Flipkart launches Hindi interface to tap into next 200 million e-shoppers

The e-commerce site wants to target native language customers coming online, primarily from tier-II and III cities

Walmart-owned Flipkart on Tuesday announced the introduction of 'Hindi' interface on its platform as it aims to tap into the next 200 million customers coming online to experience e-commerce.

The Hindi interface - being launched ahead of the festive sales - has been unveiled after months of intensive research and understanding the requirements of the native language customers coming online, primarily from tier-II and III cities, a statement said.

Industry research suggests that 90 per cent of new internet users in India are native language speakers, and 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 statement said.

Flipkart will also introduce audio-visual navigation capabilities in its app in the upcoming phases to handhold first-time users, it added.

"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 per cent of our resources towards solving for Bharat with our Hindi interface being one of the biggest catalysts in this transition," Flipkart Group CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy said.

As language is a convenience and not a barrier, Flipkart believes this native language capability will play a significant role in further adoption of e-commerce in the country, he added.

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.

Last year, Flipkart had acquired Liv.ai, an artificial intelligence (AI) start-up which has built a platform that converts speech to text in 10 Indian languages.

Interestingly, Amazon had started its Hindi offering last year, a move that the US-based e-tailing giant had said was aimed at bringing the next 100 million customers online.