Quick take:
- Flipkart has launched a metaverse shopping experience to debut during Diwali celebrations.
- The Walmart-backed e-commerce platform has teamed up with eDAO to launch Flipverse.
- The company is targeting massive onboarding of users during the festive season.
Flipkart has accelerated its web3 strategy with the launch of a metaverse-based shopping experience. The Bangaluru, India-based e-commerce platform has collaborated with Polygon-incubated web3 firm eDAO to launch Flipverse.
The metaverse is a 3D virtual space that allows users to interact immersively through gaming, virtual concerts and other experiential events.
The announcement comes just as the country begins Diwali celebrations, one of India’s biggest festive seasons. According to the announcement, Flipkart is targeting the Big Diwali Sale to accelerate user onboarding into its newest web3 product.
The Walmart-backed company revealed in April that it was working on an NFT-related business that was scheduled for launch in October. According to the announcement, the company planned to create utility-based NFTs amid the low adoption in India.
In July, Flipkart ramped up its NFT business by announcing a partnership with London-based consumer tech company, Nothing. The agreement saw the UK firm airdrop its Nothing Community Dots NFT on Flipkart’s Web3 platform, FireDrops.
Flipverse is available on the FireDrops section of its Android app on October 17. The strategic launch date seeks to tap into the busy holiday activity, which takes place through October 23. The metaverse shopping experience allows users to interact with select brands immersively.
Commenting on Flipverse’s importance in scaling his company’s web3 strategy, Naren Ravula, VP and Head, Product Strategy and Deployment, Flipkart Labs, said:
“The future growth of e-commerce will be influenced by the immersive technologies of today, and Metaverse is one of the significant revolutions in this arena with immense potential. The launch of Flipverse will continue to have an impact on innovative industries like e-commerce and enhance the customer experience while delivering a gamified and immersive shopping experience, especially in light of the adoption of the metaverse and web3 platforms by multiple brands in India.”
According to a media briefing on Monday, Flipkart has already onboarded leading brands like Puma, Noise, Nivea, Lavie, Tokyo Talkies, Campus, VIP, Ajmal Perfumes and Himalaya onto the Flipverse platform.
The platform will allow digital shoppers to create their own avatars and interact with onboarded brands. The brands will also be able to offer digital collectibles to users as they drum up campaigns for their products.
Essentially, Flipverse users will explore different brands and their products and stand a chance to receive various rewards and prizes including digital collectibles. Some rewards may be convertible to physical goods depending on the brands.
The company believes that by letting millions into the Flipverse experience, the platform will be “opening the doors to the future of shopping.”
The experience is built on the Layer-2 Ethereum scaling solution Polygon to support massive and high-speed crypto transactions at low gas fees.
This could play a crucial role during the busy Diwali festivities as the company looks to lure the masses into its new platform with huge discounts on multiple products.
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