Fashion and lifestyle e-tailer Myntra, which was acquired by Flipkart last year, is all set to lead the mobile revolution in India by transitioning to a “mobile app only” marketplace from May 15; marking the end of desktop and browser-based shopping on the site.
The company celebrated the first anniversary of its mobile app last week, which has been downloaded by 9 million shoppers to date and in its new avatar is expected to attract five million app downloads over the next four months.
“We are responding to customer demand by transitioning to a ‘mobile app only’ marketplace. Currently, 95 per cent of the internet traffic to our site comes through mobile devices, and over 70 per cent of sales are via mobile devices. We expect this demand to grow further and are ready to give our customers the best fashion experience that is truly personalised, through the device that is closest to them – their mobile phone,” said Mukesh Bansal, CEO Myntra & Head of Commerce, Flipkart.
Sachin Bansal, co-founder and CEO, Flipkart, said that smartphones with apps are becoming utilities that consumers are accessing constantly for their various needs, including commerce and information consumption.
“Mobile commerce will be the most powerful, personalised, intuitive and inclusive market as 90 per cent of internet consumption in India is on mobile phones. Majority of all e-commerce transactions in the country will be fuelled by the next 200 million customers whose first experience of the internet will be on their smartphones. Myntra is taking the lead towards creating a differentiated experience that will generate consumer pull and make it a one-stop shop for all fashion needs,” he said.
Sachin Bansal said Flipkart too wants to go fully mobile but internally it is not ready for such a transition yet. “Myntra has one product line – Fashion, but, we have many more categories. We need to be able to provide great category shopping experiences on the mobile, until then we are work in progress,” he said.
Targeting $1-b revenue Myntra and Flipkart together command a market share of over 50 per cent in the online fashion space. With $400 million in revenue, Myntra is looking to hit $1 billion by 2016. Flipkart whose gross merchandise value is $4 billion is targeting $8 billion by the year end.
“We are no longer followers, we are leading the way with mobile app only, and I don’t see any other fashion player in the world that is providing such a deeply personalised experience as we are,” said Mukesh Bansal.