New Delhi: Fashion retail website Myntra is expected to shut down its website in favour of moving all operations to its mobile app. At a time when fashion sales at Flipkart and Myntra have collectively crossed the billion-dollar mark in run rate, the company looks to expand its web presence in growing use of mobile internet in the country.
According to the reports in the leading English daily, Myntra plans to take its sales upto 90% through mobile by the year end which is presently at 60% out of 80% traffic it draws.
When that happens, the fashion e-tailer will most likely shut down its website according to sources familiar with the matter. If it does indeed happen, it will be the first instance of an online e-tailer going mobile-only from web + mobile format.
Mukesh Bansal, co-founder Myntra & CMO at Flipkart, says that mobile as medium has grown rapidly for all e-commerce players but more so for the fashion e-tailers.
However the plans to phase out the website in the backdrop of such phenomenal traction that mobile's getting among Indian shoppers are still not confirmed. Myntra is focussed on the mobile platform and will be making major investments on this platform going forward.
While fashion for Flipkart and Myntra is expected to close at $1 billion in sales for the current financial year, Myntra is on course to complete Rs 2,000 crore in sales or gross merchandise value (GMV) at a current monthly run rate of Rs 300 crore. GMV refers to the overall revenue generated by online retailers through sale of goods on the online platforms. Out of the total GMV, the e-tailer makes around 5% to 20% depending on the category.
Private fashion brands offer e-commerce players better margins than electronics. Myntra will look to develop its brand with the partnerships with celebrities and sell its private labels on other portals besides hunting for acquisitions in the fashion space.
In the fashion category Flipkart/Myntra's biggest rivals remain Amazon and Snapdeal are also guzzling millions in cash to discount products even as they scale up their GMVs.
Delhi-based Snapdeal also claims to have hit a run rate of a billion dollars in fashion sales, with 65% of its overall transactions being done over the mobile. "Several leading Indian e-commerce players have seen mobile contribute to greater than 50% of transactions today from under 5% a year ago. In the social-commerce space LimeRoad, for instance gets 70% of its users on mobile and more importantly, these users are three times more engaged and likely to buy as compared to desktop users," said Tarun Davda, director at Mumbai-based early-stage venture fund Matrix Partners.
Fashion, which includes accessories and footwear, is the second largest category online, after electronics, in the $3 billion strong Indian e-commerce sector, accounting for almost 30% of GMV, a recent report from Morgan Stanley said.
Myntra was acquired by Flipkart last year for a sum of Rs 2,000 crores.
