Flipkart Launches Flipverse To Offer Metaverse-Based Shopping Experience

Indian ecommerce major Flipkart has launched its metaverse-based virtual shopping experience, Flipverse. The development comes a month after it was reported in the media that Flipkart had plans to launch a metaverse-based experience.

The development also comes six months after Flipkart launched Flipkart Labs, a new initiative to test out Web3 technology and use cases for ecommerce.

Flipverse will be available on Flipkart’s newly launched platform, FireDrops, which can be accessed from the ecommerce platform’s app.

The Flipverse will allow users to discover and shop for products in a metaverse environment. The ecommerce company has partnered with eDAO to develop the virtual shopping experience, along with Meta and Ethereum Layer-2 scaling startup Polygon.

In a press statement, Flipkart said that the Flipverse will offer gamified, interactive and immersive shopping experiences for consumers in a digital world by giving them access to their favourite brands, SuperCoins and digital collectibles.

Flipverse would be deployed in phases, with Phase I being live for a week starting today. The experience would be available only for Android users for the time being.

The ecommerce major has also onboarded brands such as Puma, Noise, Nivea, Lavie, Tokyo Talkies, Campus, VIP, Ajmal Perfumes, Himalaya and Butterfly India to develop their metaverse-based shopping experiences.

Upon entering the metaverse, the user receives access to a digital twin, which is a third-person avatar the likes of which are popular in games such as BGMI. The user can move their digital twin within the metaverse space and can interact with brand stores designed within the metaverse.

Once at the store, users can tap on the table to see the products. Once a user finalises a product, they can click on the product link to redirect to Flipkart to buy it.

Naren Ravula, VP and head of product strategy and Deployment at Flipkart Labs, said, “The launch of Flipverse will continue to have an impact on innovative industries like ecommerce 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.”

Speaking on the same, Sandeep Nailwal, cofounder of Polygon, said, “While we have only just begun to scratch the surface of what’s possible in the metaverse, we see ecommerce as one of the killer use cases.”

Flipkart has joined the ranks of multiple Indian legacy companies and startups that have dipped their toes in the metaverse. From the IT giants of TCS, Tech Mahindra and Infosys to entertainment giants such as Zee, Indian companies are looking at the metaverse as an augment to their existing product base.