Flipkart's “Big Billion Days” is one of the most anticipated online shopping events in the Indian retail calendar.
With an extensive array of products, ranging from electronics and fashion to home essentials, the event captures the attention of millions of eager shoppers across the country.
However, the 2023 edition of the sale brought forth some distinctive challenges.
Problem 1️: Overlap between Big Billion Days and the Cricket World Cup
The first day of Big Billion Days (an annual sale on Flipkart with exclusive offers and discounts) was pivotal. It was slated to draw maximum traffic and revenue for the brand.
However, the kick-off coincided with the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup—a tense India vs. Australia match! This posed a challenge as everyone was glued to the television screens.
“So, the question was—how does the team ensure the people watching the game get a reminder to come and shop on Flipkart?” according to Pratik Shetty, Senior Director of Customer, Flipkart.
Pratik and the team wanted a solution that could swiftly capture attention and engage the target audience with ease.
Problem 2️: “Done-to-death” templates of print ads
Historically, Flipkart heavily relied on print media to spread the word about Big Billion Days. However, according to Pratik, the repetitive templates, limited reach, and high costs often resulted in a low return on investment.
“Typically, our print ads followed a set template, which wasn’t memorable. Plus, they were limited in circulation,” he says.
The team searched for a fresh, unique, and disruptive strategy to attract eyeballs and significantly boost engagement.
“How do we implement something disruptive on print media that makes people talk about it and visit the app?”
Seeing the dire need to connect with a larger audience, the team explored various solutions, with QR Codes emerging as the standout choice.
QR Code usage has become widespread as most smartphone cameras now have in-built QR Code scanning capabilities.
The process is straightforward:
- Open the camera app
- Point it at the QR Code
- Access the encoded content within seconds
The massive uptick in adoption and ease of use meant that QR Codes were the perfect solution to drive significant traffic and engagement.
Solution 1️: Engaging the World Cup audience via high-resolution QR Codes
For Pratik and the Flipkart team, it wasn't just about how good the QR Codes looked; functionality was vital.
Choosing a 10-second TV ad to distribute QR Codes meant viewers would likely spend around 7-8 seconds just processing the ad, grabbing their phones, and scanning the QR Code.
Hence, they needed a solution to fast-track QR Code scanning—within 1-2 seconds. That's where Uniqode came into the picture.
The team's two evaluating criteria for a QR Code solution were:
- Distance not being a friction point in scan experience
- Time spent to scan a QR Code
“I personally performed internal tests where I scanned the Uniqode QR Code from a distance of 30 feet from the television without zooming in. And I was able to do that in less than 0.5 seconds!”
“This was the deciding factor for the team to understand that these are high-quality QR Codes that can be scanned instantly without distance being a parameter.”
With Uniqode, the team created 148 high-resolution QR Codes. The scans took less than two seconds—no zoom required.
Consequently, Flipkart made it easy for TV viewers to discover the daily Big Billion Days offer during the match and quickly redirected them to the app.
Solution 2️: Disrupting print media with gamified ads
For too long, Flipkart relied on expensive, templatized print ads, which Pratik and team felt were outdated. Hence, they were inclined to an unusual ad campaign that was simultaneously fresh, engaging, and shareable.
“The goal was to gamify the campaign and entice readers to scan it by plugging in a free iPhone as an incentive.”
Flipkart highlighted the top offers in newspapers behind Uniqode’s QR Codes and incentivized readers to scan them. Each QR Code redirected readers to the Flipkart page, which helped them discover the top offers themselves.
“The folks at Uniqode walked us through the entire process of creating QR Codes—right from creating an account to post-deployment support; the team was highly proactive.” - Pratik Shetty, Senior Director of Customer, Flipkart.
🔥 Making Big Billion Days “Bigger”
“We initially anticipated around a million scans but far surpassed that expectation in no time.”
The team achieved one million scans via print ads within one hour on two consecutive days.
With 148 QR Codes across print and television, the campaign surpassed the team's initial expectations of a million scans, achieving an impressive two million scans—double the initial estimate.
⬆ Going beyond just numbers
According to Pratik, “the evaluation of the print ad campaign was beyond just the number of scans. We wanted to see how widely the idea spread and got shared across various channels."
Flipkart's creative and unique approach got many people talking, leading to amplified shares, engagement, and brand visibility.
📈 Significant and swift increase in user base
In a short time, the team reached 5,36,000 unique users in over 1,000 locations. This quick reach significantly helped grow Flipkart’s user base.
🔎 Tracking every scan in real time
With Uniqode’s dynamic QR Codes, Flipkart could view scan analytics in real-time, filtering scans by day, time, location, device, and much more.
This way, the brand could stay informed about its QR Code campaigns' ongoing performance and use consumer behavior insights to refine marketing strategies.
With Uniqode’s QR Codes, Flipkart maximized traffic and reach and sparked conversations. The campaign showed how easily QR Codes can disrupt traditional advertising.
