Flipkart's BBD plans: Big Billion branded aircraft and burgers

In the run up to the company's biggest sale event of the year, Big Billion Days (BBD), CEO Krishnamurthy laid out plans in front of his employees

Wearing a T-shirt that read ‘BBD is better than amazing’ Kalyan Krishnamurthy took the stage on Thursday to address the biggest Townhall meeting organised till date by Flipkart. 

The word ‘amazing’ on his T-shirt was in the same font as the brand name of its biggest competitor. The 1,400 odd ‘Flipsters’, or employees, attending the Townhall were amused to see that. Another few thousand employees joined the meeting through livestream at more than 26 locations, including offices and warehouses. 

In the run up to the company’s biggest sale event of the year, Big Billion Days (BBD), Krishnamurthy laid out plans in front of his employees. Krishnamurthy and his team are planning a major advertisement and marketing blitzkrieg over the next two weeks — some of the props are aircraft wrapped in decals of BBD advertisements to special burgers in the name of the magnum opus sale, slated to start on September 29. 

According to sources close to Flipkart, the company has charted out an ambitious plan and believes that this year its gross merchandise value (GMV) would be 11 times more than what it was on a non-sale days. 

According to sources, in a first, Flipkart has tied-up with SpiceJet to hold a massive “marketing in the air” campaign. “More than 10 aircraft would be wrapped in Flipkart BBD decals and around 70 planes would have BBD tags and stickers on the passenger seats. The move would help in reaching out to easily around 7 million people and informing them about the sale,” said a source close to the company.

Not only air, sources said that this year BBD plans to targets plates as well. Flipkart has got into a tie-up with Burger King. The burger giant would be launching a special ‘Big Billion Day’ Whopper in 50 cities and 225 stores. 

The company is also launching a host of offers and in partnership with other apps including Ola, Oyo, Urban Clap, PhonePe, and Zomato, among others.

The company has tied up with banks including Axis Bank and ICICI Bank and plans to extend credit to more than 50 million customers this year during BBD. Close to 30 brands, including Samsung, Xiaomi, GoPro, Titan, Lifestyle, and Under Armour, among others, would be launching everything starting from mobiles phones, fashion, and other products during the six-day sale. 

According to sources, discounts might go down on the platform this year and the company would be focusing on providing the best experience they can. With the launch of Hindi language on the platform, Flipkart hopes to bring in a whole new set of users this BBD.

Consumers will have access to the widest selection of brands and products across categories from lakhs of sellers, brands and artisans. There would be deals in key categories such as mobiles, gadgets, TVs, appliances, fashion, personal care, furniture. 

For the first time, consumers will also now be able to buy insurance for appliances during the BBD. Over the past year, Flipkart has worked closely with brands to share insights and has co-created products tailored to the unique needs of Indian consumers. Flipkart has also scaled up the selection available under its private brands, with 10,000 plus products under 200 categories specially designed for consumers.