Flipkart has finally revealed the details for its Flipkart Plus loyalty program, which many believe is Walmart’s counter-punch to Amazon Prime membership. As expected, Flipkart Plus (FP) enrolment went live on 15 August via its website.
Flipkart, which was recently bought by Walmart has been quiet for a while in the market, but with Plus it will be hoping to grab the attention of consumers, who have slowly been gravitating towards Amazon in recent times.
Earlier this month, reports talked up FP but details of the so-called free-to-all membership were not revealed. So, what is Flipkart Plus, how does work and what benefits does it offer. Here’s everything you’d want to know.
You can enrol for Flipkart Plus via the mobile app only.
Shop for Coins
Flipkart is heavily relying on people to make repeat purchases on its platform. This could be their way of racking up the sales numbers, which would definitely please the big bosses at Flipkart. While FP is free of cost but just like Reliance Jio’s recent initiatives, the term ‘effectively’ carries a steep caveat.
The coins have a big role to play in the world of Flipkart Plus and that’s the price you’d have to pay (more like buy) to enter this membership program. Collect 50 coins, and you get join FP. But it’s not easy collecting these coins, as you’d have to spend Rs 250 to earn one coin.
For every purchase made, you can only get a maximum of 10 coins.
By that calculation, to get 50 coins for FP, you’re expected to splurge Rs 12,500 on Flipkart. Compare this to Amazon Prime and its annual subscription plan of Rs 999 (with music, videos bundled), FP doesn’t sound that enticing after all.
You’re expected to sign in with your ID on Flipkart, but surely the ‘free’ marketing of FP has to give way for more clarity for the consumer.
Though, the company says that it will consider previous purchases for the Rs 12,500 you need for 50 coins, Flipkart hasn’t outlined the timeline for these previous purchases.
Let’s Talk Benefits
But just in case you end up buying big on Flipkart, getting you the 50 coins to unlock FP, here’s the benefits that await you.
In addition to this, Flipkart has partnered with brands like Cafe Coffee Day, Hotstar, Make My Trip and Chai Point among others. Accrue coins with your online purchases on the platform, and you’ll be able to unlock these benefits, which even gives you a chance to get year access to content on Hotstar.
Worth Going For?
Flipkart Plus is not the first time Flipkart is trying its luck in the loyalty programme space. It had rolled out a programme called Flipkart First, and industry experts believe it failed because of Flipkart’s half-baked approach towards it.
Going through the fine print, FP isn’t really a free of cost program, making it pricier compared to Amazon Prime, which doesn’t bode well for Flipkart.
The online shopping giant, now owned by Walmart is looking at different avenues to earn revenue, add more users and thereby increase its sales volumes. Will FP aid Flipkart and Walmart’s objective? Hopefully, it’ll make a difference from the norm.
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