Flipkart embraces live commerce

Walmart-owned e-commerce giant Flipkart has stepped into live commerce, a swiftly growing retail trend, to offer a shopping experience driven by celebrities and social media influencers.

Flipkart’s fashion arm Myntra was the first segment of the business to launch live shopping as it utilised the retail format in November, 2021, during its largest sale event of the year and in collaboration with several Bollywood celebrities. The business has now rolled out live shopping features for its main ‘Flipkart’ e-commerce site to better engage its customers through live shopping streams on its dedicated mobile app.

Flipkart has created an Instagram-style ‘feed’ on its e-commerce platform which features influencers showcasing items such as clothing and accessories which can be purchased directly from the feed without the shopper having to search for the product they want. To reach more customers, the business has partnered with regional language social media platform ShareChat to hold video sessions on its short video app Moj and shoppers can purchase goods shown in the videos directly on Moj.

As well as collaborating with celebrities to sell goods on live sessions, Flipkart has also partnered with smaller influencers for a more personal touch. Live commerce, which was first very popular in China, is becoming increasingly popular in India, especially in the fashion and beauty segments.

“The rise of short-form video as a preferred content format across India today has created the right opportunity for Flipkart to pursue video and live commerce at scale,” Flipkart’s senior vice president and head of its growth charter Prakash Sikaria told the Economic Times.

“During the last two editions of our Big Billion Days events, we engaged with a diverse set of influencers for live commerce experiences on the Flipkart app which made the shopping festival more engaging for our customers."

Flipkart embraces live commerce

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