Flipkart Li’l Stars & Chhota Bheem – an IndiMeet Experience

Flipkart Li’l Stars claims to be India’s Biggest Online Kids Store. I was invited to an IndiMeet to experience the launch of this store and interact with the brands as well as parent bloggers. When the invite came, I began thinking about the beginning of flipkart as a book retailer and the journey to becoming an eCommerce giant in India. There is no doubt that eCommerce has changed the way India shops. From the metros to the tier 1 and 2 cities. If there is a courier service and a net connection, people shop online and get the products in the comfort of their homes. As a working mum, I am perpetually short of time. I remember when I was pregnant and stocking up the nursery, I would find two hour slots in my calendar and rush to the market nearby to browse and pick up things that I liked. Only after numerous such trips, did I manage to collect the basics. After my daughter was born, the tips to the market were reduced greatly and I still recollect hunting for cute baby headbands. I never found them. Today, I think that if she was born after the eCommerce boom, I would have ordered the headbands even before she was a week old.

Today, almost her entire wardrobe is bought online. I say almost because there are gifts and outfits me and hubs pick up during our travel or random shopping trips. The staples though are all bought online. I remember for her birthday, I waited to pick the perfect dress from a brick and mortar store. I had this weird notion of a perfect fitting dress with matching shoes. Finally, with ten days to go I decided to look online. Withing an hour, I found an awesome dress. The best thing was that I opted for express delivery and the dress was with me after 48 hours.

Another thing that scares me to death is toy stores. Having heard all manners of stories about huge tantrums and parents resigning to kids bullying and buying toys that are either too expensive or unsafe or age inappropriate – all because of the shiny packaging – I am dead scared of taking the kiddo to a toy store. eCommerce is the perfect solution to this. We browse and short list toys online and baby picks out the ones she likes from our selection. A complete win-win! Trouble starts brewing when she sees a particular toy or game with her friends or in school and wants us to buy that. Thankfully, the only things like that she has insisted on are Chhota Bheem toys and figurines. All kids in India have been enamoured by Chhota Bheem for the last few years and my little one is no exception. She is always looking for Chhota Bheem merchandise. However, finding that has been a challenge. Most the plush dolls I have seen do not resemble the characters. Not only that, they are downright ugly. Imagine my happiness then when I learnt about Flipkart Li’l Stars partnering with Chhota Bheem for original merchandise.

I learnt about this on the Indiblogger meet for Flipkart Li’l Stars and was quite happy about the tie up. Flipkart shared awesome things about the new range of toys they are getting for the kids. One of the highlights was about toys that are not available in India. They are getting those brands and toys on their portal and would import them as per demand. During the panel discussion, a blogger asked about toys and game for children with special learning needs and we were told that these things would be available too! Is there any wonder then that Flipkart Li’l Stars is claiming to be the largest online kid’s store in India? They were very excited about the association with Chhota Bheem at the time when the movie Chhota Bheem Himalayan Adventure is about to be released. They even had a Chhota Bheem walking around mingling with bloggers. How I wish Indi team had allowed kids here. My daughter would have had a field day!

IndiMeets are always fun and extremely well organised! Some of the best meets  I have attended were from IndiBlogger. Check out details of the Dove Meet, BNLF and Zica launch if you don’t believe me. This one was no exception. We mommies let our hair down, relaxed with a few cocktails and clicked selfies galore as the IndiBand Blunder in the Code prepped up to play.

I was bummed that I had to leave early because hubs had to be picked up at the airport. I missed the secret santa and the ad mad games that bloggers enjoyed. That is something for the next time then!