Walmart owned e-commerce giant Flipkart has officially entered the territory of virtual shopping with metaverse shopping experience and there are many reasons to dig deeper into this. Flipverse, the name the e-commerce company gave to its metaverse shopping experience, is designed and developed to offer its users an interactive platform to discover Flipkart’s range of products.

The company made the pilot experience live in October on the occasion of the Diwali festival for selected 15 brands with their top 100 products. This included different products from different categories. Some of the prominent brands included in the Flipverse pilot experience are apparel brand Puma, Tokyo Talkies, Himalaya, VIP, cosmetics and personal care brand Nivea, and homegrown electronics brand Noise. Flipkart app users were also given the extended option of using Supercoins and digital collectibles in Flipverse.

The Flipverse, during the pilot run, was live on the Flipkart app on Android smartphones and similar devices only. Android smart device users were able to access the Flipverse through the FireDrops section visible on the Flipkart app.

The popular e-commerce company said they wanted to “flip” the shopping experience of their customer through the integration of metaverse with their range of products. The primary aim of the company was to bring technology, their users and the most trusted brands in an interactive two-way shopping communication experience through metaverse shopping.

To make this project a reality, the e-commerce company had signed partnership agreements with eDAO. It is a Polygon-incubated firm that designs and launches international art, media as well as entertainment projects at scale in web3. Apart from that, the company also partnered with Polygon and Guardian Link to turn this project into reality.

At the time of the release of the pilot of Flipverse by Flipkart, the company posted a statement on its official Firedrops Twitter handle, which said, “The metaverse offers nearly unlimited space for creativity and self-expression. Commerce within the virtual world isn’t simply about taking the traditional shopping experience and building it in 3D but is instead about making shopping experiential.”

The e-commerce platform further added in the statement, “The Flipverse helps bridge the best of the online and offline shopping experience: offering brands a new way to tell their story, connect to shoppers at a more personal level, immersive spaces which have products showcased within.”

When the “Flipverse” announcement was made by the e-commerce company, VP and Head of Flipkart  Product Strategy and Deployment, Flipkart Labs, Naren Ravula said, “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 an immersive shopping experience, especially in light of the adoption of the metaverse and web3 platforms by multiple brands in India.”

There were many speakers at the event of the announcement of the “Flipverse” who explained the product in detail at Flipkart’s Bengaluru headquarters. The event witnessed brief speakers starting from Sai Krishna V K (Flipkart Labs), Naren Ravula (Head of Product Strategy and Deployment at Flipkart), Ajay PV (Head of Flipkart Labs) and Anand Venkateswaran (CEO at eDAO) to Mairu Gupta (COO at eDAO). According to one such speaker, “the metaverse shopping experience will help change e-commerce from being 2D static product catalogues to real-time experiences that enable users to ‘walk’ around a store, enjoying 3D-rendered store displays.”

During the launch, Sai Krishna V K, Flipkart’s Labs, “the e-commerce company has tied up with over 15 brands who have set up spaces on Flipverse.” He further added, “We are trying to show buying can be a visually immersive experience and will cater to broader demographics.” He also revealed that users would get an option to avail of attractive discounts, Supercoins and digital collectibles. Sai also added, “This is going to catalyse a new way of shopping and we are having conversations with many brands. During Big Billion Days sale, we partnered with 5 brands and now we have 15 plus brands.”

Meanwhile, Co-Founder of Polygon, Sandeep Nailwal said, “We see e-commerce as one of the killer use cases.” He further said that this whole step is great and he sees “Flipverse become a vibrant, visible expression of the metaverse.”

How Can One Use Flipverse

Step 1. Open the link – https://firedrops.flipkart.com/qr-page.html on your computer or other device screens

Step 2. Click on ‘Enter Flipverse’ and scan the code that is visible on the screen using your Android smartphone

Step 3. Once you scan the code, the screen will redirect you to the FireDrops app

Step 4. Choose a username.

Step 5. Tap on Menu and select “Flipverse” button

Step 6. This section will automatically create your Avatar and enter “Flipverse”. This is where all the available will be displayed and your Avatar can then experience the world of metaverse shopping

Step 7. You can thus navigate through the on-screen controls available to you and check out the deals and products offered

A number of other e-commerce websites have also been making use the metaverse technology to launch various new interactive shopping features for their user base. In a similar previous launch, around three weeks ago, Amazon launched an interactive shopping experience through Amazon Live for users in India. However, it wasn’t really a metaverse but more of a live-streaming video feature that was used to promote products on their platform. Amazon had also moved a step ahead towards collaborating with social media influencers. The e-commerce company planned and hosted live streams to develop another type of interactive shopping experience for their customers.