest of everyone in the long term.

Since when is market disruption a crime? :-) It is very much in the interest of the consumer. In any case, there aren't many ways a newcomer can build market share in an existing market - price undercutting is one of the best known. Air Asia is doing it elsewhere. Uber is another.

It is not in the interest of owners of existing players who are well-entrenched in their comfort zones, because it makes them sit up and take notice. Like Biyani is doing now.

[kiku007]

Originally Posted by vikash49

True. But it was still 17days to Diwali and at 5~6 times the normal transit time, I thought I had enough buffer. Who, in their right senses could imagine a 20day shipment time from Delhi to Guwahati, that too by AIR!

Flipkart should have been realistic with their delivery schedule. Lesson learnt.

Originally Posted by binand

I, for one, don't want this hype to die. At least some people are getting great deals, aren't they?

Since when is market disruption a crime? :-) It is very much in the interest of the consumer. In any case, there aren't many ways a newcomer can build market share in an existing market - price undercutting is one of the best known. Air Asia is doing it elsewhere. Uber is another.

It is not in the interest of owners of existing players who are well-entrenched in their comfort zones, because it makes them sit up and take notice. Like Biyani is doing now.

Well considering the present, as a consumer, more deals more the merry isn't it?

In the long term, such disruptive discounting cannot be sustained. Let's look at some examples. Air Deccan & Reliance brought in windfall changes to Airline and Telecom pricing which changed the market and brought in unheard levels of low pricing.

After a decade, Air Deccan & subsequently Kingfisher wound-up. Sahara was sold and now Jet Konnect is going to be merged with Jet. Other than Indigo none of the other budget carriers are making money. My first domestic flight in 2005 was far more comfortable than what the budget carriers are throwing in these days. Telecom rates in India are the lowest in the world. But what about Telecom service and coverage? We all know how it is.

Good quality and service cannot come cheap. I wouldn't want some good companies/shops to be wound up because of disruptive pricing (Just because some VC is throwing in money).

P.S: I use Uber/UberX quite a bit and that's for their service and not because it is cheap. Trust me, it's not close to being cheap in comparison to other Radio Taxis. The Merc/BMW/Jags aren't there now

[vikash49]

Originally Posted by kiku007

Good quality and service cannot come cheap. I wouldn't want some good companies/shops to be wound up because of disruptive pricing (Just because some VC is throwing in money).

Exactly.

As a consumer, you can get me to notice / try you by offering cheaper pricing / deals.

But to win me as a loyal customer, the price needs to be backed by equally good quality and service!

[carboy]

Originally Posted by kiku007

In the long term, such disruptive discounting cannot be sustained. Let's look at some examples. Air Deccan & Reliance brought in windfall changes to Airline and Telecom pricing which changed the market and brought in unheard levels of low pricing.

After a decade, Air Deccan & subsequently Kingfisher wound-up.

Air Deccan was profitable if I remember correctly. I think Air Deccan wound up because it was bought by Kingfisher. There is a good chance that it would have been running now if it were not bought by Kingfisher.

[smrtdvl]

1st Gen MotoG retailing now at Rs.9999 for the 16GB version. At this price tag it is the best your money could buy

[VSRK]

I had ordered Bosch 450RE drilling tool on 10/6 with 50% off on big billion day for Rs.2100. Got the kit on 10/14 in good condition, well ahead of promised date 10/17.

[inder]

Originally Posted by smrtdvl

1st Gen MotoG retailing now at Rs.9999 for the 16GB version. At this price tag it is the best your money could buy

I got the 2nd Gen Moto G for Rs 9999 a few days back in exchange for my obsolete Blackberry . I think 2nd Gen at 3k more makes a more compelling buy.

[binand]

Originally Posted by kiku007

In the long term, such disruptive discounting cannot be sustained.

"Cannot" is a strong word. It can be sustained as long as the company has (alternate) cash flows, the investors/promoters have money, or both. The canonical example cited is of Open Source software - the huge repertoire of software that are freely available for download including source code.

There are many other products that are disruptively discounted by way of alternate revenue streams (usually the marketing/advertising budgets of other companies). Newspapers. Messaging services like WhatsApp and Hangouts. And many more.

Originally Posted by kiku007

Let's look at some examples. Air Deccan & Reliance brought in windfall changes to Airline and Telecom pricing which changed the market and brought in unheard levels of low pricing. After a decade, Air Deccan & subsequently Kingfisher wound-up. Sahara was sold and now Jet Konnect is going to be merged with Jet. Other than Indigo none of the other budget carriers are making money. My first domestic flight in 2005 was far more comfortable than what the budget carriers are throwing in these days. Telecom rates in India are the lowest in the world. But what about Telecom service and coverage? We all know how it is.

I personally think tying the failure of airlines in India is not that simple to analyze. Further, with only two listed and active airlines in India, "none of them are making money" is also too strong a statement - we don't know. Third, a lawyer friend of mine (who has worked in the aircraft leasing business) says that the DTAA between India and Ireland is structured in such a way that airlines in India can declare losses here while still making money, very easily.

Originally Posted by kiku007

Good quality and service cannot come cheap. I wouldn't want some good companies/shops to be wound up because of disruptive pricing (Just because some VC is throwing in money).

It most definitely can (with the caveat that "cheap" is a relative term). Instead of speaking in abstract, let us take a concrete example. Suppose you have to travel 30km within Bangalore and you don't have your own vehicle. What is your expectation of a quality service and how much are you willing to pay for it? Do you think you will get the same answer from a cross-section of the people you meet on a daily basis? Do you think your own answer will change as per environmental conditions (weather, urgency, time of day...)?

Btw, if a company has to be wound up because of disruptive pricing by another one, then it is not a "good" company. It was either overcharging for its product, or was selling an inappropriate product for the market. Either way, it needs to perish or re-group and not waste economic resources of the society.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by binand

There are many other products that are disruptively discounted by way of alternate revenue streams (usually the marketing/advertising budgets of other companies). Newspapers. Messaging services like WhatsApp and Hangouts. And many more.

Whatsapp doesn't make any money. It loses money.

Originally Posted by binand

Third, a lawyer friend of mine (who has worked in the aircraft leasing business) says that the DTAA between India and Ireland is structured in such a way that airlines in India can declare losses here while still making money, very easily.

So which of the Indian airlines make use of the DTAA between India and Ireland? Which of them operate a subsidiary in Ireland?

[kiku007]

Originally Posted by binand

"Cannot" is a strong word. It can be sustained as long as the company has (alternate) cash flows, the investors/promoters have money, or both. The canonical example cited is of Open Source software - the huge repertoire of software that are freely available for download including source code.

There are many other products that are disruptively discounted by way of alternate revenue streams (usually the marketing/advertising budgets of other companies). Newspapers. Messaging services like WhatsApp and Hangouts. And many more.

As long as Investors/promoters have money? It's that rationale I'm questioning.

Open Source Software? Seriously, that's the example you are bringing to compare against retail?

Whatsapp Owner itself has openly said they aren't making any money and not looking at making money until they cross a certain number of Users which is sometime in the future. And you think they are making money?

Originally Posted by binand

I personally think tying the failure of airlines in India is not that simple to analyze. Further, with only two listed and active airlines in India, "none of them are making money" is also too strong a statement - we don't know. Third, a lawyer friend of mine (who has worked in the aircraft leasing business) says that the DTAA between India and Ireland is structured in such a way that airlines in India can declare losses here while still making money, very easily.

People can spin lot of such theories.

Originally Posted by binand

It most definitely can (with the caveat that "cheap" is a relative term). Instead of speaking in abstract, let us take a concrete example. Suppose you have to travel 30km within Bangalore and you don't have your own vehicle. What is your expectation of a quality service and how much are you willing to pay for it? Do you think you will get the same answer from a cross-section of the people you meet on a daily basis? Do you think your own answer will change as per environmental conditions (weather, urgency, time of day...)?

Didn't quite get the context, sorry.

Originally Posted by binand

Btw, if a company has to be wound up because of disruptive pricing by another one, then it is not a "good" company. It was either overcharging for its product, or was selling an inappropriate product for the market. Either way, it needs to perish or re-group and not waste economic resources of the society.

Binand - It's the internet and we don't have to agree to each others view. I've given mine and would like to let this go without going off topic in this thread.

[drsingh]

Originally Posted by kiku007

Flipkart should have been realistic with their delivery schedule. Lesson learnt.

Well considering the present, as a consumer, more deals more the merry isn't it?

Good quality and service cannot come cheap. I wouldn't want some good companies/shops to be wound up because of disruptive pricing (Just because some VC is throwing in money).

P.S: I use Uber/UberX quite a bit and that's for their service and not because it is cheap. Trust me, it's not close to being cheap in comparison to other Radio Taxis. The Merc/BMW/Jags aren't there now

Niche companies with niche products will sustain on the basis of their products.

Online retail OTOH is a game of mass market mindshare. Building habits.

I remember in my college days, when there was a burst of prepaid recharge businesses opening up, all the recharge retailers had formed a cartel and put up posters in their shops with their own pricing. 105 Rs for every 100 Rs recharge. So they were making 5 percent over and above their commission.

There are malpractices with white goods distributors too. Selling 3-4 year old stock with current prices. Take it or leave it attitude. Etc.

Ridiculous margins on many products in suburbs or poor quality products at premium pricing.


Amazon like marketplace with an option to purchase online will discipline offline retailers too and probably make businesses with shady practices unviable .

There is total chaos and its the wild west out there in terms of logistics in India right now.

Aramex is using delivery boys with giant backpacks for delivery in the suburbs instead of cargo vans. Its crazy.

Something solid and reliable will emerge out of this chaos. Its still early days.

[audioholic]

The great Flipkart issues a two week delivery window to get a product 25kms away from my house! Really great I must say. They didnt even give an option of faster delivery I guess because of too many orders.

However I expect the actual delivery to happen much earlier, that too given the product has been handed over to Bluedart, who of recent has been giving superb service to my orders. Not sure why Ekart cant even deliver same city orders. If the product was really dispatched out of whitefield the previous night, it would have been in my hands by now.



An amazon order I did two days back was shipped yesterday through Bluedart again and the parcel was moved from Meerut(UP) to BIAL today morning and delivery is expected by evening!



Even a previous order was delivered in the same duration:




In the meanwhile, offline retailers are now competing against online prices, which is a nice outcome of the online shopping trend. Case in example is mobile phones. The Lumia 925 I brought was retailing on FK for 27K, which I purchased from a store for 24K with insurance and one year extended warranty. Yesterday, my dad purchased a Lumia 730 for Rs 14.8k offline, while it was retailing at Rs. 14999 on FK. Again he got extended warranty as well as insurance. This is a welcome change since we get the product instantly, and in case theres something wrong, they will give a different piece instantly, instead of having to return the product and then wait for a replacement or refund. So, before you finalise a transaction online, do check prices outside too.