ShareChat, a regional language social media platform has launched a short video app Moj much quietly, on the Google Play Store, which was two days after the 59 Chinese apps like that of Helo and TikTok were being banned by the Government. Also at the same time, Flipkart, homegrown e-commerce company is also piloting a new social commerce platform – 2GudSocial, along with an influencer-led video commerce, aimed at consumers from small towns and also lower-income groups, as per a national publication.
The Chinese apps have an estimated 200-300 million unique users in India, and also these companies have been trying to leverage the void that would be created by the ban as per industry experts. 2GudSocial would be featuring transactions for categories like that of fashion, mobiles, and accessories. Mall91, WMall, SimSim, and Bulbul are other such social apps that are famous in the social commerce space.
In an interview with a national publication, Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO, Flipkart said that 2Gud is their affordability led proposition and that it’s doing extraordinarily well. Also, there are several innovations that have gone into it like that of social and group discovery. It’s not a secret that Chinese internet firms have been dominating India’s smartphone user base till early this week. During such times, the Indian founders have been saying welcoming all Chinese users to their indigenous platforms. Also in the last 48 hours, there has been an unprecedented traction for all the Indian apps, especially because they fixed bugs, and also launched new products in order to capture the user mindshare as per founders and investors.
Other players in the space are ShareChat, Vokal, WinZo, and emerging ideas like short video app Chingari and video conferencing app ChitoChat. Additionally, Zee5, an Indian video-on-demand service that is run by the Essel Group, which is also working towards launching its short video app HiPi in the upcoming two months. As of now, they have already tied up with more than 300 content creators and are also looking forward to generate more content around food, music and humour. Also, HiPi is planning to monetise through its ad revenue model that would allow companies to advertise on the platform and also enable transactions.