Flipkart Unveils Hindi Language Support, Aimed at Next 200 Million Customers Coming Online

Flipkart has announced the introduction of Hindi interface on its platform to make it more engaging for the next 200 million customers coming online to experience e-commerce in a more inclusive and seamless manner. The launch is being done in phases and will be completed in a month, ANI reported.

The e-commerce platform cites industry research to claim that 90 percent of new Internet users in the country are native language speakers. With the Hindi capability, users will be able to see all the information and search for their desired products in Hindi - a language whose Internet user base is expected to outgrow English by the year 2021 - Flipkart said.

To recall, Amazon rolled out Hindi language support on its Android app and mobile Web interface in September last year.

Flipkart says it has brought the Hindi interface to its platform after “months of intensive research”. The interface is said to take a “holistic approach of understanding the needs and requirements of the native language customers coming online, primarily from tier II, III cities and are more comfortable using the internet economy in their native language.”

"As a home-grown company, Flipkart has the advantage of understanding the Indian market and all its nuances in a much better way," said Flipkart Group's CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy.

"We are committed to developing solutions that will help the adoption of e-commerce by the next 20 crore consumers who come online. As language is a convenience and not a barrier, we believe this native language capability will play a significant role in further adoption of e-commerce in the country," he said in a statement.

Flipkart plans to launch this capability in a few more Indian languages in the coming months.

The e-commerce site added that that the platform will “introduce audio-visual navigation capabilities in its app in the upcoming phases to handhold first-time users.” Flipkart said this is “aimed at mimicking the offline experience of being guided and hand-held during one's purchase journey into the e-commerce world.”