Myntra CEO explains how fashion buying has changed in India and the e-retailer’s focus on Bharat users this festive season

• At Myntra, which had already held a big sale event after lockdown – End of Reason Sale in June, there were many learnings to note.
• Amar Nagaram, the CEO of Myntra, tells Business Insider about how the change in Indian consumers’ preferences after the lockdown.
• Myntra’s Big Fashion Festival will be a 7-day long event (October 16–22).

The pandemic and lockdown period has brought many learnings for all businesses, and e-commerce has undoubtedly been one of the sectors with the biggest takeaways. And at Myntra, which joins the leagues of Amazon, Flipkart this time around to hold a festive sale right before Diwali and Dussehra, the learnings have shaped the way they designed their next big sale event.

Myntra, which had already held a big sale event after lockdown – End of Reason Sale in June, saw the consumers’ consumption patterns change in India. “In the last four-five months and us coming out of a complete lockdown, what we have learnt is that the core nature of fashion buying has changed in the country,” Amar Nagaram, CEO, Myntra told Business Insider.

And Nagaram expects their sale volumes to be higher than the June sale.

From Tier 2, 3 shopping habits to athleisure ranking high in demand – Here’s what changed

Nagaram points out that more and more Tier 2,3 shoppers have come on board – and from there, it's those shoppers who always used to prefer shopping offline. These are the people whose spending capability could be the same as their counterparts in Tier 1 cities, but they depended only on travel, brands and offline retail for their shopping list. “What we have been doing in the last four months is ensuring that we don’t give them a reason to not come back,” he said.

The categories working well are athleisure and casual wear, kidswear, beauty and wellness – across geographies. “In fact, during Rakshabandhan and Ganesh Chaturthi, for the first time in all these months we saw interest coming back for premium products. All of this put together is how we are shaping up for the festive sale,” said Nagaram.

Myntra’s upcoming Big Fashion Festival will be a 7-day long event (October 16–22), Nagaram says they have put together 9 lakh styles, increased the total number of brands to 5,000, a big jump from 2,000 brands last year. “The categories we expect will do well during this sale are casual wear, winter wear, beauty and wellness and home furnishings and decor, because people finally got time to do their homes,” he said.

Marketing for the masses

Nagaram expects 50% of its orders to come from Tier 2 and 3 markets alone. And while Nagaram said that their marketing spend remains according to the plan pre-COVID-19, the way they spend their money has changed. There’s no more one national ad campaign but several regional ad campaigns targeted at the regional user.

They brought on board brand ambassadors like Kiara Advani, Youtuber Bhuvan Bam and South actress Samantha Ruth Prabhu to reach out to the masses and have a wider brand appeal.

Like every other company, Myntra too hopped on the IPL sponsorship bandwagon. Myntra’s logo is seen on the team jerseys of Royal Challengers Bangalore, Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings. “IPL was the biggest event happening after lockdown and it was an opportunity we couldn’t miss as obviously the reach would be great,” he said.

The competition will also be higher

Almost every big sale event in the country – from Amazon, Flipkart to Myntra – has the same dates, and that means the consumer will get more choice, and the competition will be higher for all e-commerce platforms.

It’s not just the online space; malls and offline retail stores that have taken a major hit during the lockdown will also look at attracting users back into their space. But Nagaram rests assured as “People are still scared of stepping out over concerns for safety and hygiene. What we are doing online is we have given consumers the selection at a sharp pricing and the experience that they might not find anywhere else. Consumers now have access to brands that they didn’t think was possible unless they travel to a different city,” he said.

However, he also believes that it's no more about online vs offline anymore and the world today belongs to omnichannel retail.


SEE ALSO:
Wipro’s share price dips by over 6% after earnings — analysts believe it will take a while to catch up to TCS and HCL Technologies
Walmart and Flipkart invest in Ninjacart again to bump up its grocery offerings ahead of the festive season