Walmart-backed Flipkart turns to videos and livestream to woo Indian online shoppers
ETtech Flipkart India Pvt., the e-commerce giant owned by Walmart Inc., is using social videos and livestreams to convert young consumers spending a lot of time on their smartphones into loyal customers.Using videos to showcase and sell products is one of the leading new forays at Flipkart, Neha Agrahari, a senior director at the retailer, said in an interview to Bloomberg News.
While the concept of online retailers using videos to boost sales has been around for years, Flipkart hopes this strategy will give it an edge over rivals like Amazon.com Inc. and Reliance Industries Ltd. in India. The world's most-populous country has about 650 million smartphone users — of whom over 270 million make purchases online, making it the second-largest e-retail market ahead of the US. About 200 million users engaged with videos on Flipkart while shopping in the first half of 2025, up from 75 million a year ago, data from the retailer showed.
'Users prefer to watch a video and make a decision' when shopping, making video commerce the obvious direction to take, Agrahari said. Two in three Gen-Z users now prefer this format of shopping, with 65% of video and streaming engagement coming from India's smaller cities. The firm launched video offerings on its app about 18 months ago to promote everything from sunscreen to gadgets. It also features livestreams to answer buyers' questions about products in real-time and let shoppers interact with influencers.Flipkart's foray into this segment, along with other Indian platforms like SoftBank Group Corp.-backed Meesho, follows a trend in China and other parts of Asia where top retailers routinely invest in promoting items via live videos, hiring influencers to hawk everything from lipstick to protein powders.Video-led shopping is currently driving sales in fashion, beauty, personal care and home decor categories, Agrahari said, adding that the next move is to include electronics and fitness-related content. The platform is building physical studios in the Indian cities of Gurugram, Mumbai, and Bengaluru to offer 'seamless' shooting and editing experience to its video creators, Agrahari said.User engagement numbers for daily livestreaming show the strategy is paying off. The number is up 17 times compared to the previous year, according to Agrahari. The surge is boosted by product videos which include clips of users dipping t-shirts in water to see if the colors bleed and using a variety of food in kitchen appliances to test reliability.The 'stress tests' work for livestreams and viewers want to see more, she said. 'We don't mind dropping a mobile phone just to prove that it is strong enough.' Elevate your knowledge and leadership skills at a cost cheaper than your daily tea. Profits plenty, prices attractive, still PSU stocks languish. Why?
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Time of India
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- Time of India
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Mint
14 minutes ago
- Mint
DMart eyes higher margins via private labels as quick commerce grows
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Mails sent to DMart did not elicit a response until press time. 'DMart is attempting to increase its gross margins by adding private labels in more categories (HPC, foods); this may only partly offset QC-induced footfall and cost pressure," according to a Kotak Institutional Equities Report written by Garima Mishra and Ishaini Swain on 23 June. Private labels According to the report, these private labels now occupy 20-30% of shelf space in select product categories at DMart outlets. The retailer previously restricted private labels to its staple product category under the 'Premia" brand, which was started in 2002. According to the report, these private labels are priced about 30-70% lower than some of the branded FMCG products. This underscores the retailer's vision to sell everyday products at 'everyday low prices" to Indian consumers. For example, its private label detergent, Star Bright, costs ₹72 per kg, while P&G's Tide costs ₹125 per kg. 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'It seems like Asawa might have a significant challenge ahead given the high benchmark that Noronha has set," said the analyst based in Mumbai. The retailer's aggressive push into private labels also coincides with the rapid rise of quick commerce players such as Zomato's Blinkit, Swiggy's Instamart, and Zepto, which have been making inroads in several cities, especially in tier-II and tier-III cities, where DMart has limited presence. According to the Kotak report, there are over 100 cities where one or more quick commerce platforms have a presence, but DMart does not. 'Quick commerce is outpacing DMart Ready, which operates more like traditional e-commerce with one- to two-day delivery. In contrast, quick commerce players deliver within minutes," said the analyst. 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Time of India
23 minutes ago
- Time of India
Big FOMO! Investors Bring ₹1.8 lakh cr to ₹15,600 cr IPO Party
One of the busiest weeks in the Indian market for initial public offerings ended on a strong note, with all five issues launched over the past five days witnessing robust investor demand, especially from institutions. The IPOs of HDB Financial Services, Kalpataru, Ellenbarrie Industrial Gases, Sambhv Steel Tubes and Globe Civil Projects received bids totalling more than ₹1.85 lakh crore, nearly 12 times the ₹15,600 crore worth of shares they are offering to sell. The ₹12,500 crore HDB Financial IPO—the largest public issue by a non-banking financial company—closed Friday with investors bidding for 16.69 times the shares the company is offering. It received bids worth ₹1.52 lakh crore, the highest among billion-dollar Indian IPOs since Zomato's issue four years ago. The company is offering to sell 130.4 million shares, while the demand is for 2.18 billion shares. Qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) put in bids for 55.47 times the shares reserved for them. Retail investors bid for 1.41 times their portion, while the non-institutional, or HNI, category received subscriptions for 9.99 times. Sambhv Steel Tubes' ₹540 crore IPO, which also closed on Friday, was subscribed 28.46 times. The QIB category was subscribed 62.32 times, non-institutional category by 31.82 times and the retail investor portion by 7.99 times. The ₹1,590 crore IPO of Kalpataru received bids for 2.26 times, while Ellenbarrie Industrial Gases' ₹852-crore issue got 22.19 times and Globe's ₹119 crore issue received 86 times. These three issues closed Thursday. Investment bankers said institutional investors, mainly mutual funds and foreign investment vehicles, were among those most actively bidding for the IPOs. "Domestic institutions such as mutual funds are flush with liquidity and are finding IPOs an additional avenue to invest currently, apart from investing significantly in the secondary market. Even the FPIs are actively investing in good quality IPOs,' said Kotak Investment Banking MD V Jaya Sankar. Two dozen companies have raised close to ₹45,300 crore through IPOs so far in 2025, according to The improved stock market sentiment is encouraging more companies to hit the primary market. 'As the primary market moves in tandem with the secondary market, this may translate into more launches with better subscriptions and listing gains in the current bullish environment,' Prime Database Group MD Pranav Haldea said. 'The retail interest in upcoming issues will likely hinge on the prospect of listing gains.' Haldea said IPOs worth ₹2.5-3.0 lakh crore are in the pipeline, including those that have received regulatory approval, those awaiting the regulator's green signal, and those set to file the IPO documents in the coming weeks. As per data from at least 73 companies have received approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India to launch IPOs, with the total amount to be raised estimated at ₹1.2 lakh crore. Another 70 companies have filed draft red herring prospectus with Sebi and may raise another ₹99,500 crore.
