India's largest online marketplace has deployed spies to keep tabs on the merchandise being pushed by sellers. Flipkart, which kicked off its five-day discount sale on Tuesday, is taking precautions after getting stung by instances of sellers listing counterfeit and sub-standard products and inflating the maximum retail price.
It has rolled out an initiative to enroll employees as mystery shoppers — those paid to masquerade as customers — to buy products from sellers listed on the platform and report on the experience. The online marketplace has also hired a Big Four consultancy firm.
"With rising customer concerns around fake and counterfeit products online, we have rolled out the Flipkart mystery shopping programme where employees can act as Flipkart secret agents to identify fraudulent sellers on our platform. This initiative aims to ensure optimum quality, uniformity and fidelity of all the packages delivered to customers," said Manish Maheshwari, head and vice-president, seller ecosystem, at Flipkart.
I just don't like the way they add delivery charged for each and every item ordered. Logically, they should charge for the total order.Sanjay Sable
Employees who sign up for this voluntary effort, which will continue after the festive season, will get special incentives. "Those members of the staff who enroll for this programme will get Flipkart shopping vouchers," he added.
Flipkart's 'secret agents' will have to send in photos of the packaging, labels and products that are delivered to them, which will be processed by the trust and security team. If the quality of the product, service and packaging is substandard, action will be taken against the seller, ranging from being recommended for mandatory training programmes to being delisted in extreme cases.
SOURCE: Times of India
It has rolled out an initiative to enroll employees as mystery shoppers — those paid to masquerade as customers — to buy products from sellers listed on the platform and report on the experience. The online marketplace has also hired a Big Four consultancy firm.
"With rising customer concerns around fake and counterfeit products online, we have rolled out the Flipkart mystery shopping programme where employees can act as Flipkart secret agents to identify fraudulent sellers on our platform. This initiative aims to ensure optimum quality, uniformity and fidelity of all the packages delivered to customers," said Manish Maheshwari, head and vice-president, seller ecosystem, at Flipkart.
I just don't like the way they add delivery charged for each and every item ordered. Logically, they should charge for the total order.Sanjay Sable
Employees who sign up for this voluntary effort, which will continue after the festive season, will get special incentives. "Those members of the staff who enroll for this programme will get Flipkart shopping vouchers," he added.
Flipkart's 'secret agents' will have to send in photos of the packaging, labels and products that are delivered to them, which will be processed by the trust and security team. If the quality of the product, service and packaging is substandard, action will be taken against the seller, ranging from being recommended for mandatory training programmes to being delisted in extreme cases.
SOURCE: Times of India