Flipkart’s Bansals become delivery boys for Big Billion Days
16 Oct 2015
If you live in Bengaluru and order goods from Flipkart in the next few days, don't be surprised if one of the company's co-founders - Sachin Bansal or Binny Bansal – land up on your doorstep for delivery.
In a unique promotion for their widely publicised Big Billion Days, the Bansals were spotted driving around the streets of Bengaluru on Friday personally hand-delivering the ordered goods to customers.
Though the ongoing 'Big Billion Days' sale ends on Saturday 17 October, the personal visits by Bansals to customers will continue for the next 15-20 days.
"If your products are delivered by @_sachinbansal or @binnybansal today, don't be surprised. Take a selfie," Flipkart tweeted today.
The move has been planned to gain an insight into the psyche of its customers, the company said.
Sachin and Binny both posted selfies taken with the customers they visited, who appeared more than enthusiastic to see Flipkart co-founders at their doorstep.
Other senior executives of Flipkart are also pitching in to hand-deliver the orders. The list includes head of Flipkart's e-commerce business Mukesh Bansal, chief product officer Punit Soni, chief business officer Ankit Nagori and senior vice-president for customer experience K V Anand.
"Over the next 15-20 days, everyone will go out and deliver to customers, starting with some of the leaders," said Binny Bansal, cofounder of, India's largest online marketplace.
While Flipkart has grown to become an e-commerce juggernaut valued at over $15 billion, the gesture is also a reminder of Flipkart's early days back in 2007, when the two Bansals scurried across Bengaluru on their scooters to deliver books.
"We want to learn more about the market, customers and understand what the need is for the future - also to thank them," said Bansal, who has seen his personal fortune swell because of Flipkart's valuation. Both the Bansals debuted on Forbes' rich list this year with an estimated wealth of about $1.3 billion each.
Earlier this week, after Flipkart kicked off Big Billion Days, a five-day shopping festival offering discounts, the company sent 50,000 postcards to prospective buyers in some of India's remotest areas, encouraging them to shop online.
Unlike last year's Big Billion Days, this time there were fewer glitches. "This not only changes things for Flipkart, but it changes the course of e-commerce in India. It pushes the boundaries for everybody in the ecosystem, including sellers and logistics providers," Bansal said.
On average seller will now easily be able to handle five times the regular shipments, he said.
Flipkart is targeting sales of over 10 million units of different products over the five days. "That's the sales we do in a month," said Bansal.
Over 3 million phones were sold on the first two days of the sale. Traffic to Flipkart, mainly through its mobile app, reached 70 million visits, the company said.
Anticipating huge demand, the company had moved operations to a bigger data centre in Chennai earlier this year. It also ramped up its logistics and seller capabilities. From less than 4,000 sellers on its platform last year, Flipkart now has 50,000 sellers.
"We've had to pick up a month's worth of products in five days and we've already shipped lakhs of units to customers," Bansal said.
