Flipkart: Advertising is not equal to Marketing.

I usually don’t buy books online. Yeah, I know its kinda strange but when it comes to books, I am more of an instant gratification person. If I want to read a book, I will want to go buy it that same very day. Which is why I had never bought anything from flipkart yet.

Was looking to get a book a few days back and since I was running short on time (and neither did i have a burning desire to read Rashmi Bansal’s “I have a Dream” the very same day) I thought i would give flipkart a shot.

I went ahead and placed an order for the ‘bestseller’ on the 8th of September. The order confirmation email provided an ETA of 2-3 business days. Having heard of flipkart’s focus on customer service, I assumed I would receive the book the very next day. Here is what i based my assumption on:

1.) I am a first time customer so I assumed that they would have systems in place to ensure “Customer Delight” to first time clients.
2.) I live in Gurgaon which is barely an hour away from their Distribution center in Delhi so I assumed their internal logistics delivery team would deliver it in a cinch.

Well, as they rightfully say, when you assume, you make an ass out of u and me !

When i did not get the book after 3 days, I went to their Facebook page to see if other peeps were also facing similar issues. Turns out they were. And folks were not raving about their call center experience either.

Since I wasn’t in a tearing hurry to get the book, I just assumed it would arrive in the next few days. And it did finally, on the 14th of September.

A very good friend of mine works at FK so I gave him a call to apprise him about the situation. He did get back to me with the ‘reason’ for the delay. Turns out I had entered the incorrect pin code due to which systems had scheduled it for delivery with an external vendor instead of their internal logistics which would have resulted in a faster delivery time. Fair Enough.

This post is not however about the delayed delivery. Its about how companies gradually get sucked into the “marketing =  advertising” game and “focus on customer acquisition at any cost”.

Ever since they have been valued at a billion dollars, it seems FK’s focus is on acquiring new customers even if they don’t make any money on them.

For example, the market price of the book i bought was Rs 150 but I got it at Rs 101 including free delivery. Flipkart probably lost money on the deal but I guess someone is some business function consoled themselves with the fact that they had acquired a new customer.

What really surprised me was their seeming lack of a strategy and plan for converting new customers into repeat customers.

During this entire episode, nobody from their CSR team:

1.) Called me to confirm if I had received the book within the SLA or 2-3 business days

2.) No one called for feedback on the ordering or delivery experience or any other issues I may have faced.

They just assumed that I was a happy customer since they did not hear back from me (because despite the delay, I did not write to their CSR or call them or post on their fb wall for various reasons).

Flipkart has rolled out television advertising but it seems to me they will just be compounding their problem more as part of this marketing initiative: More customers = more issues on account of sub optimal backend systems.

They are at an inflexion point of growth it might do them some good if they spend a portion of their marketing budget on analytics for new customers so that they turn into happy repeat customers.

As for me, I will probably give them another chance though it wont be without any misgivings either.

How to unlock the iPhone (3Gs)

On a recent India trip, wanted to use my iPhone 3Gs handset with my local india number. Tried ‘googling’ the usual unlocking methods but somehow could not get the steps right(Later realised that i needed to download the ipsw file). Eventually, I found a kind and helpful soul on Craiglist/Bangalore who sent me a simple step-by-step process to get the job done.

Apparently, there are a lot of hacks out there who charge money to unlock your iPhone. Sumeet Gandhi is not one of them. Infact, his motive is pretty simple. He wants to create an iPhone users community in Bangalore and by helping more people unlock their phones, the reasoning is that the community will increase. Pretty neat.

Outlined below is the process you need to follow if you need to unlock the iPhone 3Gs (basedband 15.04.02). All credits due to Sumeet and the respective sites from where some of the screenshots are taken.

And ofcourse to the Dev Team. They are the original rockstars

Note: Whatever you may do, DONT ever pay any of the sites which come up first on google search for the unlocking software. They will charge you a bunch of money and send you software which has been developed by the Dev Team and is freely available on the net. If you do feel a need to spend money, send it to some charity along with a postcard to the Dev Team as they don’t accept donations.

Hack along.

1. iPhone2,1_4.2.1_8C148a_Restore.ipsw (Download Here). This is ipsw for ios 4.2.1. Size – 410951 KB

2. Itunes version 10.0 or greater.

3. Redsnow redsn0w_win_0.9.6b5 (Download Here). There might be a wait time of few seconds once done then the download link will appear. Size around 10.5 MB

4. Once all is downloaded turn off your iphone. (Push power button for few seconds and then slide the red slider).

5. Set the compatibility mode of Redsnow to windows xo sp3 by right click and properties.

6. Now connect your switched off iphone to your machine. Keep it switched off don’t turn it on.

7. Then click start program within the compatibility mode window.

8. The redsnow window will appear browse to ipsw file.

9.

10. After Redsn0w identifies the IPSW, click ” Next “.

11.

12. Now choose the ” Install Cydia ” and ” Install iPad baseband ” options and click ” Next “.

13.

14. Accept the warning by clicking ” Yes “.

15. Now go into recovery mode by pressing the power and buttons for 10 seconds and then release the power button, but keep holding the home button until the iOS 4.2.1 jailbreak process begins.

16.

17. Wait till Redsn0w finish the iOS 4.2.1 jailbreak process.

18. Once done follow the below process for unlocking

19. Launch Cydia.

20. Choose the ” Manage ” tab at the bottom.

21. Choose the ” Sources ” option.

22. Tap the ” Edit ” button and then on the ” Add ” button.

23. Then add the source ” http://repo666.ultrasn0w.com “.

24.

25. After the source is added, search for ” ultrasn0w 1.2 ” in Cydia.

26.

27. Install the Ultrasn0w 1.2 app to unlock iOS 4.2.1 firmware.

28. Restart your iPhone.

29. That’s it! Now you have an unlocked your iPhone 3G / 3GS running iOS 4.2.1.

Bootstrapping…

Sometime in late August, Sramana Mitra had posted a special offer for Venturewoods’ readers. The deal was that the first 10 users interested in reviewing her latest book would receive a free copy. Free stuff is always nice, but alas, I wasnt one of the lucky few on her list.

Which is why, it was a pleasant surprise when I received a copy of her book Bootstrapping: Weapon Of Mass Reconstruction, a few weeks ago in the mail from her PR agent. Its volume 2 of her Enterpreneur Journeys series.

This review is long overdue and here it is.

Bootstrapping:WMR is a slim volume which primarily contains interviews with 13 enterpreneurs (almost all related to the internet industry) who started on their own, and how they bootstrapped their way to success, before reaching out to VC’s for venture capital.

My initial impression as I started reading this was, that this books seems pretty similar to what the guys at Road Trip Nation have been trying to do.

If you are a reader of Sramana’s blog, you will know that she is a great proponent of entrepreneurship and bootstrapping as a way to get your venture out of the door (rather than banging on VC’s doors)…Infact, in the beginning of this book, she also outlines that ‘mom-n-pop’ enterpreneurship is one of the ways to get the US economy back on track and even exhorts Barack Obama to do more than pay lip service to the SME sector.

However, WMR is pretty different from RTN even though both have stories about people who followed their ‘passion’.

While RTN talks to people across all sectors (and not necessarily entrepreneurs) who believed in their gut and carved their own road rather than doing the ‘doctor-lawyer-banker’ routine, Sramana walks a different line.

Her interviews are exclusively with enterpreneurs AND who bootstrapped their ventures. The interviews are pretty detailed and provide good insights into how various folks started their business (their initial struggles – the perseverance- and how one becomes an overnight success through 10 years of hardwork, etc etc)… I follow Om Malik and Rafat Ali‘s blogs so it was very interesting to read their stories.

A very decent read overall, and I loved the last few lines in the book,

” We are nothing. We are insignificant. We are a single speck of dust in the continuum of time.
So why be afraid of failure ? “

So if you are budding enterpreneur, or even planning to become one, it will do you good to grab a copy.

What was slightly disappointing, or rather what i was expecting in the book was more of her original insights, but I guess the intention of the book was slightly different, and we anyway have her blog for that

Another small niggling point was the design of the book. All her 3 volume covers seem to have the ‘open palms’ pic, which is also the same as her blog mast head. Not sure if this was a branding strategy but the book cover design could definitely have been improved.

I know they say, one should not judge a book by its cover, but I am one of those folks to whom the cover of the book makes a difference. A couple of years ago, i had picked up ‘Shantaram‘ solely based on its cover design, and its one of the best books I have ever read

The RTI Act…

Was recently doing some research on ‘How to file an RTI application’.

I was vaguely aware of the RTI Act and how it had been enacted to bring about transparency and efficiency within our government machinery, etc etc..

Its been almost 5 years since the act has been in force so I thought it would be a breeze for me to file an application…online !!

But no, our great government, with all its great intentions has still not developed a system where you can file an application online.You gotta do it the old fashioned way…’write down the application on a piece of paper and send it off to the Post office along with a fee of Rs 10′.

Can you imagine how many people do NOT file an application because of the ‘physical hassle’…

How difficult is it to have a system which could allow you to file an application online ?

But wait, maybe its by design and in order to discourage ‘frivolous’ applications (It will be easier to file online so more ppl will file applications which means more work for our babus)… Who knows ?

While the Act is great in spirit, it needs to be accessible much more easily (i.e for starters, the ability to file an application online)

Any takers for building such a system ? More importantly, if a private entrepreneur were to attempt building something, would the government allow it to flourish or throw a wrench in the works ??

Guess the only way to find out is to try and build something like that

Here is a good place to find what has been happening wrt to the Act since 2005. Somebody call Vishal has been religiously updating the blog

And its not all bad too.. Here is a list of some of the success stories…