Strategy question
How do you measure selection gaps on Flipkart and how would you address them?
- Flipkart
- Strategy
- Hard
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What this question tests
Tests marketplace strategy for measuring and closing supply gaps: defining selection gaps quantitatively and proposing a prioritized way to close them.
How to approach it
- Define a selection gap: search queries or browsing sessions that result in no purchase because the desired product or brand is unavailable or poorly represented.
- Propose a measurement approach: track zero-result and low-conversion search queries, and compare category-level demand (search volume) against available catalog depth per category.
- Segment by category and price tier, since a gap in, say, premium electronics matters differently than a gap in a low-margin category.
- Propose a demand-signal method: use search terms with no matching results, plus external signals like competitor catalog comparisons, to identify likely high-value gaps.
- Propose closing the gap: prioritize onboarding sellers or brands in the highest-demand, highest-gap categories first, using incentives (reduced commission, promoted placement) to attract them.
- Define success: reduction in zero-result search rate and conversion lift in previously gapped categories after new sellers or products are onboarded.
What a strong answer includes
- Defines selection gap concretely through zero-result and low-conversion search data, rather than a vague notion of 'missing products.'
- Proposes comparing demand signals (search volume, unmet queries) against actual catalog depth per category, a specific and measurable method.
- Prioritizes closing gaps by demand size, not by which sellers are easiest to recruit, aligning the effort with actual customer impact.
- Chooses a clear before-and-after metric, zero-result search rate, to prove the gap-closing effort is actually working.
Common mistakes
- Defining selection gaps vaguely without a concrete measurement method like zero-result search tracking.
- Prioritizing gap-closing efforts by ease of seller acquisition rather than by actual customer demand.
Likely follow-up questions
- How would you distinguish a true selection gap from a pricing or trust problem that just looks like one?
- How would you incentivize sellers to fill a gap in a low-margin category?
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Learn the skill behind it
Chapters of the AI PM course that teach what this question tests.
- Chapter 4: Discovery and strategy for AI products
- Chapter 9: Prove it paid off: outcomes, economics, and pricing
- Chapter 14: Get the job: the AI PM interview loop