Just days after BigBasket added a voice assistant to its mobile app, Flipkart has today announced that an AI voice assistant will be available within its “Supermart” grocery delivery service. It will enable users to search for and add necessary grocery items to their basket using just voice commands.
The AI voice assistant is now live and available in two languages – Hindi and English at launch. It has been developed by Flipkart’s in-house technology team, who plans to add support for more vernacular languages down the road. The voice assistant can detect the language the user is speaking and output the results. I have tested this out and it does work quite flawlessly.
Flipkart’s Supermart does not have a standalone app like Prime Now. Instead, it comes integrated within the main Flipkart app and can be accessed via the ‘Grocery’ tab below the search bar. Here, you will see a new ‘microphone’ icon right next to the search bar. Tapping it activates the voice assistant and you can then perform tasks, like searching for items, adding them to your basket, placing an order, and more.
The voice assistant can speed up the process and make it fun for lazy users like me. You don’t even need to lift a finger to add the items to your basket. The assistant will do the same on your command. You’ll only need to step in to review the items in your basket and complete the payment manually.
“Flipkart’s voice assistant will help users build their grocery baskets with multiple products quickly and efficiently and make their journey seamless and natural,” says the official press release.
The ‘Settings’ button at the top right lets you pick the language and whether you want to hear audio feedback from the voice assistant as it performs your tasks. You can also quit the voice assistant view and return to the usual shopping experience from here.
It looks like Flipkart has spent some time perfecting its AI voice assistant because it worked quite well during my brief testing for this story. The voice assistant is easily able to recognize what I wanted to add to my cart in one go. A minor nuisance that I faced with the voice assistant is that you need to be specific with the input command to add items to your basket. If you are not, Supermart will present you with a slew of options and then you will need to take a pick. This takes away from the voice-assisted experience.
The voice assistant is now live in Flipkart’s mobile app on Android. The company aims to roll out the feature to iOS and web users over the coming weeks. Go ahead and try it out to order this week’s grocery. Don’t forget to share your experiences with us in the comments below.
