Flipkart Says Video Commerce Offering A Big Success; 75 Mn Users Engaged In H1 2024

Ecommerce giant Flipkart said its users cumulatively spent more than 2 Mn hours engaging with its video commerce offerings between June 2023 and May 2024.

In a statement, the ecommerce major said that more than 75 Mn users watched videos while shopping on the app between January 2024 and June 2024 on its curated video sections ‘Liveshop+’ and ‘Vibes’. 

“… Flipkart’s video commerce offering is designed to meet an array of evolving needs, with the intention of not only creating an enhanced shopping experience but also addressing possible barriers that exist when it comes to online shopping,” said senior director of video commerce at Flipkart Neha Agrahari. 

The ecommerce major also said that video content is rapidly gaining ground across the country, particularly among millennials and GenZ, and women in Tier-II and III regions. 

As per Flipkart, Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Kolkata led the charts in terms of engagement with its video commerce offerings. 

“The maximum viewership clocked (number of times the video was watched) on a single Live Commerce video was 1.4 Mn.” added Flipkart. 

The company also said that it is betting on its partnerships with influencers to drive its video commerce offering. In 2021, the company reported a 30% year-on-year growth in engagement with vernacular creators, making it a key component of their influencer marketing approach. 

The ecommerce major works with more than 500 influencers. Its video commerce offerings include influencer-led videos, product-focused informational videos, short-form content through Vibes, and real-time live streaming via LiveShop+.

While Flipkart has lately ramped up its focus on video commerce, the fate of the overall Indian live commerce brigade hangs in balance. The post-TikTok ban boom saw multiple local Indian players such as Moj and ShareChat emerge from the shadows and pick up hefty funding amounts. 

However, engagement numbers have dwindled in the presence of a resurgent Instagram. An Inc42 deep dive last year found that engagement levels of the Indian short-video platforms and live commerce companies is down by a big margin. 

On top of that, an absence of profitability and diminishing user base has raised questions over the viability of the space. Such has been the situation that ShareChat is seething under a funding crunch while Trell was under lens for financial irregularities. 

Meanwhile, MX TakaTak was acquired by ShareChart in 2022 as the latter now itself struggles with mounting losses and falling user engagement. 

On the other hand, there seems to be no clarity on how Flipkart’s competitor Amazon’s live commerce offering, which was launched in 2022, has been faring. 

While Redseer estimates the overall short-video user base to touch 600 Mn by 2025, questions remain over monetisation issues prevalent in the ecosystem. 

That said, Flipkart continues to strengthen its video commerce offerings at a time when it is on an expansion spree. Just a day earlier, it launched its fintech app super.money in beta mode, with an eye on launching other financial services soon.

Additionally, the company is also set to foray into the quick commerce space soon. However, this rapid expansion has come at a financial cost. Flipkart’s B2C arm reported a loss of INR 4,026.5 Cr in FY23, albeit down 9% YoY.