Heena Sharma Blog

  Walmart , the world’s largest retailer, said on Friday it will use its global resources to expand support for Covid-19 relief efforts in India. Walmart, the Walmart Foundation, Flipkart and PhonePe, along with Walmart’s Global Technology and Sourcing hubs, are collaborating to counter oxygen shortages, support the national vaccination drive and donate to organizations making a difference in communities nationwide. “Walmart is a global family. We feel the impact of this devastating surge on our associates, families and friends across India, and it’s important that we come together to support however we can,” said Doug McMillon, President and CEO of Walmart Inc. Walmart will donate up to 20 oxygen-generating plants and 20 cryogenic containers for oxygen storage and transportation, as well as more than 3,000 oxygen concentrators and 500 oxygen cylinders for delivering oxygen therapy to patients at home or in the hospital. These are being sourced globally and will be donated t...

  Seven times last month, Benjamin Karmis, a 26-year-old priest from Wheaton, Illinois, failed to get his hands on the latest Sony PlayStation 5 video game console from retail websites including Walmart Inc and Facebook Marketplace. But it wasn't because another person beat him to the purchase. Instead, Karmis and other shoppers were outgunned by so-called "scalper bot" software, which resellers use to snatch up products online and relist them moments later at significant mark-ups on eBay and Amazon Marketplace. The coronavirus pandemic that has kept millions of shoppers at home has also emboldened such resellers, whose high-tech arbitrage - legal in most countries - is bringing grief for everyday shoppers. Read More

Flipkart has launched a new payment method that lets customers pay some amount for a product and the balance on delivery, aiming to reduce returns and cancellations. The Walmart-owned e-commerce giant, in an email to sellers, said ‘Part-Payment’ would encourage pre-paid transactions. Customers can pay the remaining amount in cash when a product is delivered or either by online transaction. The rate card will remain the same for 'part payment' orders. E-commerce websites allow customers pre-paid, post-paid (cash on delivery) or EMI (equated monthly instalment) as options to purchase products. Most customers choose cash on delivery (CoD), which results in higher units or GMV (gross merchandise value) but risks companies a higher risk of cancellations. Flipkart told sellers ‘Part-Payment’ would help them get higher GMV growth and reduce cancellations. The company, which this week received a $1.2-billion investment from Walmart, works with over 200,000 sellers and 250,0...

Walmart-owned Flipkart said on Wednesday it would resume services and Amazon said it was working with the government to enable its deliveries after state governments reached out to the firms, which had temporarily stopped accepting new orders amid reports of police high-handedness. The Delhi police issued a statement saying they were proactively engaging with e-commerce portals and were issuing passes to ensure agents were able to commute seamlessly and deliver essential goods to residents during the 21-day lockdown. The Bengaluru police, too, came out with guidelines for issuing curfew passes. Following this, Flipkart Chief Executive Officer Kalyan Krishnamurthy said, “We have been assured of the safe and smooth passage of our supply chain and delivery executives by local law enforcement authorities and are resuming our grocery and essentials services later today (Wednesday).” Read More

Walmart-owned e-commerce firm Flipkart on Monday announced the launch of Visa Safe Click (VSC), powered by Visa, the payments technology giant. VSC, a new payment solution now available on Flipkart platform, will enable the e-commerce platform to deploy India’s first in-app device-based network authentication solution. This solution will eliminate the need for ‘one time passwords’ (OTP) for transactions up to Rs. 2,000, while also ensuring a completely secure payment experience. Flipkart said it hopes to reduce the steps in the payment system. The aim is to help consumers complete their purchase journey with ease, primarily in regions where internet connectivity and e-literacy are scarce. With this, Flipkart will offer consumers the benefits of faster checkout time, leading to more shopping carts getting fulfilled with ease. The company said that, at a time when e-commerce is witnessing an ever-growing demand, leading to higher and larger transaction volumes, VSC’s built-in ne...

Domestic e-commerce platform Flipkart is currently hosting a four-day sale of smartphones where the portal is offering deals and discounts on mobile phones from the stable of Asus, Samsung, Xiaomi, Apple, Realme, Honor, Nokia, etc. During the sale, the online shopping platform is also offering 10 per cent instant discount on SBI credit cards, subject to terms and conditions. The midrange smartphone from the stable of Chinese smartphone manufacturer Realme is currently available with Rs 1,000 instant off on prepaid payments, bringing down the effective cost of 4GB RAM and 64GB storage variant to Rs 12,990. The phone is also eligible for 10 per cent instant discount on SBI credit cards.  The recently launched Redmi Note 6 Pro smartphone with dual camera module on the back and front is currently available on the e-commerce platform at Rs 13,999 for 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage variant. The phone is eligible for 10 per cent instant discount offer on SBI credit card....

With festive sales drawing to a close, e-tailing giants Amazon and Flipkart have claimed bumper sale on their platforms, and that they were ahead of the competition, as they received orders from customers from over 99 per cent of the pin codes in the country. Citing a survey by Kantar IMRB and other reports, Amazon India Senior Vice President and Country Head Amit Agarwal said Amazon emerged as "the most visited and transacted shopping destination in India this festive season" (October 10-15, October 24-28 and November 2-5). "With 99.3 per cent of pin codes placing at least one order, 89 per cent of new customers coming from smaller towns, almost 70,000 small and medium businesses getting at least one order and new Prime memberships growing by nearly 2X, we are humbled that India trusts us to find, discover and buy anything online," he said. Asked about another report stating that Flipkart cornering 51 per cent share of the festive sale between O...

Amazon and Flipkart have cornered about three-quarters of the online Indian retail market, but other big players are getting aggressive Companies News : India's long-neglected retail market is turning into one of the world's hottest thanks to Warren Buffett, Jeff Bezos and a frenzy of billion-dollar dealmaking. Walmart Inc just wrapped up a $16 billion agreement for control of the country's leading e-commerce player, Flipkart Online Services Pvt, while Bezos' Amazon.com Inc negotiates deals with a large supermarket chain and an investment in a prominent retail conglomerate, according to local media. This week, Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc agreed to acquire a stake in the company behind digital payments leader Paytm. Why the sudden interest in India? The new optimism is fueled by rising standards of living, increases in smartphone usage and cheap data plans that are boosting internet penetration across the nation. Perhaps most important, India ...