Flipkart has sent over half-a-million snail mail postcards to its users ahead of the e-commerce company’s ambitious “Big Billion Day” sale next week, according to an Economic Times report. This rather unusual strategy highlights how important it is to use offline channels to effectively tap the country’s fast growing consumer Internet market.
Flipkart’s Big Billion Day sale, to be held from October 13 to 17, will target its 50-million consumers with products across 70 categories, including apparel, furniture and toys.
Unlike last year, when users could buy on their desktops and even via mobile web, Flipkart has opted for an app only channel for this year’s sale. Already, some 75 percent of Flipkart’s traffic comes through mobile. And by sending these personal postcards to half a million users, the company is hoping to encourage more users to join the sale.
In today’s world, a lot of communication is moving online, so we said how do we create a personal connect with our consumers?
— Mausam Bhatt, Senior director-growth, Flipkart to Economic Times
Over the past two weeks, Flipkart has sent a million postcards through India Post to its users across the country — from Barmer in Rajasthan to Port Blair, Srinagar and Kargil — asking them to buy on its app.
Last year’s sale faced several bottlenecks that included technical glitches on the site, supply chain breakdowns and customer service issues. Co-founder Sachin Bansal issued an apology letter to all the buyers, following consumer backlash. Despite India’s frenzied growth in smartphone sales and online population, many are still hesitant to buy online. By reaching out to its existing and potential users in remote areas, Flipkart is hoping to bring more users and create buzz around its most ambitious sale.
It’s very relevant for us to reach out to these consumers through the app because lot of these smaller towns don’t have too many desktops or good broadband connections. They are not only coming on to the Internet via smartphones, but they actually come on to the Internet via Whatsapp and Facebook app. t’s a very natural way for lot of these people to also do commerce via app.
— Mausam Bhatt
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