Flipkart revamps beauty buying experience to boost convenience

Flipkart revamps beauty buying experience to boost convenience for Bharat customers

• Adds virtual try-and-buy feature, improves product information display and reviews to help customers with discovery and selection

Flipkart, India’s leading e-commerce marketplace, has revamped the experience for consumers seeking to buy beauty care products on its platform ahead of the upcoming festive season. Beauty is one of the fastest-growing product categories online, and Flipkart currently hosts over 20,000 brands who sell more than 10 lakh products in this segment. The new features introduced by Flipkart will make it easier for consumers to discover and select products, as well as assure them of their authenticity.

To boost transparency and assist customers with selecting the right product from the vast range on the platform, Flipkart has consolidated brand/product images and images from actual customers, under one tab. Furthermore, it has collated and classified user reviews according to the sentiment they convey or the product aspect they highlight – from whether it is ‘true to color’ to whether the scent of the perfume lasts for as long as the brand claims. Cosmetic products typically come in 15-20 variants, which has, in the past, posed a challenge for customers when shopping online, as they had to switch between multiple pages or tabs. Flipkart has simplified and shortened this process by showing swatches of all the available shades on the product page itself, making it much more convenient to compare.

Knowing that consumers like to see how make-up and cosmetics look on them before purchasing, Flipkart has introduced an in-app feature called ‘Try and Buy’, wherein customers can choose their skin tone and see for themselves which shade they prefer. Users can pick a product shade,  compare variants, and toggle ‘ON’ and ‘OFF’ between their pre- and post look before making their final decision.

Nishit Garg, Vice President of Books, General Merchandise and Home at Flipkart, said, “All our initiatives are designed to make the online purchase journey as seamless and convenient as possible for our customers, so we can build their trust in this key segment. These steps will empower them to make the best choices and create an enjoyable online experience for them.”

As a result of India’s growing youth population and the middle classes’ increasing disposable income, grooming has become an integral part of contemporary Indian lifestyles. Consumers are willing to spend more to look and feel at their best, and online shopping has proved to be a popular choice for customers looking to satisfy their Personal Care needs. The beauty and personal care industry is growing at a fast pace in India, helped by online sales, which have crossed the $400 million mark in 2018, up from $100 million in 2014, according to industry reports. The rapid growth in India is in line with a global trend that will expectedly see the global market for online beauty and personal care products grow exponentially.