Flipkart’s ‘Ping’ chat tool for online shoppers proves successful

‘Ping’, a new chat feature introduced by Flipkart, is making waves in the virtual shopping space. Thanks to Ping, users can get real time opinions from their friends while shopping and can send images, text and emotions.

Flipkart’s ambitious Big Billion Days sale 2015 (which was incidentally limited to the app), recorded 80 chats per second on Ping. The company also says that it has close to 4 million users till date.

Keeping the shopping experience a group activity

Punit Soni, Chief Production Officer at Flipkart says, “Shopping is primarily a social activity and going for it with friends and family has been the norm since time immemorial. Online shopping, on the other hand, has largely remained a solo experience. ‘Ping’ aims to transform online shopping by allowing users to talk to each other in real time in order to make decisions and decide on what to buy!”

Rise in sales thanks to Ping

Flipkart has claimed that its sales have gone up significantly after Ping was introduced. Experts also feel that it is a plus point. According to Sachin Kumar, founder and MD of Bottle Openers, a Gurgaon based consultancy firm, this unique feature helps Flipkart stand apart from its peers. The company has launched an ad campaign to popularise Ping. A couple of short ads have been released to this end.

Arun Iyer, Chief Creative Officer of Lowe Lintas (the company behind the ad campaign) says, “The campaign aims to communicate the idea of collaborative shopping.” He also says that Ping intends to simplify the process of buyers discussing their shopping with friends.

Chatting and getting opinions will be for now focused on fashion buys. Surely the simply titled chat feature will help Flipkart get even more popularity. Online sellers stand to gain, as records show that Ping has pushed up sales. With the company being the first to come up with an interactive model, it certainly will help boost sales and popularity.