Myntra Taps On Virtual Mall Experience As Ecommerce Set To Rise

Flipkart-owned fashion and retail platform Myntra has launched a new virtual mall feature to enable apparel and accessories companies to create a store-like experience virtually.

The feature will be available on Myntra’s app for brands to give a prominent display to its product for an additional fee. So far, about 30 brands have been leveraging this feature for their end of reason sale (EORS) scheduled to take place in the third week of December. These brands include Hennes & Mauritz, Decathlon, Puma, Max and Mothercare.

“During these times when there is a lot of change in shopping behaviour we did not want customers or brand partners to miss premium offline malls. EORS is one of our biggest events where brands who are feeling the pinch of the pandemic will get to demonstrate their presence though the virtual mall,” said Lalitha Ramani, chief product officer at Myntra.

Myntra has launched the twelfth edition of the sale in June. The company claims to have witnessed a 86% increase in the number of customers from Tier II and Tier III during that week, indicating a shift in consumer behaviour and preference for online shopping. The company believes that the virtual mall experience will accelerate its growth and strengthen its market position.

The pilot for the new feature was launched a few weeks ago. Myntra realized that one-third of the research terms on the app had a brand name in them. It figured out that several customers search for products, keeping the brand name in mind. Therefore, it decided to come up with a way that will allow the customers to stream through the collection, like they would in the store.

During the pilot phase of virtual mall feature, Myntra has witnessed a 30% increase in the Click Through Rate (CTR) and better customer engagement. “We are not building to earn revenue in the beginning. It has been launched to give brands a platform to leapfrog and brand-conscious customers an organised digital store,” Ramani said.

The launch of the feature comes a few days after Myntra received a capital infusion of INR 1,604 Cr ($103 Mn) from Flipkart’s Singapore-based subsidiary FK Myntra Holdings. Myntra Jabong India issued 10,79,136 shares to FK Myntra Holdings, and 97,058 shares to QuickRoutes International on October 3, at a price per share of INR 6,427.

Back in July, Myntra forged a partnership with Emaar Group to expand its offerings to international markets as well as launch the fashion brand, Myntra Fashion, in the Middle East. The expansion will be facilitated by Myntra’s latest partnership with Emaar Group-owned regional ecommerce platform Noon and Namshi that will host Myntra Fashion brand on their website.

The fashion and retail platform Myntra was founded by Mukesh Bansal, Ashutosh Lawania and Vineet Saxena back in 2017. The company was acquired by the ecommerce giant Flipkart in May 2014, and came under Walmart banner after the Flipkart acquisition. By the end of the year 2021, Myntra expects to double the number of brands and projects one million visits per day on the digital mall.

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