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Executive Summary OYO (Oravel Stays Private Limited), founded in 2013 by Ritesh Agarwal, emerged as one of India's most prominent hospitality technology companies, expanding rapidly across multiple countries. The company's core proposition centered on standardizing budget accommodation through technology-enabled operations, quality control mechanisms, and a franchisee/partnership model. This case study examines OYO's approach to achieving standardization at scale, the operati

Executive Summary Flipkart's Big Billion Days (BBD), launched in October 2014, represents one of India's most significant digital commerce events and a strategic pivot in how e-commerce platforms drive concentrated demand, consumer acquisition, and category penetration. The sale event, inspired by China's Singles' Day and the U.S.'s Black Friday, was designed to create a time-bound shopping festival that could leverage digital infrastructure, logistics networks, and marketing

Executive Summary Unacademy evolved from a YouTube channel in 2010 to become one of India's largest online learning platforms by 2020, leveraging a live learning model, educator-centric content strategy, and multi-platform distribution for user acquisition. The company's approach centered on enabling educators to create and monetize educational content while providing free and paid learning experiences to students preparing for competitive examinations. This case examines Una

Executive Summary Tesla, Inc. operates without a traditional advertising budget, relying instead on earned media, CEO visibility, product design, customer word-of-mouth, and digital engagement to build brand awareness and drive demand. This approach represents a fundamental departure from automotive industry norms, where manufacturers typically spend billions annually on advertising. This case examines Tesla's marketing strategy based entirely on publicly documented statement

Executive Summary Netflix's recommendation system represents one of the most sophisticated and publicly discussed applications of machine learning in consumer technology. Since transitioning from DVD rental to streaming in 2007, Netflix has positioned its recommendation algorithm as core competitive advantage—driving content discovery, user engagement, and retention in an increasingly crowded streaming market. According to Netflix's own disclosures in technical papers and exe

Executive Summary Amazon Prime Day, launched in July 2015, represents a strategically engineered sales event designed to drive Prime membership acquisition, increase customer lifetime engagement, and establish a mid-year retail tentpole in traditionally slow shopping periods. Unlike traditional promotional events tied to cultural calendars, Prime Day was created exclusively by Amazon as a membership-gated shopping experience, fundamentally altering retail dynamics and competi

Executive Summary Meesho, founded in 2015, evolved from a social commerce reseller platform into one of India's largest e-commerce players focused on tier-2, tier-3, and tier-4 markets. The company strategically pivoted from enabling individual resellers to building a consumer-facing marketplace targeting price-sensitive users in smaller cities and towns—collectively termed "Bharat" in Indian startup parlance. This case examines Meesho's platform design choices, zero-commissi

Executive Summary Blinkit (formerly Grofers) pivoted from a traditional hyperlocal grocery delivery model to creating India's quick commerce category with a 10-minute delivery promise. Founded in 2013 as Grofers by Albinder Dhindsa and Saurabh Kumar, the company rebranded to Blinkit in December 2021 and was subsequently acquired by Zomato in August 2022 for approximately ₹4,447 crore. This case examines the strategic pivot from marketplace to dark store-led quick commerce, th

Executive Summary Swiggy Instamart, launched in August 2020 as Swiggy's quick commerce offering, represents India's aggressive entry into the 10-30 minute grocery delivery segment. Operating through a network of dark stores (micro-fulfillment centers) strategically positioned in high-density urban micro-markets, Instamart expanded rapidly from initial pilots to become one of India's leading quick commerce players alongside Blinkit (Zomato) and Zepto. This case examines Swiggy

Executive Summary Zomato, founded in 2008 as a restaurant discovery platform, pivoted to food delivery in 2015 and has since evolved into India's largest food delivery platform with approximately 60% market share. Central to its competitive strategy has been the deployment of machine learning algorithms for personalization, demand prediction, and logistics optimization. According to public disclosures, Zomato processes over 2 billion monthly platform interactions, leverages A

Executive Summary Meesho, founded in 2015 by Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal, evolved from a social reselling platform into India's leading e-commerce player targeting tier-II, tier-III, and beyond markets. The company strategically positioned itself to serve underserved semi-urban and rural consumers through a combination of vernacular interfaces, zero-commission marketplace structure, and referral-driven user acquisition. According to Meesho's public statements, the platfo

Executive Summary Nykaa (FSN E-Commerce Ventures Limited), founded in 2012 by Falguni Nayar, emerged as India's leading online beauty and personal care retailer through a business model combining e-commerce, owned brand development, and content creation. The company went public in November 2021, becoming one of India's few profitable consumer internet IPOs. While business media and startup literature frequently characterize Nykaa's strategy as a "content-commerce flywheel" dr

Executive Summary Lenskart, founded in 2010 by Peyush Bansal, Amit Chaudhary, and Sumeet Kapahi, emerged as one of India's leading omnichannel eyewear retailers through a strategy combining e-commerce operations, technology-enabled customer experience, and extensive physical retail expansion. While business media and startup literature frequently reference Lenskart as an example of "performance marketing" success and digital-first retail, comprehensive public documentation of

Executive Summary Chumbak, founded in 2010 in Bangalore, established itself as a design-led lifestyle brand in India's competitive home décor and accessories market. The company differentiated through colorful, quirky product design and invested significantly in visual merchandising across digital channels, particularly Instagram. While widely referenced in business media as an example of Instagram-driven brand building, comprehensive public documentation of specific social m

Executive Summary CRED, a members-only credit card bill payment and rewards platform founded by Kunal Shah, executed a distinctive advertising strategy during the Indian Premier League (IPL) from 2020 onwards that generated significant debate in marketing circles. The campaigns featured absurdist humor, nostalgic celebrity appearances, and deliberately unconventional creative approaches that defied traditional direct-response advertising norms. This case examines the publicly

Executive Summary Tata 1mg (formerly HealthKart Plus) evolved from a medicine delivery platform into India's leading health information and e-pharmacy destination by building a content-first SEO strategy. The company invested heavily in creating comprehensive health content, optimizing for long-tail health queries, and establishing domain authority in medical information—enabling it to capture significant organic search traffic before users even considered purchasing medicine

Executive Summary This case study examines boAt Lifestyle (styled as "boAt"), an Indian consumer electronics brand that emerged as a market leader in the audio wearables category through digital-first distribution, aggressive celebrity partnerships, and youth-focused brand positioning. Founded in 2016 by Aman Gupta and Sameer Mehta, boAt achieved significant scale within India's consumer electronics market, becoming the fifth-largest wearables brand globally by shipment volum

Executive Summary Mamaearth, launched in 2016 by Honasa Consumer Limited, emerged as one of India's fastest-growing direct-to-consumer (D2C) beauty and personal care brands. The company leveraged digital-first marketing, influencer partnerships, and rapid omnichannel expansion to achieve ₹1,576 crore in revenue by FY2023. This case study examines Mamaearth's verified growth trajectory, go-to-market strategy, and transition from digital-native startup to publicly listed consum

Executive Summary Between 2021 and 2024, Blinkit (formerly Grofers) transformed from a struggling grocery delivery platform into India's quick commerce leader, simultaneously building one of India's most engaging brand presences through real-time moment marketing. This case examines how Blinkit leveraged its core operational capability—speed—as the foundation for a distinctive social media strategy that capitalized on cultural moments, trending topics, and real-time events wi

Executive Summary Zomato has become one of India’s most distinctive digital brands by developing a social media strategy that blends cultural fluency, humour, data-backed storytelling, and real-time responsiveness. Unlike most consumer internet companies that rely on performance-driven communication, Zomato built a participatory brand anchored in everyday conversations. This case study examines Zomato’s India-focused social media strategy from inception to scale, analyzing ve