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.

And of course, viral imagination. Link via Seth Godin