Technology
Flipcart by Walmart makes shopping easier Voice Assistant
Flipkart has developed a voice assistant app to make shopping easier, despite the nationwide reach that Walmart owns for e-commerce.
The AI-powered voice assistant now supports the Supermart category, but a company speaker told TechCrunch that Flipkart would extend it to other verticals in the near future. The feature started to roll out to Android users on Tuesday and the company says it's working to take it to their iOS application.
The assistant, who supports Hindi and English, will in future also understand more languages, the business that competes in India with Amazon said.
The feature allows users to browse deals and offers, filter out results and add multiples items to carts and receive contextual suggestions.
Jeyandran Venugopal, Flipkart 's CEO of Product & Technology, said that the company has traveled throughout the country to boost its voice ability. "The launch of voice helpers also aligns well with increasing consumer adoption and comfort with online voice business," he said.
The voice assistant functionality is added months after Flipkart's "audio visual guided navigation" feature has been added to simplify the first-time experience for internet users — as well as existing clients who can not make transactions online. Last year, Flipkart also introduced a video streaming service on demand.
In the last decade, hundreds of millions of Indians have come online. Many of them are less educated and unfamiliar with English typing and navigation facilities. Voice search in recent years has become popular among many such population studies. Google said voice searches in India last year grew 270 per cent annually.
"Shopping with Voice-led materials is normal and We wanted to provide our customers with the most natural conversational experience," Manish Kumar, SVP Flipkart Grocery and General Merchandise and Furniture, said.
Amazon India supported Hindi in 2018 on its website and last year expanded its support to smart speakers and other Alexa devices.
The coronavirus pandemic has affected both companies profoundly and led New Delhi to lock down at the end of March. Since then, however, India has eased restrictions, which enable e-commerce firms and the hailing giants to resume many of its services.
