Why going ‘mobile only’ is bad for Flipkart

I like to choose. I go online shopping because it is convenient. I don’t like to use apps on my phone. They don’t fall in line with my idea of keeping unnecessary noise out of life. So to me, by going mobile only, Flipkart is saying, it will take a call on who it wants as its customers. This is where it lost me.

What’s wrong?

While its statistics may show a major conversion rate increase with the kind of personalization it can do with the user information app provides and marketing opportunities that it opens up, going app only goes against my interest of browsing in the comfort of my home and on the same screen that I use for work. What flipkart should wonder is this: If the people who are browsing on laptops, stop doing that, what drop in the word-of-mouth will it create. It needs to find out how people ‘decide’ to buy.

• I understand that browsing in the app would increase my probability of buying from that same app. What they need to look at is what percentage of apps remain installed for more than a month?
• I understand they want to capture the mature audience who is short on time, heavy on money and have the app installed. But if that’s where they want to be, then Amazon has already arrived, and Jabong and Shopclues are waiting for some space to clear up – the space flipkart occupies on the google search. As the bounce rates for flipkart increase, the competitors will merrily grow faster.

Taking a step back

Let’s go a little back in time and see why ecommerce started. The reason was that the buyers were going online. Did that mean that the brick and mortar shops would be closed and the existing businesses would ban access to stores because people can now check the stock online? I know that the business model itself, for online and offline stores is different. But to me, as a buyer, business model doesn’t matter. To me, it is about where I find that dress I want to buy, in the most convenient way possible. I challenge the assumption that browsing and choosing on mobile is desirable. It is not.

The entire idea of shopping as an experience seems to have lost on this move. So I am glad I have comparable options after flipkart abandons this turf. I love shopping on Flipkart, but this time they got it wrong.