Flipkart unveils Hindi interface with the aim to drive 200m customer engagements
Flipkart has introduced Hindi interface on its platform with the aim to engage 200m customers.
Flipkart unveils Hindi interface with the aim to drive 200 m customer engagements
The news comes after a recent report by Kantar IMRB ICUBE stated that digital adoption is now being propelled by rural India and figures show that it has registered 35% growth in internet users over the past year. It is now estimated that there are 251m internet users in rural India, and this is expected to reach 290m by the end of 2019.
Furthermore, a statement by Flipkart added that industry research suggests 90% of new internet users in India are native language speakers, so it becomes imperative to offer a native e-commerce experience to impart familiarity, comfort and aid in decision making.
With the Hindi capability, users will be able to see all the information and search for their desired products in Hindi – a language whose internet user base is expected to outgrow English by the year 2021.
Flipkart further conducted months of research to understand how best Indian languages can be leveraged to offer more native experience in bringing customers online and improve their e-commerce experience. The user research included several hours of fieldwork, speaking to customers across different cities to gather interesting insights about their online behaviour and how a native language experience enhances their comfort and convenience for them.
Flipkart will also introduce audio-visual navigation capabilities in its app in the upcoming phases to handhold first-time users. This is aimed at mimicking the offline experience of being guided and hand-held during one’s purchase journey into the e-commerce world.
Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO of Flipkart Group said: “As a home-grown company, Flipkart has the advantage of understanding the Indian market and all its nuances in a much better way. We are committed to developing solutions that will help the adoption of e-commerce by the next 200m consumers who come online.
We have deployed around 80-90% of our resources towards Bharat, with our Hindi interface being one of the biggest catalysts in this transition. As language is a convenience and not a barrier, we believe this native language capability will play a significant role in further adoption of e-commerce in the country."