India-based consumers are having more selections when shopping online, with top-tier local e-commerce platforms ramping up their experiment with blockchain and the Metaverse.

Specifically, Indian shoppers will reportedly have the ability to test products from brands such as Puma and Nivea in the gamified and interactive metaverse, thanks to local e-commerce heavyweight Flipkart releasing a metaverse sphere for consumers to discover products in a photorealistic virtual destination and shop.

Flipkart reportedly issued an official announcement regarding the release of Flipverse on Oct. 17, with a target of bridging the best of the online and offline shopping experience.

Built via a partnership with Polygon-incubated organization eDAO, Flipverse makes it possible for shoppers to form a metaverse avatar to go shopping in a virtual world, with intentions of bringing customers closer to their favorite brands. 

Simultaneously, brands will have the freedom to generate and create their metaverse-ready digital twin in the virtual world.

Apart from featuring contests and exclusive brand offers, Flipverse will offer facilitation for unique digital collectibles. Per the announcement, Flipverse will feature a vast array of brands, including Puma, Noise, Nivea, Lavie, Tokyo Talkies, Campus and others. 

The new shopping experience will be rolled out on Flipkart’s newly online shopping platform, FireDrops.

The Flipverse offering is reportedly in the pilot stage and works towards the primary target of reeling in interest during this month’s festive season.

Naren Ravula, vice president of product strategy of Flipkart Labs, additionally revealed that the blockchain technology, metaverse and nonfungible tokens provide “very promising” use cases for e-commerce. “With the launch of Flipverse, consumers can discover products in a photorealistic virtual destination and shop on the Flipkart app,” he noted, adding that the application is now available on both iOS and Android.