From understanding consumers’ intent to helping consumers find a product, this is how the e-commerce platform Flipkart claims to have aced the game in commerce marketing. “We are working towards creating inorganic discovery of brands and sellers. So we have rolled out a slew of display solutions over the years. It is our ability to understand consumer intent which is our USP,” Sankalp Mehrotra, vice president, monetisation, Flipkart, told BrandWagon Online.
The company further claims that its tools such as page widgets to product finders have further helped in not only the discovery of products but also understand the needs of consumers. “When it comes to consumers – a nascent intent goes to latent intent and it could be a strong intent. However, the challenge resides in how one creates intent for products which customers are not aware of its existence. Here we ask users a few questions. For example, what kind of shoe you would like – running or formal and then this is followed by a question like which colour is preferred to help them navigate,” Mehrotra added.
Over the years Flipkart claims to have initiated many programmes for its partner sellers, such as Sahi Shuruvaat where-in it puts a certain amount of money in their wallets. “This allows them to understand how advertising work. And based on the experience, sellers can decide whether to return or not. We have so far seen a high amount of return,” he explained. Further, Flipkart claims to run a programme called ‘Product performance ads’. According to Mehrotra, this allows us to show ads off the platform based on intent understanding.
According to market research firm Global Data, the e-commerce advertising market in India was valued at $133 million in 2020. The report further stated that global e-commerce grew at a CAGR of 92% between 2017 to 2020 and 33% in 2021, thereby reaching $202 million. GlobalData projects the figure to grow at a CAGR of 42% between 2021 and 2025. “The online advertising marketing is valued at about Rs 45,000 crore on digital. Within this commerce, advertising is growing at a fast pace of 40% CAGR. The overall opportunity in the commerce space would be north of a billion dollars. Flipkart is one of the largest commerce platforms,” he claimed.
For the e-commerce company, there are three-four dimensions which make an ad successful. Besides understanding audience intent, it is reach and engagement. “On reach, we already have more than 400 million registered users. As far as engagement is concerned, we have been driving the same through various channels,” he claimed.
