Flipkart bets on Gen Z: Short form video, creator studios, AI to power next gen commerce

Flipkart is reimagining the future of online shopping by turning to India’s most influential and fast-evolving consumer cohort: Gen Z. In an exclusive interview with Business Today, Ramesh Gururaja, Senior Vice President – Consumer Product, Technology and Growth at Flipkart, shared how the company is leveraging short-form video, creator ecosystems, trend mapping, and AI to stay ahead in a rapidly changing digital commerce landscape.

Understanding Gen Z: Not Short on Attention, Just Fast on the Trigger

Contrary to popular belief, Gururaja doesn’t believe Gen Z suffers from shrinking attention spans. “They’re more intelligent than us. They just consume content differently — faster, in shorter bursts, and with far greater visual engagement,” he said, pointing to a generational shift driven by platforms like Instagram and TikTok.

Recognising that Gen Z is now the largest living cohort in India, with significant spending power and influence within their households, Flipkart is adapting both its interface and communication strategy. From bolder app design and immersive visuals to language that resonates more closely with youth culture, Gururaja said, “Even the way we talk is changing. My daughter calls me bro, we have to speak in the language Gen Z relates to.”

From TL;DR to Tappable Video: Reinventing Product Discovery

Product pages on Flipkart are undergoing a visual overhaul, moving away from exhaustive specifications to concise, summarised formats. Short-form videos, some as brief as 10 seconds, are being embedded into listings to highlight not just product features, but also reasons not to buy a product, in a bid to build trust with younger shoppers.

“There’s a shift,” said Gururaja. “Consumers don’t just want brand pitches. They want peer reviews, third-party validation, and influencer content. And that’s where the video-first approach is paying off.”

This is especially evident in lifestyle categories like fashion and beauty, but Gururaja noted rising video engagement even in tech-heavy segments like air fryers, where simplified explanations of specs make a significant difference in purchase decisions.

Creator Marketplace and Studios: Flipkart’s Grassroots Content Engine

In a move to democratise content creation, Flipkart has launched a Content Creator Marketplace, which is currently in beta. The invite-only platform allows aspiring creators to pick products, receive extended return windows, and earn performance-based commissions for video content posted on the app.

The company is also investing in physical infrastructure with modular studios across Indian cities to support creators with professional-grade setups. These spaces will be open to both creators and sellers, with no restrictions on content being filmed exclusively at Flipkart-owned facilities.

“We don’t see ourselves competing with existing creator spaces,” said Gururaja. “The goal is to enable every Indian with a phone and passion to become a content creator — whether for money, fame or community engagement.”

Personalised Discovery and the Rise of Local Creators

One of the platform’s advantages, Gururaja added, is its ability to localise content. Flipkart’s algorithms are designed to surface videos by local creators to users in nearby geographies, increasing relatability and trust. “You’ll likely resonate more with someone from your own region showcasing a product. That’s where the real power of video commerce lies,” he said.

The platform is also nudging creators with feedback and tools for improvement, helping them build a following within the Flipkart ecosystem.

Trend-Driven Shopping: From Search to Shoppable Stories

Flipkart has developed AI models to identify emerging trends across the internet, whether from Instagram, Google or fashion editorials, and map those trends to its catalogue in real-time. Once tagged, these trends are surfaced as dynamic shoppable destinations within the app.

“The goal is to shrink the time between identifying a trend and having the right product live on the platform,” said Gururaja. “That’s the next big battleground in e-commerce.”

A Future Shaped by AI and Conversational Commerce

Looking ahead, Gururaja sees AI as both a challenge and an opportunity. “People aren’t going to shop the traditional way anymore — no more endless scrolling and filtering. They’ll have conversations with AI, in natural language, in their own dialects, and get summarised answers with just three options.”

This shift will upend decades of e-commerce logic, and Flipkart is preparing for it. “Everything we knew — from search ranking to product detail pages — is going to be disrupted,” he said.

While he stopped short of revealing Flipkart’s full AI roadmap, Gururaja admitted the pace of change has accelerated beyond precedent. “The mobile revolution took ten years. The AI wave is evolving daily. We’re still figuring out the ‘how,’ but the ‘what’ is undeniable — disruption is already here.”

Flipkart is not just adapting to Gen Z, it’s being propelled by them. From rethinking how products are presented to empowering everyday Indians to become creators, the company is betting that visual-first, localised, and AI-powered commerce is the future of retail. And in Gururaja’s words, that future is “already knocking on our door.”