Myntra To Shut Web Platform On May 1, Will Mobile Only Approach Work For Ecommerce Players?

With more than 90% of its traffic and 70% of sales coming from through its Mobile app, moving ahead on its way to become a mobile-app-based retailer, Myntra is planning to shut down its web platform on May 1, according to the sources close to the development. Myntra had launched its mobile app in May last year, and has seen an exponential rise in shoppers using its apps on all the platforms be it Android, iOS or Windows.

As per research reports, India ranks 2nd in consumers accessing the internet for online shopping through mobile devices. With over 150 Mn smartphone users in 2014 penetration of mobile phones is expected to reach 45% with 520 Mn users by 2020. Myntra will be first ecommerce company moving completely towards mobile-only platform.

According to a TOI report, there is a 360-degree advertising and marketing campaign being planned by Myntra for announcing its app-only presence, which is expected to be unveiled in the coming weeks.

Earlier in February, it was reported that Myntra’s web portal may cease to exist, once its Mobile traffic reaches 90% of the total sales. The company had reached this annual target of generating 90% of its customer traffic through the mobile platform in March, this year. The company also said that its 50% of the mobile traffic comes from Tier II & III cities.

Previously, Mukesh Bansal had said that they making Myntra is 100% focused on mobile and will be making all the investments on the mobile platform going forward.

Flipkart draws 70% of the total traffic through mobile, Snapdeal accounts for 65% whereas Shopclues draws 40% and Paytm claims 33% of all the orders are received through mobile phones.

In a similar development, in a bid to increase app downloads, Flipkart had announced plans of taking down its mobile website, people checking through the mobile website will  redirect to the Flipkart app and the desktop website will stay as it is.

Indian shoppers ready for mobile shopping?

• According to KPMG report, people accessing the Internet through their mobiles had jumped 33% in 2014 to 173 Mn and is expected to grow 21% year-on-year till 2019 to touch 457 Mn. On the other side, availability of low priced smartphone has made it easy for rural and urban Indian population access internet on mobile. With more than, 199 Mn smartphones shipped in India as of December 31, 2014 and mobile internet connectivity witnessing exponential growth, Indian ecommerce market has witnessed a drastic change.
• “It is estimated that the mobile app download would grow sixfold by the end of this year to 9 billion apps,” said a KPMG report, which also said that India has been the fastest growing mobile app market in both 2014 and 2013 and contribute 7% of the global app downloads, ranking fourth behind Indonesia, China and the US.
• Mcommerce is estimated to constitute 30% of the $3 Bn etailing industry and is likely to grow to nearly 40% of the industry, which is expected to be worth about 32 Bn by 2020, according to Technopak Senior Vice President, Retail and Consumer Products Ankur Bisen. The stats show that shopping online through smartphones is expected to be the next  game changer and experts believe that mcommerce can contribute up to 70 percent of their total revenues.

The facts show that mcommerce undoubtedly will be major driver for ecommerce sales. What do you think, going forward, will mobile only approach work for ecommerce players in India?