Flipkart's management needs a thorough shake-up. From the last few months we are seeing increasingly forceful attempts at swindling customers to use Flipkart's Mobile app. Latest of which is "App Only" deals.
If you venture to buy a smartphone as I did today and on a number of other occasions, you'll find that either the deals, accessories for what you are buying would be app only. Say, if you wanted to buy a screen guard for the Moto X Play, which you were looking to buy alongwith the phone on your Desktop, you would have to switch to the Flipkart App.
Being Mobile First is one thing, forcing customers to download and use your app is completely different. In my view, which is not based on any legal standing, this is unethical. You are not giving an option to the customer about their platform of choice, moreover there's no added advantage of purchasing an item on an app. The shopping experience remains similar and I would rather continue shopping on my desktop, if I so desire, than shifting platforms in between.
Flipkart has been increasingly aggressive on its stance of going completely Mobile. First they killed their mobile website, again forcing customers to download the app if they wanted to shop on their smartphone/tablet. Now, we have these app-only deals.
They went App-only with Myntra back in April/May which saw an instant dip in sales of more than 10%. Flipkart too has been toying with the idea of going App only leading to this. Just last month the etailer also launched its own pseudo social network "Ping" to help customers chat while shopping. Although a novel idea, it again wants to force users to remain within the confines of the Flipkart app. For eg. you can't use Ping on the desktop and there is no way to connect it with your existing social networks.
Forcing users to a particular platform will back-fire, you can already start seeing consumer backlash. But its not just about the informed user, making deals app-only makes user experience bad for everyone. We've heard Flipkart say that they are all about User Experience and how they are working on making it better. Well, they have taken a wrong turn.
Seriously @Flipkart, Most of the products are 'App' only and the rest are 'Out of Stock'? #GrowUp pic.twitter.com/Rr8Qq4UnsS
— Vijay Raj (@rajvj) September 22, 2015Flipkart needs to really think through this communication for app-only. This response is a rude joke. pic.twitter.com/Q54q6yzy65
— Karthik Srinivasan (@beastoftraal) September 22, 2015Mukesh Bansal, Head of commerce for Flipkart said this when Myntra went app-only:
“Think of all the hardware and software features that one can leverage, like the camera, contacts, and location, to understand the user’s context and deliver an experience that is deeply personalized."
So, its not just about the user experience, but the competitive advantage Flipkart seeks to have with this treasure trove of user data.
At a time when India is poised for an internet revolution with laws being drafted on Net Neutrality, Broadband penetration and healthy debates on Internet censorship, this dictatorial attitude with Flipkart needs to be checked. One would argue, that we have the choice to move to another eCommerce website for our shopping and well that's what people, including me, are most likely to do.
