Amazon and Walmart are fierce competitors. However, their competition does not only take place in the United States where both companies are based. An anonymous source has just revealed that Walmart will now use the Flipkart company they bought last year in India to directly take on the Amazon Prime streaming service. There is not any info about what sort of content that the Flipkart streaming service will offer to its members. Flipkart was bought by Walmart for $16 billion. Amazon has been trying to increase their share of the Indian market. However, Walmart is trying to make sure that does not happen.
Walmart has talked about producing their own original content to attract new viewers to the Flipkart streaming service. Walmart also bought a streaming service called Vudu to compete with Amazon Prime in the United States. It would seem that Walmart wants to see how their venture in India works out before they agree to sink millions of dollars into the production of their own original shows and movies. It will be interesting to see what the largest retailer in the world has planned to take on their biggest rival.
The Flipkart streaming service will have to work very hard to attract viewers in India. This is because the streaming market in India is just as competitive as it is in the United States. Netflix has a huge share of the Indian market at the present time. There are also other streaming services that are based in India. It is true that there are over one billion people living in India. However, it can be very hard for a new streaming service to set itself apart from the crowd so that the public will take notice. Flipkart has their work cut out for them. The good news is that they have Walmart’s very deep pockets to back them up. That is always a nice advantage to have.
There is a Flipkart Plus loyalty program that will allow members to watch the streaming service for free. This makes it different than Amazon Prime which can only been seen by people who pay an annual membership fee. Original content will be a very big factor when it comes to getting people interested in Flipkart’s streaming service. Netflix and Amazon are already spending a fortune on original content. Will Walmart be willing to do the same thing? Only time will tell.
Dil Bole Oberoi
