Flipkart is launching a dedicated virtual shopping experience, ‘Flipverse’, as part of its Diwali sale. The pilot experience will be live on the company’s Android app starting Monday, October 17, till the end of the week, which is October 23. The ‘metaverse’ style experience can be accessed by users to interact with select brands in a virtual, 3D-style setting. Flipkart is partnering with companies such as eDAO, a Polygon-incubated organisation that designs and launches global art, and GuardianLink which is known for launching celeb and brand-driven NFTs (Non Fungible Tokens). ‘Flipverse’ will be available on the FireDrops section of Flipkart’s Android app.
“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,” Naren Ravula, VP and Head, Product Strategy and Deployment, Flipkart Labs, said in a press statement.
What is ‘Flipverse’?
According to the company, ‘Flipverse’ will work on any mobile phone irrespective of specifications. The company stated the virtual 3D experience is being rendered and streamed via the cloud and that accessing this will not cause the device to heat up in any way.
“This is a 3D-enabled virtual environment with super high fidelity. We have worked with partners like eDAO to enable this on the server and then stream it on the app so that you get a very high fidelity irrespective of what quality of mobile phone you have,” Sai Krishna VK, Chief Innovation Architect at Flipkart Labs, said during a press briefing.
According to Flipkart, this experience, which is a pilot, will let users create their own avatars and interact with select brands which are part of ‘Flipverse’. It is not clear what technology Flipkart is using to power these ‘avatars’. The brands which will set up their own virtual experiences in this virtual world will offer their own rewards, including digital collectables, for users who participate. The idea is to reward users for interaction in this new virtual space. The rewards could also be converted into physical goods depending on the brands.
Participating brands
Flipkart is partnering with around 15 plus brands for the ‘Flipverse’ experience. Some of the brands on the list are Puma, Noise, Nivea, Lavie, Tokyo Talkies, Campus, VIP, Ajmal Perfumes, Himalaya, and Butterfly India and will be participating in this edition.
Flipkart said the idea behind ‘Flipverse’ is to let users experience shopping in a more 3D style experience, and also gauge the consumer response to this. It is not clear if Flipverse will be made a permanent feature on the app just yet.
The experience relies on the Polygon blockchain. Users cannot connect their other crypto wallets to this for now. For now, it looks like Flipkart’s prime objective with ‘Flipverse’ is to gauge user engagement for this new ‘gamified’ experience.
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