With Flipverse, Flipkart brings shopping into the metaverse

Amid the ongoing festive sale, Flipkart, which is owned by Walmart, has launched its metaverse space called "Flipverse." It will be available for Android users starting October 17 for a week. The Polygon-incubated eDao Web3 stack was used to build this virtual offering.

The online retailer which is gearing for a public listing, will provide its customers with "gamified, interactive, and immersive" experiences through Flipverse and offer digital collectibles from partner brands after making purchases. It also aims to drive its loyalty points-- Supercoins through this latest three dimensional shopping experience.

“Through this we want to see if brands are getting better attention span on Flipkart’s product page. Engagement and how many people are concurrently using it, are few metrics. On an average, people spend 20 seconds in a video, with augmented reality it is about 45 seconds, and with Flipverse we are hopeful we'll cross that,” said a senior company executive.

The pilot run will last for a week, but the company has not disclosed when the final rollout will take place. Flipkart executives also added that it is not looking at growing its sales or monetisation benefits through this for the time being.

Using the Flipkart app, you can access the space in the newly introduced category called "FireDrops," but it will take a while for it to fully load. Shoppers using their mobile networks should anticipate longer wait times. You can begin shopping after selecting an avatar and a nickname for yourself.

Flipkart has already tied up with around 20 brands for Flipverse. Some of the brands on the list are Colgate, Lavie, Noise, Puma, Noise, Nivea, Tokyo Talkies, Campus, VIP, Ajmal Perfumes, Himalaya and Butterfly India.

It summarises the features and product information once you arrive at a counter and select a product. The app will take you to the product page if you choose to claim the offer or purchase it at that point.

Although the product features and showcasing are well placed, moving from one counter to another as an avatar can take some time to get used to.

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The addition of this new emerging technology to the Flipkart app has not increased the size of the app. This is important because the next phase of growth for e-commerce companies is expected to come from smaller towns and cities where netizens still have a slow network, adding to the accessibility woes.

To put it into perspective, according to RedSeer Consulting, 75-80 million shoppers made purchases during the first week of the festive sale. In terms of transacting shoppers, the number increased by 24 percent year on year, with around 65 percent coming from Tier 2+ cities.

Commenting on this, the company said that it is trying to target a diverse range of youngsters, including GenZ, as well as smaller towns and cities.

“It is a classic easy-to-use gaming experience which will cater to a wider demographic of customers in India. It will be familiar yet a very innovative way to experience commerce. Is it going to be intuitive yet easy to use,” said Naren Ravula, VP and Head, Product Strategy and Deployment, Flipkart Labs in a press briefing.

Earlier this year, Flipkart also partnered with smartphone company Nothing to offer customers purchasing the smartphone exclusive non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Flipkart isn't the only company jumping on the Metaverse bandwagon; others include Nike, Adidas, and Louis Vuitton.

This article first appeared on Moneycontrol.