E-commerce major Flipkart has sent Ping to its grave and thrown in Image Search to accompany it there. It’s only been about 10 months since the former made its debut, so the news comes as a big surprise.
Ping was launched as a way to make Flipkart more social by allowing users to chat with each other right within the app itself. The idea was that they would share the products they were shopping for with friends, simulating a real-life shopping trip in a way. It looks like this didn’t come to pass as the company had hoped.
Flipkart is now pivoting towards seller-buyer interactions. It’s planning to replace Ping with user to seller and user to customer care chat platforms. As per PTI, a spokesperson for the site stated that the shift is meant to make online shopping easier for consumers.
User to seller chat has apparently been in testing since April this year. The tool is supposed to help customers clear up their product inquiries before buying the item. The pilot version of the endeavor was launched with a limited group of sellers at first. It’ll now be expanded to more vendors over the course of the next few months.
Also See: Flipkart becomes first Indian app to cross 50 million downloads
Flipkart is further looking to begin the pilot process for the user to customer care chat platform by the end of July 2016. Meanwhile, its Image Search tool which let people browse for products based on images they uploaded has also been put down. The feature must not have proven as popular as the company was hoping it would be.