Flipkart WiRED Case Study: Capturing Potential Of B-School Students Early To Become A Future-Ready Brand

6 mins read

The results of Flipkart WiRED 6.0 are out! As another exciting season of this flagship B-School competition winds up, here is an overview of how Flipkart WiRED etched a strong brand image of the company amongst B-Schoolers across India and helped the company to close one-third of its hiring. 

From clothes and electronics to kitchen accessories, Flipkart has become one of the most beloved E-commerce sites for Indians. Founded by IIT alumni Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, the startup was the brainchild of these two friends who found their regular jobs at Amazon mundane. Quite ironically, the duo quit their job at Amazon and found India’s very own answer to the world’s largest E-commerce company. Today, Flipkart has burgeoned into India’s original unicorn. In 2018, US-based retail chain, Walmart acquired a 77% controlling stake in Flipkart. Until now, Flipkart has made 22 acquisitions and 24 investments and spent over USD 395 million on acquisitions of companies in multiple sectors ranging from fashion, consumer E-commerce enablers, consumer electronics, and more.  

With a large customer base across sectors and cities, Flipkart seeks to further strengthen its foothold in the Indian market. So apart from top tech talent that they acquire through GRiD, Flipkart sought sharp-witted candidates for their business-oriented roles. While the on-campus placements were one of the dependable ways to onboard students from top B-Schools, the company needed to further extend its outreach, increase its visibility in B-Schools and become the brand of interest in the minds of the upcoming batches. And this required something more than just campus recruitment. Hence, Flipkart came up with ‘Flipkart WiRED’. A platform that seeks the brightest minds in B-Schools, who can think beyond the normal and revolutionize business for the future.

Here is how Flipkart WiRED unfolded over the years since its inception in 2017 to become one of the biggest B-School competitions! 

Flipkart WiRED 1.0: First Step Towards Untethering Brilliant Ideas

Flipkart opened the first season of the WiRED Case Study Challenge in 2017 for final year students of the flagship programs in selected institutions namely IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bengaluru, IIM Calcutta, IIM Lucknow, XLRI Jamshedpur, FMS New Delhi, and SPJIMR Mumbai. Held at two levels-campus and national, the competition witnessed a good response from these institutes. The campus winners participated in the national round where they got an opportunity to present their ideas to the Flipkart leadership. At last Team Insignia from IIM Calcutta was declared the national-level winner and was awarded a cash prize of INR 2,00,000 and all campus winners won PPIs with Flipkart. It was a great wrap but the Flipkart team knew that more ground needs to be covered. And this is when Unstop (formerly Dare2Compete) took up the baton. 

Enter Unstop, Flipkart WiRED Reloads

With a vision to turn Flipkart WiRED into a rage, Team Unstop framed a powerful strategy to help the company reach out to a diverse and extensive audience. The motive was to engage more and more B-Schoolers in the case study competition, expose them to real-life challenges of the corporate world and help students understand Flipkart’s work culture and innovation-driven business objectives. Keeping this in view, Unstop geared up to rejig Flipkart WiRED through various interventions.

On the forefront was the promotion and execution team of Unstop which chalked out a well-thought-out strategy to pitch Flipkart WiRED as a B-School event to look out for. 

Unstop’s magic unfurled and Flipkart WiRED catapulted! As students’ interest in the event stirred up, the registration count soared. Flipkart WiRED 2.0 welcomed some new entrants (MDI, IIFT-Delhi, MICA, IIM-Kozhikode) apart from the veteran institutes. The event had 3300 students participating from 11 B-Schools. The registration count tripled in Flipkart WiRED 3.0 held in 2019 wherein 9900 students took part from India's top 21 premier business schools.

Breaking barriers-Flipkart WiRED opens doors to all B-Schools!

There was no looking back now. Keeping up the exponential trend, Flipkart WiRED 4.0 witnessed participation from 14745 students across 38 campuses. Cash prizes worth lakhs and pre-placement interviews for summer internships as well as full-time opportunities rolled out in full swing. 

The time was ripe to forge further. With Unstop by its side, Flipkart WiRED 5.0 opened the floodgates. The 5th season of the competition sought participation from MBA students across all B-Schools in India! Registrations sky-rocketed and more than 39,000 students made their way into Flipkart WiRED Season 5 in 2021. 

Flipkart WiRED 6.0 wraps up with a bang!

Swooping into the 6th season, Flipkart successfully conducted WiRED 6.0 this year. The competition was opened to PAN India B-Schools, for students across all specializations and batches. The motive was to provide a fair chance to the talent of every B-Schooler. The season received approximately 40,000 registrations this time from fervent students! And to add to the excitement, Flipkart rolled out 450 PPI offers through WiRED 6.0. Certainly a whopper! 

Talent reigns supreme!

Flipkart WiRED acknowledges brilliant minds from across the country and helps them to maximize their ideas and solutions catering to different sectors such as Business, Supply Chain, HR, and Product. Today, Flipkart WiRED has become a flagship B-School case competition and is highly regarded by the student community across the country. The 5th season of the competition ranked 1st under the 'Prestigious B-School Competitions 2022' category in the Dare2Compete Awards 2022. The competitions were assessed based on student votes from all B-Schools.

Transcending traditional hiring methods, Flipkart WiRED allows all B-Schoolers to have a level playing field. The company has so far successfully conducted 5 seasons and has closed one-third of its hiring through WiRED! Along with helping the company to hire the best talent from a broad pool of otherwise unreachable talent, Flipkart’s employer brand awareness has increased manifold because of the WiRED case challenge. As per Dare2Compete Campus Employer Branding Report 2022, the E-commerce giant bagged the second position in the most desirable New-Age Recruiters/Tech-companies/Startups category. 

With all objectives ticked off, the company is geared up for its upcoming seasons of Flipkart WiRED, with new and stimulating case studies, nudging students to explore their potential and gain first-hand experience of challenges in the Indian E-commerce ecosystem. And needless to say, Unstop is excited to empower WiRED to reach the top talent of the country.