The Flipkart-Amazon rivalry in India is something every consumer is well acquainted with, and so is he acquainted with Flipkart’s constant efforts to allure its customers. Since the Flipkart-Walmart deal, the home-grown e-commerce giant is leaving no stones unturned in proving its mettle to its valuable customers – be it through great discounts, better deals or reasonable prices! Now, it has come up with an exclusive plan, attempting to launch its customer loyalty programme “Flipkart Plus”. Going by the sources, through this programme, Flipkart would directly compete against Amazon’s subscription service “Amazon Prime”.
Flipkart Plus: Rewarding Shoppers For Loyalty
As of now, the service would reportedly be launched on Independence Day, i.e. on 15th August 2018. Though Flipkart is aiming at Amazon Prime with Flipkart Plus, the service would be different than Amazon Prime. Unlike the onboarding fee of Amazon Prime, Flipkart Plus would not be charging any fee from its customers. Flipkart has planned to roll out the services for all the regular customers.
To make it more appeasing Flipkart has come out with something unique in this field – a points-based program where its customers would be able to earn points/coins with every purchase they make on the platform. These loyalty points can be redeemed by the customers for a lot of benefits – a few of them being free deliveries, early shipping along with an early access to its items during the sales. This new loyalty program is devised by the Bengaluru headquartered company in a bid to take on its competitor Amazon’s Prime program.
Though it is confirmed that customers would be entitled to points for each order they place, but the criteria for the customers to earn the loyalty points is not yet clear. Moreover, the value of the Flipkart Plus coins and the category that the company is targeting to push have also not been disclosed.
What’s Exciting About Flipkart Plus?
The best part about the coins earned through Flipkart Plus program is that this digital currency can be redeemed on a lot of other partner platforms of Flipkart, a few of them being Hotstar, BookMyShow, Zomato, MakeMyTrip and CCD, where the consumers can use their points to avail the services. The company is betting big on the soon-to-be-introduced loyalty program.
According to the official statement by the company, “Flipkart Plus is an India-first program that is the result of years of rigorous data analysis, and Flipkart’s deep understanding of customer preferences. Further, all major internet companies will participate in this initiative to make it one of the best benefits program ever launched in India.”
The e-commerce major is confident that the program would be taken in good spirits by its customers, as the program is promising to reward them with a wide range of benefits, such as free & fast delivery, early access to major sale events such as big festive season sales, and an enhanced customer support experience. The e-commerce giant has planned to invest $173 million to spend on the services offered by the program in the upcoming three years.
In a nutshell, the points would be like a key, which would unlock innumerable deals, offers and unprecedented benefits for online shoppers!
Flipkart Plus: Not The First Attempt By Flipkart
This is not the first time when Flipkart is trying t lure customers with its loyalty program. The Indian e-commerce major has previously also attempted to roll out a loyalty program, which did not taste much success. The program called as “Flipkart First”, was launched in 2014, and died within a year of its inauguration. The new programme has taken inspiration from “Flipkart First” and has learnt from its past mistakes.
The company says that “Flipkart Plus” is launched after a rigorous customer research in the past few months, in order to give the correct shape to it.
