Revenue from mobile to be around 90%.
By Dileep Thekkethil
BENGALURU: In a move to find better prospects and further expand its reach to smartphone users in India, fashion e-retailer Myntra is reportedly closing down its website by the end of this year.
The Bangalore-based online fashion e-retailer started in 2007 as a personalized seller of products such as T-shirts, mugs, mouse pads, calendars and watches. It was acquired by Flipkart last year for Rs 2,000 crores ($32 million).
The co-founder of Myntra and CMO at Flipkart, Mukesh Bansal, was quoted by The Times of India saying mobile as e-commerce medium has grown rapidly in India and fashion e-retailers are the biggest beneficiaries of the new trend.
According to Bansal, Myntra has 60% of its total revenue generated from its mobile app and by the end of the year, the company plans to take it to 90%, which inadvertently means the website will shut down shop.
Even though the company has not officially clarified on the closure of its website, the company’s proposal to invest heavily on the mobile platform is seen as a move towards becoming the countries first web + mobile platform to go only mobile.
Currently, the conglomeration of Myntra and Flipkart has crossed a billion dollar yearly turnover and the new move of the company is expected to push this further in the coming years. Myntra alone has Rs. 2000 crore ($32 million) yearly gross merchandise value with its monthly GMV reaching Rs 300 crore ($4 million). According to statistics, e-retailers get 5% to 20% profit out of their yearly GMV, depending on the kind of products the company sells.
Even though electronics gadgets are the most purchased online products, fashion products offer e-retailer more revenue. Another report says Myntra is planning for building their own online brand of fashion products by collaborating with fashion designers and celebrities, this is additional to a host of other brands which already sell fashion items via Myntra.
Before the acquisition of Myntra by Flipkart, the latter was the biggest rival, but now the international e-retail giant Amazon has become their common rival. In addition to the strong competition put in by Amazon, Delhi-based e-retailer Snapdeal is also posing stiff opposition to Myntra and Flipkart.
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