Flipkart, which has recently been overtaken by Amazon India as India’s most visited ecommerce website, has announced a new ‘Image search’ feature on its mobile app.
With the app, you can take a snap of anyone wearing any dress, and that app will try to locate a similar dress for you.
“The added feature has been uniquely designed for Flipkart’s fashion category, with the aim to provide users a real-world like shopping experience. This feature will allow the use of any image to find visually similar products on Flipkart, the ecommerce company said.
In addition, users can browse a range of similar products by tapping directly on the product they like on Flipkart, it added.
“This new feature aims to fundamentally change the way people shop for fashion online, by helping them find what they’re looking for, without going through the usual step-by-step navigation. With more and more users accessing Flipkart through their smartphones, the company plans to use the in-built features such as camera and bring an offline-like experience with just a few clicks.”
“Discovering a fashion product online varies from user to user and is more complex as compared to other categories,” said Flipkart’s Chief Product Officer Punit Soni.
“A lot of fashion purchase decisions are influenced by similar products seen by users. The image search feature provides a way to find similar products on Flipkart as well as reduces the search/ browsing time, making the overall product discovery and shopping experience simple.”
Image search feature, currently at the beta stage of development, will be available to customers through an app upgrade. More than 75% users access Flipkart through their smartphones, the firm said.
“There will be more such innovative features and developments in the coming months,” it added.
Flipkart has been trying to get people to install its app on their phones so that it can push ads and notifications to the users without having to pay for it. In this effort, it has even blocked entry to website if a user is detected as coming from a mobile device.
In contrast, Amazon’s website does not block visitors who are browsing from their phones.
While this has encouraged many to download the app, the move has also blocked those who do not have space on their phones to download and install the app, or those who simply do not want to do so.
Flipkart has 30,000 sellers and over 4.5 crore registered customers. Launched in October 2007, Flipkart has become the preferred online marketplace for enterprise owners across the nation.
It has, however, come under increasing pressure from Amazon, which covers far flung areas (including states such as Kerala).
