Sunday, January 16, 2011

Brand Update : Flipkart Goes for Rebranding

Is three years too short for a rebranding exercise ?? Flipkart thinks that it is not. The brand which started off as a no-nonsense online bookstore has transformed itself in many ways within a short span of three years. May be in digital marketing world, three years may be equivalent to three decades.


Flipkart made its major change in the business model in 2010 when it included movies and mobiles in its offerings. The brand shed its image of a bookstore and moved into an online store. Now in the beginning of 2011, the brand has made significant change in the logo and other brand elements such
as color scheme and website design. The new logo now carries the brand name and an emblem too.

Simplicity and minimalism which was the trademark of Flipkart logo has been compromised for this rebranding exercise.


But why do a brand which is just three years old do a drastic rebranding exercise ? Has the old brand elements became stale ? or is it a change for the heck of it ?According to a report in plugged.in , Flipkart is going to launch more products in the consumer electronics space and the current rebranding is aimed at that.

I am totally confused with their business model right now. Flipkart may have tasted success in their mobile + movies vertical and this may have given confidence for a full fledged transformation from a bookstore to an online store. The next logical step would be to change the landing page for the site. The landing page is still the bookstore and it will be matter of time that flipkart will change the landing page by including other product categories.

So another brand has moved from a simple solution provider to a metamediary solving many problems. I will miss the minimalism and the focus and the simplicity. It may be that an e-commerce site cannot survive on books alone. However, this change of Flipkart opens up an opportunity for a simple online bookstore.

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3 comments:

  1. Really love ur articles!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Agree with you. Yet, the new logo has come very well.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am quite happy with their expanded retail options. The only thing that can kill them (and the thing that made me a loyal customer) is if they compromise on the quality, delivery time and prompt customer service for the orders. Amazon has grown gigantic while retaining these original qualities. In India it is tougher, but I hope FlipKart can manage the miracle :-)

    Nice article.

    ReplyDelete

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