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Big box-retailer Walmart has won the bid for India's most popular e-commerce site Flipkart. The $15 billion deal comes as a setback for Jeff Bezos as he stands to lose roughly 32% of the subcontinent's online shopping market share, according to research firm Forrester.Just when Amazon began to make headway with India's metropolitan consumers, Flipkart's board approved the 75% stake sale to a group of investors led by Walmart and also includes Google's parent company, Alphabet.Walmart's VictoryThe arrangement is a breakthrough for the Arkansas-based company, which has been looking to break into India for more than 15 years. Back in 2007, Walmart was briefly involved in a joint venture with Indian conglomerate Bharti, but that was for a wholesale model only and the relationship was short-lived. The country's foreign direct investment rules made it almost impossible for the American giant to enter as a retail chain, explained Satish Meena, senior forecast analyst at Forrester.Forrester DataAsia Pacific Online Retail Sales CAGR By Country, 2017 To 2022"What worked in favor of Walmart is the premium they are paying for the deal," said Meena. The world's largest retailer had recently sold off its UK merchandiser ASDA to Sainsbury for $10 billion. The newfound cash gave Walmart additional firepower to negotiate for majority control over Flipkart. The company's longstanding expertise in sourcing and supply-chain management also played a big role.Flip SideFor Flipkart, finding the right partner is not about the cash, but to retain its domestic dominance. The market leader raised a fresh $4 billion just last year from Softbank, Tencent, Microsoft and eBay. "They are looking for expansion beyond smartphones and fashion," according to Meena. The deal with Walmart brings access to vendors and manufacturers to keep prices low, as well as the know-how of selling groceries -- an uncharted territory for Flip.A customer accessing on e-commerce company Flipkart's website on September 15, 2015 in Kolkata, India. (Photo by Indranil Bhoumik/Mint via Getty Images)Side-Stepping AmazonIn an annual report to shareholders last month, Chief Executive Bezos touted Amazon India as the fastest-growing online marketplace in the country. The geography emerged with the highest adoption of its subscription service worldwide: "Prime added more members in India in its first year than any previous geography in Amazon's history," Bezos wrote in the letter.Taking a clear lead in categories including gadgets and groceries, Meena said Amazon has platform stickiness. "Prime members spend more and buy more compared to other platforms. The whole focus is to be the default retailer for households." This stickiness extends to product research even if the purchase happens offline he confirms.Forrester DataAmazon Strengthens Its Position As Indian Consumers’ Preferred Online Retail DestinationThe battle for online dominance has come at a significant cost for the Seattle-based outfit. Its international losses more than doubled in 2017 from $1.2 billion the previous year to fend off Flipkart.But Amazon's intention to buy the Indian competition was considered a long-shot by many onlookers. Beyond facing scrutiny by antitrust authority CCI (Competition Commission of India), some believe that the late bid was only meant to make the deal more expensive for Walmart. Meena thinks Amazon was never ready to pay $20 billion for a stake in Flipkart."In four years and with an investment of around $3 billion, the company [Amazon] captured 31% of online retail market and believes that they can become the number one player," Meena said. So despite the defeat, Amazon will remain a major contender in a heating market.An Amazon fullfillment center (Rick T. Wilking/Getty Images)Bank of America Merrill Lynch also forecasts India to become Amazon's largest market outside the U.S., accounting for more than a fifth of its international sales by 2025.Softbank's SaleUnder the new agreement with Walmart, SoftBank is to sell 20% of Flipkart's stake it acquired just last year. Masayoshi Son's Vision Fund paid $2.5 billion in August when the Indian firm was valued at $12 billion. If the deal goes through as planned, the sale would mark the first major exit for the fund, flipping a premium on a very short-term bet.With India's online market expected to ballon to $73 billion by 2022, according to Forrester, the upside is big for all players who still have skin in the game.

In 2008 my brother and I decided to open up a business called “The Olde Glory Cigar Parlor”. We wanted to have a place where men could sit around and smoke cigars, read the paper, have a brandy and watch sports on television. There are not enough places like this.There were various considerations such as where we wanted to do it and how much we wanted to make. The revenue we thought we could make would dictate the size of the venue.I went to my accountant and talked it over with him. He put me in touch with a great lawyer (who is now my attorney of record) and he drew up the all the legal documentation. You really need to do this in the US. You have to file with the state and federal government and get a tax ID and you want to incorporate in some way, as an LLC or S-Corp to protect your private assets from liability. You need to have a lawyer. All this cost about 5000 dollars.The lawyer connected me to a bank that was making SBA loans. They bank told me I had to have a business plan and financial statement. They connected me to the Chamber of Commerce in my area. For 100 dollars they wrote all the pro-forma financial documents. I wrote the business plan.We decided to put the store in Patriot Place where the New England Patriots play. By total luck I was able to secure a liquor license from the town. As it happened, I made my application at the exact same time a local establishment was surrendering their license. I paid 250 dollars for a license that sells commercially in Massachusetts for about 500,000 dollars on average. All I needed was town approval, which was a formality if I passed a criminal background check.I had to go through the Board of Health and get the requirements for opening this kind of establishment. We would have had to take a “food safe” course and build to spec for fire codes, handicapped restrooms, ventilation, parking and the like.I called the Kraft Organization and they showed me a 1000 square foot concrete box, completely unfinished in any fashion. The rent was 86,000 dollars a year plus triple net, plus a percentage. They provided something like a 40,000 dollar build-out credit and six month grace on the rent while you did the build-out. But that 86K nut was huge. Everything depends on location. A similar rent in the run-down local town center was less than 10K a year - but there was no traffic. As it turns out, rent is one of the biggest determinants of success or failure of business. If you rent in a shopping mall, for example, you can’t just rent for the Christmas Season when 75 percent of the sales are made. You have to agree to be open in July when you get no customers at all. And you have to be open. That means labor and utilities and stock and so on. If it weren’t for this clause most mall stores would be abandoned for half the year. The average revenue per square foot in America is about 45 dollars, depending on region. The record holders are Tiffany’s jewelers and the Apple stores which make upwards of 4000 dollars per square foot - way off the charts compared nearly every other brick-and-mortar vendor. Even Bloomingdales and Nordstroms don’t make more than 125 dollars a square foot on a good day.We found an architect who drew up the plans, made the drawings, put together a contractor list and materials requirement as well as all the accoutrements and appurtenances required for such an establishment, such as tables, chairs, televisions, power budget, ventilation requirements and so forth.I made friends with cigar parlor owners in a few locations around the surrounding area who gave me advice and showed me how it worked. The town gave me a traffic analysis of the area with a breakdown of shoppers by sex and age. The target was 2 percent of the male shopping population.With the documents I had I went to the SBA and they approved us for a loan of 400,000 dollars. You have to put up your own money and collateral as well. They aren’t doing this out of the goodness of their heart. But the banker was one of the most helpful advisers we had. He was incredibly supportive and gave great advice all the time. I would go to them for my banking anytime.When the entire package was ready we had a meeting with the Kraft organization. We had expected a professional meeting with a lawyer or businessman. Instead we got a 25 year old in shorts and a T-shirt who took the meeting on a park bench and talked to his girlfriend on his cell phone throughout the entire meeting. We had shown up in suits and ties with our professionally prepared documents and licenses, contractor lists and so forth, all of which cost us 40,000 dollars to put together. At the end of the meeting the kid took our package and said he would be in touch.A week went by. He didn’t call. By the second week, I called them. They didn’t know who I was. They put me on hold while they checked around. It took a long time. A secretary came on the line. She said, “We’re not going ahead with the plan.” I was surprised. They did not give me a reason. I wanted my documents back, my architect drawings and so forth. “No,” she said, “Your signed letter of intent gives up the right to all your plans.” And she hung up. Later that day I got a call from the town. My liquor license had been denied and given to the Kraft organization. Every person I had met in the mall there told me to “Think twice. You’re getting in bed with the Devil if you do this.” I guess they were right. I was blinded by greed.Making a plan to start a business is not hard. It is logical and methodical. You have to be able to articulate your plan in a way a five year old could understand it. You can never lose sight of the goal, which is to make money, and you have to be clear headed about how the business is going to accomplish the goal. If you can’t see a way to making that goal, no one else is going to see it either and they will not buy into it. If this is your dream you have to be able at least make it work in your head. If you can’t, there’s no point continuing. The “South Park” episode with the “Underwear Gnomes” is so true of small businesses: Step 1: Steal Underwear. Step 2 (something happens but we don’t know what). Step 3: Profit. If you cannot articulate Step 2 beyond “and then a miracle occurs” then you have no business starting a business because no one is going to buy into your plan and you’re most likely going to fail. Most businesses fail in the first two or three years due to insufficient capitalization. You MUST have enough money to run the business at a loss for at least two years, preferably three. After that, you will have to declare bankruptcy and hope you can escape from any long-term contracts with the venue owner. Kraft wanted a minimum of 5 years; succeed or fail we were on the hook for over 450,000 dollars in rent. If you can’t do that then you need to think about what you really are doing.

That would be fun. I wouldn’t be remembered as fair. That’s for sure.Since none of my actions would last beyond my first day if I don’t destroy the current overlords I would firstly crush my opposition thusly:Seize all property and money that takes any individual above a total net worth over 10 million dollars. (Not as a law, just a one time thing to destroy the current established American oligarchy that may attempt to simply dismiss all the changes from my very short reign)Seize all property of all public officials who have ever taken personal money from a corporation (For speeches or other non-employment related reasons).Order the immediate execution of all executives and high level managers in all banks involved in the financial crisis.Order all lobbyists executed immediately and without trial. (Just not enough time in one day…)Then I would make reforms to how government works.Make a law that anyone who has ever run for office under a Democratic or Republican party affiliation cannot hold public office or run for it.Publicly finance elections. The government has an open online social network where candidates can post their platform and ideas. The five most popular candidates get the funding.Disband the electoral college and go with a direct popular vote for president.When people vote, they don’t see the candidates name, only an outline of their policy platform. All five platforms are posted in the voting booth and marked with an identifying letter. The voter lists the platforms in order of what they support most to least. If their top pick isn’t among the top two, they second choice counts and so forth.Reform the War Powers Act and remove the President’s ability to engage in non-defensive military action without Congressional action. Military action is a big deal, and if a President is found to have engaged in any military action that is not considered defensive by Congress after the fact, the President is automatically deposed, and the VP takes over.Abolish the current tax code entirely and start over. Progressive tax rate, no taxes paid on the first $50,000 anyone makes within a year on income and increasing from there up to an 80% tax rate on incomes over 10 million a year, adjusted annually for inflation. No sales or property taxes.I would also make the IRS send you a bill for your taxes, instead of this completely bullshit system of you trying to figure it out yourself, and then getting audited for not knowing a ten billion page tax code by heart.Force the USA to acknowledge and enforce its treaties with native Tribal Nations, by repossessing all land currently held illegally by people and corporations and returning it to the sovereign tribal governments who should hold it according to US law.Make a law that requires all bills submitted to Congress to be written by Congressmen without any input from any employees of any companies who may present a conflict of interest, or who may create even the APPEARANCE of a conflict of interest.Ban all forms of lobbying or other business interference in government. That is the root of crony capitalism. Politicians should have zero ways to benefit from the private sector for the rest of their lives once they become public officials.Ban all forms of subsidies for private businesses.No government employee or office holder can own more than 10% above the average US household. Any standard of living above this, at any point during or after or their term of office triggers an immediate conviction for corruption. Public service tethers any politician to the US average for life, and they are assumed to be guilty of abusing their office for personal gain if they reach significantly above it. In exchange, they continue to receive their government salary for life. Security, but never wealth.To get a raise as a Congressman, you can’t vote for one, you have to actually make American people more prosperous.Reinstate Glass-Steagal.Break up all the large banks, telecommunications, and media companies to restore competition.I think given those changes the electorate would be able to do the other things they want for themselves without the meddling of the former corporate overlords.