Flipkart and Alibaba Comparison Wiki

By Tarun Chhetri and Kathy Tims

For our paper, we decided to compare two prominent e-commerce firms: India's Flipkart and China's Alibaba.  

What is E-commerce?

Electronic commerce, or e-commerce, is a term used for any type of business, commercial transaction, or transfer of information across the Internet. The business of e-commerce covers a wide range of categories from consumer based retail sites, through auction or music sites, to business exchanges trading goods and services between corporations. Electronic commerce runs on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funding transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction process, electronic data interchange, inventory management systems and automated data collection systems.[i]

E-commerce has boomed over the past five years. Business to Business, or B2B, is a type of business in which e-commerce transactions are held between businesses rather than between a business and consumer. B2B businesses deal with thousands of other businesses and anyone can access the business as customers or suppliers.[ii]

In this paper we will look at two important e-commerce firms: one from India and another from China. We will be evaluating the following information on both the firms:

1.      Historical Background of the firms.

2.      Comparative financial data,

3.      Products and services,

4.      Relationship to the government,

5.      Ownership of the firms,

6.      Competitive environment of the firms

7.      Future prospects.

 Both the countries are expending their business opportunities and luring other countries to invest into their economies.  In the case of India, recently elected Prime Minister Narandar Modi, has emphasized in his statement, “This is the age of online marketing, so accept modern science and make us of it.”

Historical background on the firm: Flipkart

E-commerce is growing in India with the annual rate of 34%, according to the Internet and Mobile Association of India, an industry trade group. The total worth of India’s online retail industry accounts for less than 1% of the country’s $500 billion present trade market although most of it remains cash driven.[iii] Flipkart CEO has total faith in the firm and believes that in about five years the business will be worth $100 billion. “ We wish to be the first $100 billion Internet company from India,” Sachin Bansal, co-founder and CEO at the company was quoted in The Economic Times.[iv]

Two computer-engineering students, Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal of Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, created Flipkart. Both the engineers grew up in Chandigarh in Northwest India, and worked for the same American technology firm. They met in Delhi in 2005 and, two years later, used $10,000 of their savings to set up an e-commerce business in a flat in Bangalore delivering books to peoples’ homes. At present Flipkart is India’s largest e-commerce company. [v]

In 2008, Flipkart introduced 24/7 consumer support services. The firm has it’s own philosophy of ‘making better our service promise’. The company’s customer service executives are trained to take spot decisions. In 2010, for the first time, Filpkart launched the service called ‘Cash on Delivery’. This extending service like cash-on-delivery and credit card payment were introduced for the customer’s comfort and satisfaction since online shopping was very new concept in India, most customers either didn’t have credit or debit cards, or were afraid to use them due to security issues.  Flipkart, allowed its customers to pay cash upon delivery and allowed them return purchased items, when the delivery person arrives at their door. In the same year, customers were also able to buy music in MP3 format from over 700 genres, and in 55 languages. The company has its own warehouses.[vi]

Source: [vii]

Flipkart is the only online player offering services like its In-a-Day Guarantee (in 50 Cities) and Same-Day-Guarantee (in 13 Cities). It has now become the one and only online marketplace for leading Indian and International brands, Flipkart is partnered with local artisans and manufacturers, Having tied up with the  (FISME) and NCDPD. [viii]

In 2011, Flipkart acquired the rights to Chakpak’s digital catalogue, which gives access to Bollywood news, photos and videos. In 2012, Flipkart had bought Letsbuy.com for US $25 million; Letsbuy.com is an Indian e-retailer in electronics.[ix] In an Rs 1,500 Crore deal, Flipkart acquired Myntra.com in 2014.

Flipkart, currently has 12,000 employees. A report in the Times of India states that out of 12,000 employees, 7000 of staff is focused on delivery. The company is thinking to give some shares of the company to the employers, that means if the company’s shares would go high to market price, employees will also get richer.[x]

Alibaba  

Alibaba is a Chinese e-commerce firm, which provides consumer-to consumer, business-to-business and business-to-consumer services through the Internet. Its 18 founders established Alibaba Group, led by Jack Ma, who was an English literature teacher. This company was started in Mr. Ma’s apartment, and now employs around 24,000 workers.[xi] Alibaba Group launched China market place, which is currently known as 1688.com for domestic whole trade. In 2000, Alibaba group raised US $20 million from an investor group led by Softbank, Goldman Sachs, just after this million $ investment, the group had organized the first West Lake Summit, in which Internet business and thought leaders were present.

In 2001, Alibaba Group expressed its mission and corporate values; this was the year, when for the first time Alibaba.com became cash flow positive and successfully registered 1 million users.

In 2003, this group trained their staff in the spite of the SARS epidemic and quarantine to prevent staff from coming to work. Later, Taobao was founded as a marketplace for online shopping. Taobao was China’s largest consumer-to-consumer online shopping platform.

Source: [xii]

In 2004, Alibaba Group raised US $82 from several first-tier investors in the largest private equity commitment. This was the first ever in the Chinese Internet sector. Netrepreneur Summit was called, in which Internet entrepreneurs were gathered. Later, Aliwangwang was launched on Taobao Marketplace, which was a personal computer-based instant messaging tool that facilitates text, audio and video communication between byers and sellers. Alipay was also launched in the same year; this was a third-party online payment platform with no transaction fees. Another benefit of this service is buyers can verify whether they are happy with goods they have bought from the group before transferring money to the seller. [xiii]

In 2005, Alibaba group succeeded yahoo partnership with forms of strategic partnership with Yahoo, and took over the operations of China Yahoo. The establishment of Taobao university program was launched, which provides e-commerce training and education to buyers and sellers.

In 2007, Alibaba.com successfully registered on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. In 2008, Taobao established Taobao Mall (Tmall.com). It was dedicated for third-party brands and retailers, and was established to complement Taobao Marketplace and consumer-to-consumer marketplace. In the same year Alibaba Group R&D Institute was also establish.

In 2009, the group established Alibaba Cloud Computing in conjunction with Alibaba Group. Alibaba Cloud Computing was aimed to build cloud computing service platforms, which had included e-commerce data mining e-commerce data processing, and data customization. Alibaba.com also announced the acquisition of HiChina, which was China’s leading Internet infrastructure service provider. 

In 2010, Alibaba Group had funded 0.3% of its revenues in environmental protection initiatives in China and around the world. Taobao Marketplace introduced Juhuasuan.com, a group shopping website in China which later became a separate business. In the same year, Alibaba.com officially launched AliExpress to enable exporters in China to reach and directly transact with consumers around the world.

In 2011, Taobao Mall, which is currently known as Tmall.com, was working on independent platform. Juhuasuan also spun off from Taobao Marketplace as an independent firm. In the same year, Alibaba Cloud Computing launched its first self-developed mobile operating system, Aliyun OS, over K-Touch Cloud Smartphone.

In 2014, for the first time, Alibaba Group began the process of filling for an initial public offering in the U.S. on 6 May 2014, Alibaba Group registered  documents to go public in the U.S, which is in a way one of the biggest initial public offering in American history. This Group has now also agreed to take 50 % stake in Guangzhou Evergrande Football Club, winners of the 2013 AFC Champions League. [xiv]

Comparative financial data on Flipkart and Alibaba-

The Chinese E-commerce industry is mush bigger the Indian E-commerce industry. The e-commerce firms in China accounts three quarters of activity by next-generation Indian e-commerce firms. The real achievement of Indian e-commerce firms has been to form reliable supply systems and chains in a country where some of the few things work smoothly.

Flipkart is a leading firm in India and has its own warehouses and delivery terms. It facilitates its customers with cash on delivery since many of the people in India are reluctant to use credit cards. India’s e-commerce industry needs billions of dollars and foreign investment to grow.[xv]

To start the company, founders had to spend around 400,000 Rs. It later raised funding through ventur funds from Accel India (US$ 1 million in 2009) and Tiger Global (US$10 million in June 2011) . Founders of Flipkart Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal have sold around 40% stake in the e-commerce till now. In 2012, Flipkart has announced the completion of its 4^th round of $150 million funidng from MIH ( Naspers Group) and ICONIQ capital. On 10 July, 2013, it had rasied a $200 million from exerting investors including Tiger Global, Naspers, accel Partners and Iconiq Capital. On 26 May 2014, Flipkart has raised $ 210 million from Yuri Milner’s DST Global and its investors Tiger Global, Naspers and Iconiq Capital. On 29 July 2014, Flipkart has raised $ 1 billion from Tiger Global Management LLC, Accel Partners, and Morgan Stanley Investment Management and new investor singapore sovereign-wealth fund GIC.[xvi]

The yearly finanacial data of Flipkart is given below

1.      Flipkart’s sales were Rs 40 million in financial year 2008-2009.

2.      Rs 200 million in financial year 2009-2010 and Rs 750 million in financial year 2010-2011.

3.      In Financial year of 2011-2012 , it set to cross Rs 5 billion (US $100 million) because internet users were increased  and most of the Indian population started holding Credit Cards.

4.      Flipkart in 2014 has projected it sales to reach by Rs 10 billion.

5.      Flipkart on an average sells 10 products per minute, and it is aiming to generate revenue of Rs 50 billion by 2015. [xvii] ([xviii])

Alibaba financial Data-

China’s e-commerce behemoth had a market capitalization of $ 168 billion as it started trading on New York’s Stock Exchange. The transactions last year over its websites totaled nearly $250 billion, compared with  $116 billion for Amazon, the American E-commerce giant, and  $1 billion for Flipkart. Indian e-commerce has no comparison to Chinese e-commerce, whether it is Alibaba or JD.com. With this year records, Alibaba handles almost 500 orders daily, which is worth of more than $9000 on an average. An average buyer around the world spends over $1000 a year, where as the figure is very less as compared to Flipkart.[xix] Alibaba signed up 24 million new active buyers in the three months to June, and the value of transaction was 45% higher than is the same period of 2013. 

Alibaba’s operating margin in the year to march was surprising around 47%. Alibaba attracts more shoppers, merchants display their goods, and it also lures more buyers. The last set of financial data before the company went to I.P.O, products development costs rose by 70%, although sales and marketing expenses nearly doubled. Alibaba has no ownership stake, and it receives 37.5% of the unit’s pretax and has a right to the same proportion of its equity value in an eventual I.P.O.

International sales of the firm accounted for less than a tenth of revenue in the most recent financial year. But a recent partnership with Singapore Post clearly states that the company is seriously willing to look beyond China’s boarders. Alibaba and its affiliates, so far in this financial year have spend around $ 7.5 billion on acquisitions and investments because company has pushed into industries form media to mapping. One of the major drawback of Alibaba is that, China has a ruling communist party which can cut Alibaba down to size if it were deemed too powerful.[xx] Alibaba is exposed to battles over accounting regulation and the semi-legal structures of the other companies use to control their mainland operations like Flipkart.

Products and Services-

Flipkart.com is an India’s leading e-commerce company and marketplace, which have over 19 million products across 70+ categories. The main categories are

1.      Mobiles

2.      Televisions

3.      Computer Accessories

4.      Software and Antivirus

5.      Larger Appliances

6.      Health Care Devices

7.      Gaming

8.      Audio and Video etc.

Services Provided By Flipkart- 

1.      Membership

2.      My Account and Registration

3.      Platform for Transaction and Communication

4.      Disclaiming services

5.      Contents Posting on Website

6.      Privacy

7.      Disclaimer of Warranties and Liabilities

8.      Selling

9.      Wallet pre-paid payments, refill of wallet, refund of wallet Amount.

10.  30 Days Replacement Guarantee

11.  Digital Content: Music

12.  Software

13.  Digital content: eBooks

14.  Payments by Credit cards, Internet Banking, Debit Cards, Wallet, Cash on Delivery.

Products on Alibaba

1.      Crude Oil

2.      Contracts and Tickets

3.      Gold, Silver and Other precious Metals

4.      Real Estate

5.      Software

6.      Wildlife and Animal Products

7.      Tabaco Products

8.      Police-Related items

9.      Circumvention Devices and Hacking Equipment

10    . Hazardous Materials

11    .  Foods

12    .  Firearms, Ammunition, Weapons, Explosives, etc.

 Services Provided by Alibaba.

1.      Alipay China, Alipay Europe, Alipay US

2.      Online Transactions

3.      Escrow of payments- Buyers of an online Transactions shall pay the full transaction price under the Online Transactions in clear funds to the bank account or other accounts using the payments methods both designated by Alipay on the Alibaba.com Sites

4.      User’s Responsibilities- All Online Transactions are concluded by and between Users only

5.      Personal Data Privacy

6.      Suspension or Breakdown of system

7.      Disclaimer and Limitation of Liability

8.      Jurisdiction

9.   Consumer-to-consumer, business-to-consumer and business-to-business sales services via web portals. [xxi]

Relationship to the Government

Alibaba and Flipkart have varying relationships to the government of their respective countries.

Flipkart’s business structuring falls into a “grey area of the law” as far as FDI rules are concerned.[xxii] In India, companies with FDI are not permitted to do e-commerce in multi- or single-brand retail. However, like many India e-commerce companies, Flipkart has restructured itself to get around these guidelines. Originally, this was accomplished by using “the two-company route.” [xxiii] WS Retail in was set up in 2009[xxiv] as a Business to Customer entity (B2C) turning Flipkart Online Services (FOS) into a wholesale business (B2B). Flipkart has since sold WS Retail although it still accounts for more than 75% of Flipcart’s business. [xxv] In 2011, the holding company, Flipkart Pvt. Ltd was set up in Singapore and is the holding entity for most of its various entities. Now, Flipkart functions as a marketplace that charges its vendors a commission on each sale.[xxvi]

Chart of Flipkart’s structure [xxvii]

Due to the questionable legality of Flipkart’s structure, India’s Enforcement Directorate was told to investigate if it had violated the policy prohibiting foreign-funded retail operation when it received millions in FDI from 2008-2012 and determined that it was safely within the gray area.^[xxviii]

In China, the role of the state and Party is pervasive in almost all private organizations. As the government can make or break any business, to gain support it is important for a business demonstrate how it provides value for the country and city/province. [xxix] For instance, Alibaba’s been in investing in industries that are outside their core interests, but that Beijing wants shaken up. One example of this is the money-marker fund Alipay launched last year that shook up China’s sclerotic state banking system.[xxx] Also, Alibaba has connections to the Politburo as four of the Chinese companies investing in it have had executives who are either sons or grandsons of the Standing Committee. Such connections are helpful for securing deals and are considered to be potentially advantageous in China’s competitive business environment.[xxxi] Similar to Flipkart, Alibaba’s method for getting FDI is a “grey area in the Chinese legal system.” The government is inclined to “look the other way” though[xxxii]    

Ownership of the Firm

Flipkart is a private company. Most of Flipkarts entities are owned by Flipkart Pvt. Ltd, a holding Singapore-based holding company.[xxxiii] Sachin and Binny Bansal and their senior management currently control about 25% of Flipkart.[xxxiv] Tiger Global, a US-based hedge fund holds close to 30%.[xxxv] Accel Partners, a venture capital firm,[xxxvi] and Naspers, a global platform operator,[xxxvii] are the other two entities with whom ownership of the firm largely rests.[xxxviii]

Alibaba went public this September with a record-breaking Initial Public Offering (IPO) of $25 billion.[xxxix] The top five principle shareholders are Softbank (32.4%), Yahoo (16.3%), Jack Ma (7.8%), Joseph Tsai (3.2%), and Silver Lake affiliated entities (2.2%).[xl] However, it is important to note that under Chinese law it is illegal for foreigners to own stock in internet companies. The stock owned by foreign investors is actually for a Variable Interest Entity (VIE) which is a holding company that owns a Chinese subsidiary which in turn has a contract with the original firm, Alibaba in this case. The contract both entitles the subsidy to the profits of the original firm and obligates it to the firm’s debts.[xli] The relationship looks something like this:[xlii]

In this arrangement, the foreign holding company with its Chinese subsidiary don’t technically have any control of the original firm. The danger in this was seen in 2011 when Jack Ma unilaterally removed AliPay from Alibaba because the People’s Bank of China had announced new rules that would have limited AliPay’s ability to operate if it remained a part of Alibaba’s partnership with Yahoo. While the two companies eventually came to terms on compensation to Yahoo, most financial analysts considered them to be very unfavorable to Yahoo.[xliii]  

Competitive Environment of the Firm

Although it is India’s largest e-commerce firm,[xliv] Flipkart is not without competition – both online and off. According to a survey by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry, in 2013 the e-commerce market grew 88% and competition is heating up. Among the competition is Snapdeal, an online retail marketplace that became the fourth Indian e-tailer to be valued at $1 billion in May,[xlv] and Amazon Marketplace. In India, Amazon is a platform for third-party retailers rather than a retailer, but has a wider range of offerings and deeper pockets than Flipkart.[xlvi] Furthermore, when Flipkart’s “Big Billion Sale” went awry, Snapdeal filled in with better discounts, offers and services gaining it positive reviews and an experience that could potentially play a role in brand loyalty.[xlvii] Offline, some traditional retailers have had their sales drop more than 35-40% during the last three months due to the online firms’ marketing blitz.[xlviii] Not about to go down without a fight, dozens of these retailers have banded together and written to the Competition Commission of India complaining that their online counterparts are skirting the laws on FDI and selling goods below cost.[xlix]

Chinese government policies have made the country very inhospitable to foreign companies while regulators appear eager to target them for alleged misdeeds.[l] This reduces competition on the home front from foreign companies; however competition within China is still stiff. Smaller rivals chip away at its business and competitors differentiate themselves via specialization.[li] Domestically, some of Alibaba’s biggest competitors are Baidu, an internet search company, and Tencent, a social media and internet games company. In recent years, internet users in China have shifted to mobile. Percentage of Chinese interested in buying goods and services via mobile devices has gone up from 30% three or four years ago to around 85% - a shift most beneficial to Tencent with its mobile messaging service WeChat. Recently, Tencent bought a stake in JD.com, the second largest e-commerce site after Alibaba.[lii] Although JD only accounted for 22.4% of the B2C market in 2013 compared to Alibaba’s 50.1%, the combination of JD’s 100+ million users with WeChat’s 600+ million accounts could be a serious threat to Alibaba’s number one status.[liii] Another challenge comes from the fact that Dalian Wanda, a real estate developer, has joined both Tencent and Baidu in a joint venture with plans to allow customers to find deals at Wanda’s hotels, shopping centers, and cinemas using Tencent’s apps and Baidu’s maps.[liv] Offline, China’s banks are striking back against money market funds such as Alibaba’s Yu’ebao by lobbying regulators to introduce curbs on the growth of non-banks’ online funds. Meanwhile, they are creating their own cash-on-demand money market products and tweaking their wealth management products, alternatives to traditional savings deposits with higher yields, to make them more competitive with the online money market funds.[lv]

Future Prospects

Currently, Flipkart’s focus is on growing market share[lvi] and not profitability.[lvii] As company data showed an increase in women shoppers, women's fashion was seen as a strategic focus.[lviii] Towards this end, it aquired Myntra, a fashion and apparel e-tailer that was one of the fastest growing e-commerce companies in India.[lix] This aquisition gives Flipkart possession of about 50% of the organized lifestyle market in India – a figure it plans to increase to 70%.[lx] As yet, Flipkart has no plans to go public in the near future.[lxi]

China’s e-commerce market is forecast to be bigger than the existing markets of America, Britain, Germany, France, and Japan combined by 2020.[lxii] As the penetration rate for e-commerce in China is only about 9% , penetration rate is a major focus for growth.[lxiii] Alibaba intends to focus on expanding into second- and third-tier Chinese cities in the near future, while comprehensively preparing for globalization in the next three to five years.[lxiv] Towards this end, it has been investing in any company that is believed will bring more customers or will improve its customers’ experience.[lxv] It also has made plans to streamline deliveries by establishing warehouses at critical chokepoints and pledged to invest 100 billion renminbi for an initiative to link up third-party companies that deliver its shipments in order to anticipate orders better and make deliveries more efficient.[lxvi]

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http://www.flipkart.com/about-us

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[ix] Choudhary, U.

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Available from: http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21573980-alibaba-trailblazing-chinese-internet-giant-will-soon-go-public-worlds-greatest-bazaar

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[xvii] Wikipedia.(2014) Flipkart.

[xviii] Kamath, R. (2014) Investors value Flipkart at 5 times its sales. Business Standard.

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Available from: http://www.economist.com/news/business-and-finance/21619213-chinas-big-e-commerce-site-dominates-its-american-peers-how-alibaba-measures-up

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Available from: http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21573981-chinas-e-commerce-giant-could-generate-enormous-wealthprovided-countrys-rulers-leave-it

[xxi] Alibaba.(2014) Services. [online] 27 January 2014. Available from:

http://news.alibaba.com/article/detail/help/100454412-1-alipay-escrow-services-agreement.html

[xxii] Prasad, G. C. (2014) Enforcement Directorate probe finds no FDI violation by

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[online] 25 November 2014. Available from: http://www.livemint.com/Companies/VXr8oJzNJ4daOYSO5wNETN/Inside-Flipkarts-complex-structure.html

[xxv] Verma, S. and Dalal, M.

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Caravan. [online] 23 June 2014. Available from: http://www.caravanmagazine.in/vantage/flipkart-dodged-laws

[xxvii] Verma, S. and Dalal, M.

[xxviii] Prasad, G. C.

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[xxxiii] Verma, S. and Dalal, M.

[xxxiv] Phadnis, S. (2013) Flipkart founders, Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, get

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[xxxv] Verma, S. and Dalal, M.

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[xxxviii] Verma, S. and Dalal, M.

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Setting $25 billion. The New York Times. [online] 22 September 2014. Available from: http://dealbook.nytimes.com//2014/09/22/alibabas-i-p-o-raises-25-billion-to-set-global-record/

[xl] Alibaba Group Holding Limited (2014) Principal and Selling Shareholders.

[online] Available from: http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1577552/000119312514347620/d709111d424b4.htm#toc709111_19

[xli] Ford, J. (2014) No one who bought Alibaba stock actually owns Alibaba. The

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[xlii] Damodaran, A. (2014) Alibaba’s Governance by Politburo: Corporate

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[xliii] Ford, J.

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