The metaverse is coming to you, and closer than you think. Starting Monday October 17, Flipkart has launched its own metaverse offering – Flipverse – to provide a virtual platform where individuals can engage in “immersive shopping” and communicate with a number of brands.
A fruit of Flipkart’s pursuits into the web3 space, the Flipverse will allow for a more interactive and “gamified” shopping experience as they can discover and buy new products in a virtual, 3D-style space. The Flipverse, Flipkart noted, is built as a result of its partnership with eDAO, a Polygon-incubated organization that designs and launches global art, media, and entertainment IPs.
For now, only Android users will be able to access the pilot of the Flipverse, which will run for a week before ending on October 23. During this period, customers will have access to brands, Supercoins, and digital collectibles.
Flipverse will be available on Firedrops, Flipkart’s newly launched platform, which can be accessed from the Flipkart app.
Flipkart has teamed up with a host of brands – around 15 – for the Flipverse to set up their own virtual experiences and offer their own rewards and digital collectibles which can be converted into physical goods depending on the brands. Some of the brands to showcase their products in the first phase of the Flipverse are Puma, Noise, Nivea, Lavie, Tokyo Talkies, Campus, VIP, Ajmal Perfumes, Himalaya, and Butterfly India.
“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,” said Naren Ravula, VP and Head, Product Strategy and Deployment, Flipkart Labs, in a press statement.
Customers who have access to the metaverse will be able to create avatars to interact with others in Flipkart’s metaverse offering. This is similar to what Meta (the company formerly known as Facebook and famously rebranded itself to reflect its focus on what it believes to be the future of the internet) is providing as part of its metaverse.
The difference is that you do not need to buy a VR headset (such as Meta’s Quest Pro) to access it – any smartphone will do, and since the virtual 3D experience will be rendered and streamed via the cloud, there are no chances of the device overheating.
Social media platforms are already playing host to businesses – today, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook have evolved into virtual shopping malls where businesses showcase their wares and consumers buy from them. Flipkart is simply taking this one step further.
