Bengaluru: Country’s biggest fashion portal Myntra shut its website and migrated entirely to its mobile application from Friday. It is the first time ever, anywhere in the world, that an online retailer has become a completely app-only service.
“Smartphone growth in the country has been mindboggling and it will continue to grow exponentially over the next few years. Apps are becoming utilities that consumers access constantly for their various needs on a daily basis,” said Mr Sachin Bansal, co-founder and CEO, Flipkart.
Myntra, which was bought over by Flipkart last year, said that it currently has over 9 million users for its app, and the company is aiming to add the next five million app downloads in three to four months. Mr Mukesh Bansal, CEO, Myntra, and Head of Commerce, Flipkart, told Deccan Chronicle, “The first day for Myntra in an app-only environment has been good.”
Myntra said that almost 95 percent of the internet traffic that it receives comes from mobile devices. It makes over 70 percent of its sales through its mobile app. Myntra said that such figures encouraged it to go ahead with an app-only strategy. According to the company, it is aiming to notch up $1 billion in revenues by 2016. However, Ashish Jhalani, founder, eTailing India and ISeB, sounded cautious.
“Post this movement to an app-only operation, the first thing for Myntra will be to ensure it does not lose out on existing customers,” Jhalani said. “However, since it has Flipkart to back it up, the impact won’t be very severe.” Meanwhile, Myntra’s competitor, Snapdeal said it would continue to offer its services across all platforms.
“At Snapdeal, the customer is at the centre of all our initiatives. Our data shows that there are still many customers who use PCs to shop online. We do not want to force our customers to use one specific medium to shop on Snapdeal. We will continue to offer our services on both PC and mobile. We do not see this changing in the near future,” a spokesperson for the company said.
Ankita Tandon, COO, CoupunDunia, also sounded cautious. “I can understand an app first approach, but not an app only approach,” Tandon said. “I guess they are hoping that they have created a brand loyalty to ensure that their customers on the website now migrate to the app.”
Amazon, another competitor for Myntra, said that while it is focused on creating a mobile first experience, it wanted its customers to be able to do everything they do today on their PCs from their mobiles while searching and shopping online, be it through a browser or an app.
“The range of screen sizes and device capabilities available in India is very high. Amazon does not try to force fit one mobile interface to all devices, we have multiple mobile platforms that help us support all internet enabled devices in the market,” an Amazon spokesperson said. “All our development and innovation is app first, and it will continue to be our flagship experience. However, we believe that as a consumer-obsessed company, we have to enable our customers to shop anytime, anywhere, and anyway they want.”
Amazon added that currently nearly 50 percent of its traffic comes through mobiles. It said that there has been an increase in customers as well as the quantum of shopping done on the app. Another major factor that Myntra hopes will push its sales on the app is customers buying on impulse.
“On a website, customers can compare products from multiple brands and multiple sites by opening multiple windows,” Jhalani said. “However, on an app, the customer is in many ways restricted to the particular app, potentially ensuring sales.”
