FLIPKART Aims to bring the next 200 million customers online ahead of the festive season

To introduce industry-first audio-visual navigation capabilities in the next phase to hand-hold first-time e-commerce users

Bangalore, September 3, 2019: As India gears up to celebrate the festive season ahead of the The Big Billion Days (BBD), Flipkart, India’s leading e-commerce marketplace, today announced the introduction of ‘Hindi’ interface on its platform to make it more engaging and meaningful for the next 200 million customers coming online to experience e-commerce in a more inclusive and seamless manner.

The Hindi interface brought about after months of intensive research, takes a holistic approach of understanding the needs and requirements of the native language customers coming online,  primarily from tier-II, III cities and are more comfortable using the internet economy in their native language.

As industry research suggests that 90% of new internet users in India are native language speakers, 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.

(The study behind it)

Flipkart conducted months of intensive 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 behavior and how a native language experience enhances their comfort and convenience for them.

The user research threw up interesting insights about customers’ behavior which shows that language if solved properly, is an opportunity and not a barrier. While the customer understands how to read and write in basic English, native language offers a different level of comfort and convenience which holds the key to bringing them online. The research also showed that the next lot of consumers coming from smaller cities have a better understanding of ‘digital’ terms such as debit/credit card, EMI, etc.,  which makes their transition to e-commerce seamless.

From presenting brand names the way they are displayed in real life to using commonly used acronyms in the same manner in the Hindi capability will enhance noticeability and understanding. Also, using colloquial tone as opposed to pure language such as ‘cash on delivery’ and ‘guarantee’ bodes well with the consumers preferring Hindi as their default language option.

(Advantage of Hindi)

The ability to provide native language support will impart understanding, reduce guesswork and make online shopping more engaging for the incoming consumers. Research has shown that consumers using e-commerce in native language gives them more confidence and independence to take decisions.

To further help consumers in their e-commerce journey through a seamless native experience, Flipkart will 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.

Jeyandran Venugopal, Senior Vice-President, Consumer Experience and Platform at Flipkart said, “The ‘Hindi’ capability becomes essential for customers to experience the comfort and convenience of shopping in their native language. We took a holistic approach of understanding consumers, their context and their needs to determine how native language can be made available in Flipkart which will improve their understanding of e-commerce, reduce guesswork and make online shopping more engaging. This will also allow the transition of online shopping in English from being a functional experience to elevating it into an emotional experience with the Hindi capability.”

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 200 million consumers who come online. We have deployed around 80-90% of our resources towards solving for 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.”

Flipkart plans to launch this capability in few more Indian languages in the coming months to take forward its learnings of bringing more consumers online through native language interface. The ability to offer multilingual interface has the potential of making e-commerce more accessible, familiar and engaging for the next 200 million customers in India.

About Flipkart

The Flipkart Group is one of India’s leading digital commerce entities and includes group companies Flipkart, Myntra, Jabong, and PhonePe.

Launched in 2007, Flipkart has enabled millions of consumers, sellers, merchants and small businesses to be a part of India’s e-commerce revolution. With a registered customer base of over 160 million, offering over 80 million products across 80+ categories, Flipkart is known for pioneering services such as Cash on Delivery, No Cost EMI and easy returns – customer-centric innovations that have made online shopping more accessible and affordable for millions of Indians. Together with Myntra and Jabong, which hold prominent positions in the online fashion market, and PhonePe, India’s fastest growing digital payments platform, the Flipkart Group is steering the transformation of commerce in India through technology.