Flipkart Launches Videos And Instagram-Like Ideas Feed For Influencers

Walmart-owned ecommerce giant Flipkart has now widened its horizon with the launch of Flipkart Videos and Flipkart Ideas. Both new products have gone live silently and Inc42 can confirm the launch as both as visible in the Android app. While Flipkart Videos is self-explanatory, Flipkart Ideas is an Instagram-meets-Pinterest like feed with links to buy products and get inspiration.

The plans for Flipkart Videos came to light recently when reports surfaced that Flipkart is betting on Bollywood and it will serve entertainment content in an OTT format. The company then explained that “Flipkart Videos” will bring a curated range of movies, shows and entertainment series for all its consumers.

“Our video content offering is focused on three primary aspects, keeping in mind our understanding of the market: free, curated and personalised. We believe that our customers shouldn’t pay extra for premium content and hence our offering is different from anything else that is currently available,” a company statement had said.

Flipkart Videos Launched

The claim stands true as Inc42 noted that Flipkart Videos offering remains free and for use by all its users. The company has rolled out additions as an update to the Flipkart app. However, the options are available to a select group of users on Android and couldn’t be accessed on iOS.

The users can start watching videos by identifying their interests and Flipkart will show suggestions accordingly. It is interesting to note that the offerings range from television shows to Bollywood movies as well as shows from Viu, Dice Media, TVF and Arre.

Some Bollywood movies are also available through Viacom’s Voot. All channels can be followed for future updates just like on YouTube.

The genres available include romance, action, adventure, drama among others. We further noted that offerings are available in two more languages— Tamil and Kannada. Interestingly, no Hollywood film could be seen on the platform.

Flipkart Ideas Takes On Instagram

Coming to Flipkart Ideas, users have to identify their areas of interests from options such as fashion, health and fitness, gadgets, food, self-improvement, photography and more. Flipkart shows users an Instagram-like feed based on the chosen interests where users can post photos with captions. Customers can also buy products such as apparel, accessories or electronics, based on what’s visible on the image.

Flipkart is also using influencer recommendations who users can follow and then buy recommended products. Interestingly, Instagram’s shopping feature is quite similar to this, but it is not yet live in India.

We will know more about Flipkart Videos and Flipkart Ideas in the days to come, and while Videos was seen coming, Ideas is a bit of a surprise. And it’s hard to see what Flipkart is hoping to achieve with it; the product cannot compete with Instagram for scale, but it does add a new dimension to the Flipkart shopping experience, other than scrolling through products.

Update: August 16, 2019| 7 PM
In a media statement, Flipkart said that Ideas is a curated selection of content on its platform, to make consumers’ shopping experience more meaningful by guiding them through their ecommerce purchase journey. On Flipkart Ideas, content from brands and influencers will be showcased with associated products from Flipkart, in all multimedia formats such as videos, GIFs, images, stories, quizzes and polls. The user-savvy content will enable consumers to know more about products and brands, while aiding them in understanding ongoing trends across categories, thus, ensuring better brand recall.