Flipkart App Will Let You Upload an Image to Find Similar Fashion Products

The competition in the Indian e-commerce space continues to intensify, and on Wednesday Flipkart announced a new feature on its mobile app that may give it an edge over its rivals. Called Image Search, it lets Flipkart app users upload an image of the apparel they are looking for and find visually similar products on the online marketplace.

The new Image Search feature is still in beta, and will be rolled out to users via an app upgrade. The company in an emailed statement on Wednesday said Image Search feature has been designed especially for the fashion category of products.

Users can either take a photo of the fashion product they are looking on their smartphone or tablet, or upload an image taken from elsewhere. Flipkart adds that the search function will look for products with the same colour, pattern, or style. Another use of the feature will be to find visually similar products to a product already listed on Flipkart. The feature is being developed especially for the app, since 75 percent of Flipkart users access it via their smartphones, the company said.

Flipkart's Chief Product Officer Punit Soni, commented on the new feature in an emailed statement, "Discovering a fashion product online varies from user to user and is more complex as compared to other categories. 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."

Soni further added, "This is in line with our ambition to create a very intuitive thoughtful mobile experience that is universally accessible to everybody, regardless of whether they use text or visuals to communicate with us."