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Consumer spending in India is soaring during the festive season, with people splurging on cars, smartphones, TVs and other items, boosting the country's economic growth, media reports said. Sales at e-commerce platforms like <keyword id="18635" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="amazon" source="Orion">Amazon</keyword> and <keyword id="6354742" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="flipkart" source="Orion">Flipkart</keyword> surged by almost a fifth in the first week of the festive season, compared to the same period last year. Digital payments made via Unified Payments Interface (<keyword id="6358921" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="upi" source="Orion">UPI</keyword>) also increased by 40# in October from a year earlier. Economists see easing inflation and rising wages, especially in rural areas. Consumer confidence hit a four-year high in September, according to the latest figures by the central bank, and demand for bank loans is near a 12-year high despite interest rate hikes this year. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), India's GDP will grow at the fastest rate among major economies in 2023 and 2024, at 6.3% in both years. Aside from the festive season, the Cricket World Cup and the forthcoming wedding season are likely to boost consumption. Online sales from Amazon, Flipkart and others reached 47 billion rupees ($565 million) in the week through October 15, said the report by the market research firm Redseer Strategy Consultants. High average selling price (ASP) items such as mobiles, electronics and large appliances emerged as the largest contributor to the sales, driving 67# of the total sales, it mentioned. Flipkart Group continued to assert its leadership in week 1 of the festive season sale, further gaining market share over last year's sales to reach 63# in terms of Gross merchandise value (GMV). Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra and others began the festive season sales from October 7 which is expected to reach Rs 90,000 crore worth of online GMV in the festive month -- up 18-20# from last year's festive month sales.

Indians spent big on festive season sales, UPI transaction up 40% in Oct: Report

<ul><li>Myntra is expecting a 2x growth in sales compared to last year’s Big Fashion Festival. </li><li>To drive more engagement and bring in a new set of audience before its big sale day, Myntra has made its debut partnership with <keyword id="6354831" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="indian-premier-league">Indian Premier League</keyword>’s <keyword id="13880" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mumbai-Indians">Mumbai Indians</keyword>, Royal Challenge Banglore and <keyword id="13886" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Chennai-Super-Kings">Chennai Super Kings</keyword>, which are also the top most important markets for the brand. </li><li>Achint Setia, Vice President, Marketing, Myntra speaks to us on how Myntra is using IPL as a platform to strengthen their presence.</li></ul>With the Big Fashion Festival around the corner, fashion ecommerce firm Myntra is leaving no stone unturned to bring in more audience. It is expecting a 2x growth in sales than last year’s Fashion Festival. Since Indian Premier League brings in a huge opportunity for brands to ride on the wave of blitz and fervor in the country, Myntra has partnered with IPL’s most-talked about teams such as <keyword id="6354506" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Royal-Challengers-Bangalore">Royal Challengers Bangalore</keyword>, Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super King. Myntra is the official fashion sponsor for RCB and its logo can be seen on the right chest patch of their jersey. Mumbai, considered the hub and trendsetter for fashion and style, is one of the most crucial markets for Myntra. So the brand is the presenting partner for Mumbai Indians and has placed its logo across MI’s team branding and communications. MI’s team merchandise and memorabilia, including autographed bats and jerseys, are up for grabs on Myntra. To engage with these viewers on social media and on its platform, Myntra is offering daily prizes for participating in its interactive contests around the cricketing extravaganza. The fashion firm is also targeting women with its branding activity by featuring female fan influencers on its platform. The idea is to not only drive conversational content about the brand, but also bypass any notion of cricket being only a ‘gentleman’s game.’ We caught up with Achint Setia, Vice President, Marketing, Myntra to understand the thought behind partnering with three IPL teams, marketing strategy to leverage IPL’s buzz before its Big Fashion Festival and plan to target women through the match. Excerpts: Q. What was the thought behind partnering with Mumbai Indians this year? Mumbai’s importance to retail businesses can hardly be understated and tying up with the city’s most prominent sports team will only further solidify Myntra’s position in a crucial market ahead of the festive season. This partnership will help Myntra cement itself as the go-to fashion destination in Mumbai, considered the hub for everything fashion and style in India, and leverage Mumbai Indians’ huge salience with cricket fans across the nation. Factors such as team popularity and style quotient were also given great consideration when opting for team partners this IPL season. Q. What kind of response are you expecting for MI’s team merchandise and memorabilia, including autographed bats and jerseys, that are up for grabs on Myntra? MI’s team merchandise and memorabilia will go live on Myntra soon. However, to entice the biggest customers of Mumbai Indians, Myntra does have a limited selection of autographed bats and jerseys up for grabs on its platform for lucky fans. Q. What do your marketing plans look like for IPL? Myntra has ensured to implement a multi-pronged holistic approach, to drive higher brand relevance not only in the key metro markets but also in T2/T3 and southern markets. Our key goal is to ensure Myntra has a prominent space in the key touch points with potential customers ahead of its blockbuster sale events for the festive season. Within that strategy, we believe that cricket in general, specifically the IPL makes for a key touch point and will help Myntra expand into newer markets. This festive season, our marketing efforts will further drive conversations around the brand through the star-studded campaigns with celebrity brand ambassadors, who have a wide audience appeal reaching all corners of the country, including a strong influence in Tier II and Tier III markets. Positioning Myntra as a style expert, the latest campaigns clearly bring out Myntra as one of the leading fashion destinations in the country while showcasing our tech capabilities through key differentiators such as Myntra Studio, Size &amp; Fit Recommendations, and Photo search. Q. Myntra also intends to integrate itself more naturally to the ‘Virtual Wankhede’ concept by featuring women fan influencers. Have brands finally started recognising/accepting the fact that IPL also has a female audience? Do you think more traditional brands will start catering to them now or are we still far away from that? Interactive and unique concepts such as ‘Virtual Wankhede’, which was developed in association with the Mumbai Indians, has ensured Myntra leads the way in terms of virtual fan engagement innovations. This platform provides MI’s army of fans with an opportunity to cheer their favourite team alongside fellow supporters, connected virtually. IPL is among the biggest sporting events in India and brands have always recognized the vast women fan-base for the event. Brands featuring women fan influencers and women-centric concepts have already been visible through the years and are not something new. With IPL being a co-viewing event, the type of brands sponsoring the tournament usually tends to have a sizable female customer-base. We feel it is important for both legacy brands as well as millennial brands to engage with women in some form, to build loyalty and stay relevant among its TG. Q. The format is different this year. So how do you think things will be different for you as a partner? As a partner, what are your expectations from IPL 2020? The IPL is the biggest cricket league in the world and among India’s most-anticipated sporting events in any given year. This year, there is even more reason for brands to be associated with the IPL as the competition overlaps with the upcoming festive season, which is the most important and biggest period for shopping. Furthermore, Myntra is keen to form deep connections with users across the country and firmly believes that engaging with prospective customers at all possible and relevant touch points is crucial to this vision. Cricket is a key touch point as it is the most popular sport in India and has intricately weaved itself into an important part of the history and culture of the nation. The IPL has generated significant traction since its inception, and its popularity and viewership continues to rise. The viewership numbers from the first week of the tournament are extremely promising despite no audiences being allowed at stadiums. Q. How do you plan to engage more closely with consumers, considering activations won’t be allowed this year and there won't be a live audience? There has been strong user engagement through social media, via the RCB, CSK, MI and Myntra handles, where customers can win unique daily prizes by participating in interactive contests around the cricketing extravaganza. We have also revamped the IPL store on the platform to drive further conversations among our customers with unique offers and deals as well as providing contextually engaging and reliable content which includes the use of appropriate cricketing terminology. IPL has also come up with innovations by bringing in the virtual crowd noise, virtual meet and greet with top fans, and creating a perception for viewers that there is enough support for their teams.

How Myntra is using IPL to build deeper connections and drive brand salience before its Big Fashion Festival

<ul><li><keyword id="319719" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="myntra" source="Orion">Myntra</keyword> is confident its this year's edition of Big Fashion Festival will be its biggest ever in terms of demand and the number of people it is able to reach.</li><li>We speak to <keyword id="3790335" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="amar-nagaram" source="Orion">Amar Nagaram</keyword>, CEO, Myntra who tells us about his expectations from the upcoming <keyword id="36208" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="festive-season" source="Orion">festive season</keyword> and what are a few things that will help them increase traffic by 1.8X increase over the previous edition.</li></ul>We’re just a few days away from Dussehra and Durga Puja which is a major festival in large parts of India and Myntra is gearing up for what it feels will be its biggest fashion festival yet. The platform revealed that it is expecting close to 5.5 million unique customers to shop during its upcoming Big Fashion Festival, which is a 1.8X increase in traffic over the previous edition. The pandemic has made more and more people comfortable with shopping online, a trend that has seen many new users come on board as first-time users. Myntra too expects around 1.1 million unique first-time customers to shop on its platform during the festive period this year. In fact, it is not the bigger cities that are contributing to the demand, smaller cities are increasingly shopping from the platform too. In fact, Myntra expects to see close to 40% of the contribution come in from Tier 2-3 markets. It is expecting to see an overall uptick in demand, at 4X over BAU and 1.6X over the last festive season. “We’ve seen a good momentum since Ganesh Chaturthi. There is a lot of interest coming back into fashion buying and there are two reasons for that. Firstly, the vaccination rate has gone up in the country so people are getting comfortable with stepping out. Offices are slowly opening up. And the festive season has always been important for fashion. We have witnessed a visible shift towards online fashion. We got introduced to a lot of new markets due to the pandemic and this new segment of users we had on-boarded then hasn’t left us. Consumers even in Tier II and Tier III cities are gaining trust. People have now experienced and are comfortable with online shopping. Due to all these factors, we are confident that this will be a very big season for us,” shared Amar Nagaram, CEO, Myntra. Owing to the kind of demand it is witnessing from smaller cities, the platform is also pivoting its marketing and spending more on regional. It is not only on-boarding regional stars to reach out to these new consumers, it is also coming up with more regional content, regional selection as well as customer support. Having said that, the platform hasn’t really increased its marketing spends but is cleverly utilizing its budgets to do more regional and targeted marketing. “Till a few years back, we used to do one big campaign for the entire country. Now we have one campaign per region, so the net marketing investment is still the same for us but the way we approach marketing has changed phenomenally. We are spending a substantial part of our budget on influencers too. In fact, we have over 2000 influencers creating content for us across languages and regions. The relationship between a brand and a consumer is no longer a two-party relationship, rather it's a three party relationship with the influencer playing a very critical role. Therefore, its not just the network of influencers that we're building, we’re also building Myntra Studio which is a platform to showcase fashion-centric content created by influencers on our own platform,” he explained. Nagaram also expects the platform to witness 15,000 orders per minute during the peak of the season and is ramping up its tech capabilities too. It has increased the number of brands on the platform by 40% over the previous edition and has also scaled up its kirana network by 30%, taking store count to 25,000 stores. Over 70% of the festive deliveries across the country are expected to be undertaken by its <keyword id="12196439" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="kirana-network-partners" source="Orion">kirana network partners</keyword>. Myntra has also strengthened its supply chain network across the country, with the addition of 1 fulfilment centre (FC), 3 mother hubs, 12 satellite hubs, and 171 distribution centres to significantly enhance capacity for higher storage volumes and to optimize last-mile deliveries further.

Myntra is expecting a 1.8X increase in traffic during its upcoming Big Fashion Festival sale, will focus more on regional and influencer marketing to engage with consumers

<ul><li>The fashion carnival is slated to be held between October 16 and 22, and will showcase close to 2 lakh new styles over the last festive season.</li><li><keyword id="319719" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Myntra">Myntra</keyword> has scaled its MENSA network to 18,000 Kirana partners, to fulfill 70% of the festive deliveries.</li></ul> Myntra will be holding its '<keyword id="10055257" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="big-fashion-festival">Big Fashion Festival</keyword>' October 16 and 22 and expects a 2X increase in traffic over the previous festive season. Myntra’s holistic approach to its marketing campaigns, ahead of the event, with Bollywood, Tollywood and other regional celebrities, along with top T20 teams, is expected to reach 150+ million people across the nation. The upcoming edition of the fashion event is also set to witness a massive uptick in demand according to the brand, at 4X over BAU and 2X over the last festive season, with 50% of the contribution coming from Tier 2-3 markets. Myntra is geared to handle the increase in traffic with tech capabilities, scaled to operate at 20,000 orders per minute at peak. Biggest ever Fashion and Lifestyle selection Myntra has scaled its collection by 2 lakh styles, over the last festive season, and has also launched region-specific ethnic collections from various parts of the country underscoring the role of fashion during festivities. In order to cater to the consumer’s festive preferences, Myntra’s selection ranges from the evergreen regional specialties such as bandhani, benarasis, kaantha, kanjeevaram and chikankari, to more experimental trends such as ruffle sarees, shararas and asymmetrical kurtas. <keyword id="2799949" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Myntra-Fashion-Brands">Myntra Fashion Brands</keyword> (MFB) will have a wide range of collection for men and women from brands, including, House of Pataudi, Anouk, Taavi, HRX, Wrogn during the seven days long festive event. There will also be a large focus on 'above the waist' looks and work from home wear with the nature of social events and celebrations becoming virtual. To cater to this change in fashion consumption patterns, there is a higher emphasis on selection across t-shirts, tops, dresses, kurtas, accessories, jewellery, sports footwear, winter wear, beauty and personal care categories. The apparel category on Myntra is slated to contribute ~70% to festive demand on the platform, with other key categories being, kidswear, footwear, home and personal care and accessories. Investments in safety Myntra is prioritizing safety above all aspects. From warehouses and fulfilment centers, to the customers’ doorsteps, there are numerous protocols on safety, which are strictly being adhered to by employees, delivery personnel, MENSA partners, brand partners, and even customers. These include, following strict social distancing norms, regular temperature checks, frequent sanitization of facilities and delivery bags, ensuring the use of PPE’s at all times, frequent hand sanitization and more. Customers are encouraged to undertake contactless deliveries and use digital modes of payment. Speaking about Myntra’s upcoming Big Fashion Festival, Amar Nagaram, CEO, Myntra said, “Myntra’s Big Fashion Festival will offer a specially curated selection of 9 lakh styles for consumers across the country, awaiting to bond over the joy of festivities. The region-specific collection will enable millions of consumers with diverse fashion choices, to celebrate the festive diversity of the country. The consistent momentum in demand observed over the last few months has given impetus to our brand partners, driving deeper collaborations this festive season. An event of this unprecedented magnitude is also set to provide thrust to Myntra’s ecosystem, especially the artisans, MSMEs, and our Kirana store partners.” Unique offers and early access There will be a ‘Grand Opening Hours’ offer for 2 hours on October 16 starting midnight, with the best value deals from top brands such as Puma, Vero Moda, GAP, Roadster, Nike, Levis and more. Myntra has also launched a ‘Play &amp; Earn’ feature where users will be able to play games and redeem their stars to get the Gold slot which will give them a window of 4 hours to shop before the event begins. All customers will be able to avail 10% instant discount on ICICI Bank debit and credit cards during the event. Over 45 celebrities and 80+ influencers are being engaged with, to harness the reach of Myntra Studio and social media platforms, to drive customer engagement. Top international and domestic brands are also set to offer ‘Deal of the Day’, to Myntra Insiders, through the seven-day period, with the top 3 tiers of the brand’s loyal customers getting Myntra vouchers worth up to Rs 1000. Role of <keyword id="2535292" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Omni-channel">Omni-channel</keyword> Overall, Myntra has integrated more than 1000 stores from close to 100 brands on its platform so far to ensure that the customers get their orders delivered to their doorstep in the shortest possible time. Giving a major boost to the omni channel strategy ahead of the festive season Myntra has partnered with a dozen new brands across categories, giving customers access to new season collections from their stores across the country. Logistics and supply chain Myntra’s fulfillment centers across the country are using automation to enhance the speed of packaging, quality control process and expedited shipping. The company has added three packing centers and seven mother hubs ahead of the festive season for processing faster deliveries during the event. Myntra has also given a major boost to its supply chain network, including MENSA partners and has increased its capacity of last-mile deliveries by adding ~600 dexters and 6000 new kirana store owners, over the previous festive season to reach 27000 pincodes.

Myntra expects 2X increase in traffic over the previous festive season in its upcoming Big Fashion Festival

<ul><li>The <keyword id="36208" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="festive-season" source="Orion">festive season</keyword> has always been important to brands, especially to e-commerce players who line up big bumper discounts, look for more retail brands to partner and ramp up their product offerings.</li><li>This festive season, e-commerce platforms are focusing on bringing more personalisation and curation to customers shopping online through greater tech and marketing integration.</li><li>More and more e-commerce platforms are also exploring social commerce, turning their apps into super apps by bringing content, products and trends under one roof for consumers to watch and shop at once.</li><li>With increasing internet penetration, e-commerce players are expecting new growth from Tier II, III and beyond this festive, which will cumulatively contribute to $150 billion of e-commerce as per RedSeer Consulting’s report.</li><li>We speak to India’s leading e-commerce players to find out more about their festive plans and revival expectations.</li></ul>The year 2020 accelerated e-commerce industry, perhaps by a decade, revolutionising the way brands operate, run, and grow their businesses, as well as how consumers choose to shop and pay. In the initial months of the lockdown, businesses witnessed a clear shift in consumer behaviour. Historically offline shoppers also came online due to convenience and safety. Consumers are still hesitant to return to in-store shopping completely and audiences from Tier II and Tier III are also preferring to shop online. The pandemic has evidently caused an inflection point for e-commerce in the country. With the second-largest internet user base, India has emerged as one of the most prominent markets globally. Around 480 million people in India have access to the internet out of which 90 million are online shoppers, according to estimates from management consultancy RedSeer. Shoppers from India’s small towns and cities will cumulatively contribute to $150 billion of e-commerce GMV in the coming decade, until 2030, revealed RedSeer. <div type="image" title="redseer - ecomm report" msid="85901903" hostid="261"></div> After spending a glum year and a half, consumers are excited to celebrate the festive season with upcoming shopping sales for Diwali, Dussehra and Christmas. IPL and ICC T-20 World Cup will further improve consumer sentiment this year. According to a survey conducted by The Trade Desk and YouGov, 82% of consumers shopped online at least once a month in the past six months, and nearly one in four made online purchases several times a week or more often. Titled ‘<a href="https://pages.thetradedesk.com/rs/527-INM-364/images/TheFestiveSeasonPulse2021.pdf">The Festive Season Pulse 2021</a>,’ it further said that 91% of Indian consumers are planning a purchase during the upcoming festive season and six in 10 are interested in learning about new brands during festive season sales. To leverage this uptick in consumer sentiment, the e-commerce category is all set to begin its festive marketing blitz and is preparing to line up big discounts for the season in a few weeks. For this 30-day period leading up to the festive season, leading fashion e-commerce platform <keyword id="319719" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="myntra" source="Orion">Myntra</keyword> has planned ‘Big Fashion Festival,’ which will be followed up with Myntra Diwali Sale, with a focus on ethnic wear. It will also be focusing on emerging categories like Beauty and Personal care, kidswear and categories such as innerwear and essentials which have experienced tailwinds post-Covid. Myntra’s Chief Business Officer, Ayyappan Rajagopal said, “We are expecting this festive season to be bigger than last year with more customers using online channels to make their purchases. Demand usually peaks in the 30 days leading to Diwali and we expect this year to be no different. In fact, the demand in the 2 months leading to the festive season is expected to be far more than last time (because people have learnt with time to adapt to a pandemic world). We expect high demand from across geographies and markets - metros, Tier 1, Tier 2, T3 cities and beyond. To cater to that, we have built the right ethnic wear, beauty, and home selection, and have partnered with brands on best deals. Hence, to leverage this demand and provide best value to our customers, we are organizing Big Fashion Festival and Myntra Diwali Sale to make this season a resounding success.” Right on the heels of the festive season, Myntra ramped up its marketing game by onboarding Hrithik Roshan, Vijay Deverakonda and Dulquer Salmaan as its newest brand ambassadors, alongside the existing celebrity ambassadors Kiara Advani, and Samantha Akkineni. Now, it is hoping to double its customer base and cater to Gen-Z shoppers with its high-decibel marketing. “With the optimism coming from recovery from Covid and revival in shopping sentiments along with the habitualisation of digital foray across all customer segments, we see a lot of new customers shopping during this festive season. We have also seen trends in Metro/T1 markets where Myntra has been traditionally strong, pointing towards such a revival. With a positive overall sentiment, we will be looking at doubling our customer base during this period. There will also be an added focus towards expanding our footprint in southern markets, deeper penetration into Tier 2 / 3 towns and exploring customer addition through emerging categories like Kids wear, Inner wear, fashion accessories, Beauty and persona care, etc. The greatest focus will be on Gen-Z cohort of shoppers,” shared Rajagopal. E-commerce platforms are also focusing on bringing more personalisation and curation to customers shopping online through greater tech and marketing integration. More and more e-retailers are exploring social commerce, turning their apps into super apps by bringing content, products and trends under one roof for consumers to watch and shop at once. D2C fashion platform Bewakoof.com that recently raised Rs 60 crore in an investment round led by InvestCorp, IvyCap and Spring Marketing Capital, is expecting to Rs 120 crore in brand sales this quarter. It recently rolled out celebrity-led digital campaigns with Rajkummar Rao, Sanya Malhotra and Farhan Akhtar. It plans to further build its market presence by signing more A-list celebrities to its roster and launch a 360-degree campaign by October. On the technology side, the company intends to launch a gamification-led loyalty program as it upgrades its Bewakoof Tribe with new and exclusive launches for the club members. Sharing the platform’s festive plans further, Prabhkiran Singh, Founder CEO, Bewakoof.com said, “Post pandemic, we saw a strong recovery and growth in certain categories like casual wear and leisurewear because of customers staying at home and with the pandemic slowing down, we expect a strong recovery in categories like ethnic wear, bags, accessories, etc in the festive season ahead. We’re also looking to capitalise on winter wear more this year than usual with winter around the corner and have put in investments accordingly. We expect our brand sales to be Rs 120 crore for the festive quarter.” For Bewakoof, the northern and western markets see the highest demand, followed by West Bengal and Assam because of Durga Puja. Currently, over 6 million customers visit Bewakoof.com every month. Singh told us that the festive season serves as a crucial window in the year for new customer acquisition and bringing back customers that haven’t shopped again for a while. The platform is also planning on increasing its marketing spends this festive. “For this year, 15% of our total marketing budget will be spent for the upcoming festive season.” We’re in the process of rebranding Bewakoof in the next 1-2 months and we’ll have a new look, logo, tagline along with a new set of celebrities that will endorse Bewakoof so we’re excited to roll this out and create buzz around it along with backing it up with top-funnel marketing investments. We plan to go heavy on top-funnel marketing investments starting October,” said Singh. E-retail platform OLX has upped its UI to woo its customers, digitising the entire process of online retailing, including verification of all its premium items. OLX Autos launched a verified inventory of cars with a new interface, which provides a detailed history of the car right from the ownership period all the way up to the service history of the car, and access to a host of financing options and after-sales products like insurance and warranty. As a result, OLX has witnessed a surge in demand for pre-owned cars. Sapna Arora, CMO, OLX India said, “Green shoots are already visible in the used car retail segment. The demand for pre-owned cars has been 25% higher than the pre-Covid levels while there has been an 82% plus growth in demand for pre-owned smartphones. Our goods category has also witnessed a strong rebound, as demand and supply have gone up by an average of 68% and 25%, respectively, compared to pre-Covid levels. The upcoming festival season is important for us as we expect the gap to be narrowing down between pre and post-Covid levels. There has been a strong uptake of e-commerce across regions, especially in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, with consumers there making the greatest shift to online shopping. We will continue to focus on the pre-owned auto segment and are expecting to surpass the demand this festive season.” At an industry level, Arora told us that e-commerce players are leveraging on hyper-personalisation to create individualised experiences on the platform and AI-powered chatbots are being implemented by the online retailers to bring customers close to an offline retail experience with a high engagement rate. Sharing OLX’s plan, Arora added, “This festive season we plan to use innovative solutions via relevant messaging at different levels of the retail journey. Our consumer base is growing organically. During this year’s lockdown, a lot of people moved online and we saw growth, about 30% more daily active users (DAUs) from our previous pre-Covid peak. In the festive season, our huge inventories across segments will contribute to increasing the DAU’s on the platform.” As per Nielsen India’s E-commerce Consumer Panel (E-Analytics Solution), there was a double-digit increase in average spend of online shoppers for electronics and accessories (39%), mobile and accessories (12%), and fashion, including apparel, footwear, and accessories (10%) after the pandemic. Appliances (e.g.TV, WM, refrigerators, etc.) also saw notable shopper spending increase at 9%. E-commerce giant Amazon is also ramping up its product range for the festive season. “Together with thousands of small &amp; medium business and brand partners, we continue to offer our customers the widest selection, convenience, and fast delivery. We are humbled by how millions of Indian customers have made us a part of their daily lives. Also, customers continue to believe that online shopping is the safest way to shop which has been reflecting in all the recent events of Amazon like Prime Day 2021, Great Freedom Festival, Rakhi Store, Onam store and so on. This festive season is not a normal one for reasons we all know and our success metric would be focused on how we can make our sellers successful. Customers can look forward to shopping from a wide selection of products across categories like Home &amp; Kitchen, Fashion &amp; Beauty, Appliances and Smartphones, Grocery essentials and more from the comfort and safety of their homes," said an Amazon India spokesperson. This growth trajectory of e-commerce platforms in India testifies how customers are increasingly recognising the importance of comfort shopping within closed doors, and after seeing their businesses take a plunge in the first three months of the lockdown, more and more sellers are also coming online.

This festive season, e-commerce platforms are betting big on Tier II and III markets, which are likely to contribute $150 million to e-commerce growth this year

<ul><li>Paving the way for immersive and informative shopping with its <keyword id="623994" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="social-commerce" source="Orion">Social Commerce</keyword> proposition, <keyword id="319719" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="myntra" source="Orion">Myntra</keyword> believes that the charter is likely to engage ~50% of its monthly active users in the next 3-4 years.</li><li>Myntra aims to churn out close to 1000 hours of live video content per month for deeper consumer engagement, contributing exponentially to the creator economy phenomenon.</li><li>To shape the future of optimised engagement for brands, by blending elements of product discovery, personalization, ease of purchasing, community, and edutainment.</li></ul>Myntra today announced its foray into Social Commerce at scale, to cater to the rapidly evolving content consumption patterns and shopping preferences of consumers. As a part of this launch Myntra also unveiled M-Live, bringing a first-of-its-kind, interactive, and real-time, live shopping experience to the fingertips of millions of shoppers in the country. With the launch of its Social Commerce charter, Myntra is looking to transform the way consumers shop by bridging the gap between inspiration and commerce while bringing both under one single platform. Under this charter, Myntra will target fashion and social media savvy young men and women who are looking to have access to the best-in-class fashion advisory and in-demand trends. Myntra’s Social Commerce proposition: Today, social platforms are considered to drive ~70% of purchase decisions for fashion-forward consumers with fashion and beauty being the most popular categories in the Social Commerce realm as per industry reports. Pivoted on community, connection, and trust, Myntra believes that as the future of shopping, its Social Commerce charter is likely to play an important role in defining the way its customers shop. Myntra’s Social Commerce Business has three distinct propositions that add immense composite value to consumers, creators, and brands alike: <ol><li>M-Live - With M-Live, its pioneering proprietary live video streaming, and live commerce platform, Myntra is further paving the way for the future of shopping that resonates with today’s social media savvy, fashion-conscious generation. M-Live aims to facilitate a real-time engagement between consumers and brands by allowing influencers and experts to host live video sessions of product and styling concepts curated by them, on the Myntra app, enabling viewers to shop instantly. M-Live is also the nearest to an expert-assisted offline shopping experience that is fully experienced online. The core benefit is the users’ ability to get interactive descriptions of products independently curated by experts they can trust and identify with while getting instant advice on various aspects like styling, fitment, product quality, and material. With several concurrent users joining the live sessions, it also gives users the opportunity to shop as a community and benefit from the community’s knowledge, observations, questions, and comments, enabling a more confident shopping decision that is backed by social validation.</li></ol> <div type="image" title="image004" msid="87868167" hostid="261"></div> 2. <keyword id="9063941" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="myntra-studio" source="Orion">Myntra Studio</keyword> - As an unparalleled, widely sought-after personalised content destination on an e-commerce platform that provides users with access to 20,000+ original, inspirational, and shoppable fashion, beauty, and lifestyle content assets at scale, Myntra Studio has helped establish Myntra as a frontrunner in innovative content-led commerce. The platform has grown by 25X in the last 6 months itself. Some of the leading brands on Myntra have 2-3 times larger communities on Myntra-Studio and witness a 3-4X higher engagement, in comparison to other similar influencer-led platforms. The in-house built platform has managed to attract and induce shopping among the younger and premium shoppers from across the Metros as well as Tier 2 towns and beyond. With Myntra Studio, Myntra became one of the early e-commerce movers to solidify its positioning in driving a content-led approach, strengthening its fashion proposition and consumer engagement. 3. Myntra Fashion Superstar - As season 3 goes live, this unique, fully shoppable digital reality show continues to churn out some of India’s popular fashion and beauty influencers. With every passing edition, this show has enabled Myntra’s vision of empowering the creator economy. This year’s theme ‘I Wear My Story’ showcases the hunt to find India’s next big fashion influencer and leverages the synergy between iconic fashion trends and social media. Myntra Studio currently engages ~20% of Myntra’s monthly active user base and Myntra expects this to grow to 50% in the next 3-4 years as it scales its Social Commerce charter. A Powerful Enabler for Brands: For brands, Myntra’s social commerce proposition, ensures popular influencers and experts help in establishing more meaningful connections with one of the largest communities of fashion-forward customers. This enables them to offer real-time and on-demand demonstration of features and other aspects while creating visibility for brands in an otherwise crowded environment. This enhances their potential to propel sales by trends and quality as against through pricing alone. Additionally, the brands get the rare opportunity to connect with leading influencers on a commerce platform who drive the conversation for them. It potentially also serves as an engine that increases traffic and stickiness to the platform, resulting in a higher frequency of customer visits, higher demand, and an attractive destination for newer, younger audiences along with better ROI. Unlocking The Creator Economy Phenomenon: The influencer ecosystem in India has begun to significantly scale up with new digital-first content creators emerging across geographies. With its foray into Social Commerce, Myntra is set to create a new ecosystem for consumer-influencer engagement by providing the necessary turf for hundreds of talented influencers to engage with and acquire new followers under one roof while widening their horizon of value creation and also building significant monetisation opportunities for themselves by partaking in the sales outcomes and creating measurable business impact. In addition, with M-Live, Myntra will start by supporting multiple concurrent live streams, and will steadily scale this, with an aim to churn out close to 1000 hours of live content per month in the near future. On Myntra, the influencers would also get the opportunity to partner with leading Indian and global lifestyle brands. It will propel the rise of a different segment of creators who are relatable, engaging, and confident sellers. Pioneering in-house Product-Tech Play: With Myntra Studio’s success as a frontrunner in innovative content-led commerce, M-Live has also been developed in-house with Myntra’s product-technology team working from the ground up. This allows for better customization and planning for the future and to help scale the proposition at will, alongside developing and introducing new innovative features to cater to the ever-evolving needs of the customers. Myntra Studio is slated to be the mothership of all of Myntra’s in-app content-led commerce initiatives. Speaking on the launch of its Social Commerce charter, including M-Live, Achint Setia, VP and Business Head, Social Commerce, Myntra said, “With Myntra Fashion Superstar, Myntra Studio, and now M-Live, an immersive live video shopping experience, we are heralding a new age in fashion and beauty, making big strides in the Social Commerce landscape, with our path-breaking tech-pivoted solutions. At the heart of our Social Commerce initiative, is our desire to offer unparalleled content-led shopping formats to our customers, while harnessing the power of the creator ecosystem and technology. Built for today’s consumers who are gradually progressing from text-based or catalogue-based shopping to influencer-guided interactive experiences, the charter also offers brands an avenue to build salience with a highly engaged fashion-forward customer base, for new launches, collaborations, and showcase hero products along with a host of other benefits. ” Social Commerce, which is a $1.5 billion to $2 billion GMV market in India today, will be worth $16 billion to $20 billion in just five years, with fashion and beauty commanding the lion’s share of this market at over 50-60% as per industry reports.

Myntra forays into social commerce; Launches ‘M-Live’ for real-time video-enabled, interactive shopping experience

<ul><li>The Beauty &amp; Personal Care market is thriving and one of the fastest-growing consumer markets, driven in particular by the Cosmetics and Skin Care segments, as per Statista’s latest report.</li><li>Myntra’s upcoming End of Reason Sale to offer 38,000 styles from over 750 brands in its Beauty and Personal Care segment.</li><li>On course to add 500 more brands and offer 50,000 style options by 2022.</li></ul>Myntra is witnessing strong growth in the Beauty and Personal Care segment on its platform. The category has registered over 2.5X YOY growth on Myntra and is expected to continue the growth momentum into 2022. Myntra is also betting big on the category for the upcoming edition of its marquee biannual event, EORS (End of Reason Sale), slated to be held this month. According to Statista, India's beauty and personal care market, estimated at $25.9 billion in 2020, is projected to reach $32.7 billion by 2023, growing at a CAGR of 8.1 percent. Revenue in the Beauty &amp; Personal Care market amounts to US$22,338 million in 2021. The market is expected to grow annually by 6.95% (CAGR 2021-2026). Beauty &amp; Personal Care is currently the fastest-growing category on Myntra, and is strategically showcased through platforms such as Myntra Studio and M-Live that drive engagement and build salience for brands in the category through DIY videos and live tutorials led by a charter of sought-after beauty influencers. For the upcoming edition of EORS, Myntra is gearing up for its largest-ever edition and in the last few months has added over 50 brands including Dermalogica, Anastasia Beverly Hills, W Beauty, Pilgrim, Swiss Beauty, and Syska Appliances, to participate in its flagship event. With never-before offers on brands, exciting propositions for all first-time beauty and personal care shoppers, and other interesting basket offers, shoppers have a lot to look forward to, in the upcoming EORS. Myntra continues to scale its Beauty and Personal care portfolio and currently houses 750+ brands and 38,000 styles, of which 400 brands and 15,000 styles were added this year alone. The emerging go-to BPC destination is aiming at adding another 500 brands in 2022, taking the total number of options to 50,000 styles. Myntra is witnessing a steady 3X increase in basket size. Myntra’s 15-day return policy has also enabled its consumers to have a smooth and hassle-free buying experience. In addition to this, the category is riding firmly on the back of its popular brand campaign led by Bollywood’s style icon, Disha Patani, who is the brand ambassador for this segment on Myntra. On the technology front, features such as AI-powered Skin analyser tool and virtual try-on are enabling consumers to undertake informed buying decisions on the platform. Some of the prominent international and domestic brands that were added on Myntra this year include Benefit Cosmetics, Bath &amp; Body Works, and Kora Organics among others. From a consumer demand perspective, Face Moisturizer, Kajal &amp; Eyeliner, Face Wash &amp; Cleanser and Lipsticks are some of the top selling items. Apart from these, fragrances and appliances, such as trimmers, are also some of the key categories that consumers flank the platform for. The top article types within categories such as make-up, are Lipsticks, Foundation &amp; Primer, Kajal &amp; Eyeliner, Eyeshadow, Highlighter &amp; Blush; Under skincare, the leading products include Face moisturizer, Face Serum, Mask &amp; Peel and Sunscreen; Under haircare, the leading products are, Hair Colour, Hair Oil, Hair Serum, Hair Cream &amp; Mask, while Body Lotion, Body Wash and Body Oil form an integral part of the Bath &amp; Body category. During EORS-15, shoppers can expect Buy 1 Get 1 on select brands and free shipping on orders above Rs 499. Ahead of the event, Myntra has also collaborated with some of India’s favorite celebrities, such as Salman Khan for Frsh, Virat Kohli for One8, and Sara Ali Khan for Maybelline to share special mentions from their social media channels to drive traction for the category.

Exclusive: Myntra to increase its focus on Beauty and Personal category; plans to add 500 brands and 50,000 styles by 2022

<ul><li>With the launch of Celebrity Masterclass, Myntra is trying to strengthen its loyalty program, while also using content to connect with consumers.</li><li>Since its launch in 2018, <keyword id="6906220" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Myntra-Insider">Myntra Insider</keyword> has amassed close to 6.8 million members.</li><li>Harish Narayanan, Head of Marketing, Myntra, speaks to us about the role that content will play in the future and how it is using its loyalty program to ensure that consumers stay longer, resulting in more conversions.</li></ul>It was in 2018 that fashion e-commerce platform Myntra launched its loyalty program, Myntra Insider, to come up with an effective way of engaging with its users. Since then, the program has amassed close to 6.8 million members who contribute over 40% to its overall sales. Moreover, Myntra Insider has been able to increase its consumer’s stickiness to the platform. Myntra shared that since the launch of the program, Insiders, as the members are called, have visited the platform 1.3X times more than other customers and spent 1.25X more on each order. Owing to the success of the program, and to give something extra to its users, Myntra announced its initiative, Celebrity Masterclasses, based on the insight that consumers are on the lookout for fashion tips while shopping. As a part of the initiative, Myntra has partnered with 10 Bollywood stylists to offer 20 minute sessions for members of its loyalty program. The platform has also been stressing on using content as a tool to engage with its consumers. The launch of the Masterclass is a step in that direction. We caught up with Harish Narayanan, Head of Marketing, Myntra, to understand what role will content play in the future and how it is using its loyalty program to ensure that consumers stay longer and spend more on the platform. Edited excerpts: Q) Tell us a bit about your loyalty program, what are its primary features and how a customer stands to gain from it? What kind of reception has it seen so far? We launched ‘Myntra Insider’ in 2018, and it allows its members an early access to all Myntra sale events, exclusive access to limited edition launches and collections. Vouchers, coupons and a host of partner offers are some of the other standard benefits. Since fashion is more about discovery and expression, we want to engage deeply with our customers and help them with their fashion discovery journey. We have enrolled 6.8 million members in just 1.5 years who contribute over 40% to the overall sales on the platform. In a research that we conducted recently, consumers have come out strongly in favour of needing deep fashion advice from the program. To address this, we have launched Celebrity Masterclasses, creating an opportunity for our customers to get fashion tips from leading celebrity stylists. Since the launch of the loyalty program, we have seen that Insiders visit Myntra 1.3X times more than other customers and spend 1.25X more on each order, making them true Myntra loyalists. Q) What role do loyalty programs like Myntra Insider play in improving customer experience? Customer experience in today’s competitive world is all about offering a differentiated and delightful experience that is uniquely married to our brand’s strengths. And Insider does exactly that, by offering several unique experiences for members, thus effectively creating the ground for an enhanced customer-brand relationship. Customer experience can be improved in many ways, at every touch-point, by improving the quality of service or by offering value-added services. Insider does include the conventional offerings that are standard across programs, such as discounts, vouchers and coupons against redeemable points. But going beyond that, we are offering special access benefits like early access to sale events and exclusive access to new launches. Q) How does the brand stand to gain from the program? It gives our users new reasons to visit the platform and spend more time with us. The idea is for people to visit us not only when they want to shop, but also when they are browsing for new styles or seeking fashion information. We want customers to be more involved and educated in their fashion choices and feel more happy and confident about their looks. Then they will reward us with higher conversion and revenues. Q) What can we expect from the newly launched Masterclass? Myntra Insider Masterclass will give our customers an opportunity to get fashion tips from leading celebrity stylists. Our members will have the opportunity to learn the latest trends and styles, first hand, from the very stylists who style leading celebrities like Shah Rukh Khan, Virat Kohli, Alia Bhatt, Deepika Padukone and Kareena Kapoor among others. For the first phase of Masterclasses, we have partnered with 10 Bollywood stylists including Tanya Ghavri, Nandita Mahtani, Esha Amin, Shaleena Nathani, Ami Patel, Sanjay Kumar, Mohit Rai, Nikita Jaisinghani, Aastha Sharma and Amandeep Kaur, to offer 20-minute sessions which can be redeemed against points collected by Insiders through their purchases or engagement on Myntra. The digital Masterclasses will be offered through a web cast on the Myntra app, allowing viewers to interact with the stylists’ team for advice on fashion, in real-time and will have built-in shoppable features enabling customers to save the looks from the videos to their wish list directly while viewing the content. Q) Despite being an e-commerce platform, what is making you bet big on video content? As fashion is an engagement-oriented segment, we are investing heavily in a video content led approach to engage with customers and increase the time spent by them on the platform. The video content on Myntra will provide users first-hand access to pro tips by stylists, experts, brands and celebrities, offering an unparalleled experience of hearing directly from the best in the industry, while also interacting with them in real-time. In an age of decreasing attention spans, video is an easily-consumed, easy-to-share medium. It allows us to create an engaging way to impart crucial information to consumers at any time and location. Last year we launched, ‘Myntra Fashion Superstar’, which was the world’s first digital fashion reality show on the app and it was viewed by millions of users across the country.

Why Myntra is betting big on video content and its loyalty program for its next phase of growth

<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=flipkart&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Flipkart</a> and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=amazon&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Amazon</a> are going to launch sale season this month and it’s going to be a sort of war for the top slot. Both the online marketplaces will be offering <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=sale+season&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">heavy discounts</a>, as much as 80% on leading brands. They will be offering cashbacks and discounts much to the consumers’ delight. <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> will be celebrating its 10 years and call its sale period ‘Big 10’ which will begin from May 14 and end on May 18. Even <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=myntra&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Myntra</a> will hold it sales during this time. Whereas, <keyword id="18635" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Amazon">Amazon</keyword>’s Great India Sale will begin from May 11 to May 14. A Flipkart spokesperson told ET this is the first time it is organising a five-day sale outside 'The Big Billion Days' sale, which was held from October 2 to 6 last year. He said in addition to the discounts, the marketplace will offer 10 big benefits to all customers. Apart from consumers, this will be a good time for sellers as well who will try to make up for the losses made during demonetisation. "Flipkart has indicated that discounts will be massive for its 10th anniversary sale,” a top online seller told ET. "Maximum focus on will be smartphones, televisions, consumer electronics, fashion and accessories. Amazon's discounting will be widespread across categories. However, it too will have a larger share of deals in the categories that Flipkart will focus on to wrench some market share,” a seller told ET.

Flipkart Vs Amazon! Sale war to begin with heavy discounts; here’s the deal

<ul><li>Kidswear witnesses 90% growth in a pandemic year, as parents choose to shop online from the comfort of their homes. </li><li>Myntra added 200+ kids brands during the pandemic to meet the latest need states of the consumers. </li><li>Myntra launches ‘Toys’ in the segment to boost the category. </li></ul>Kids’, as a category of apparel and accessories is emerging as a strong and promising segment for Myntra. As a platform that is aiming to holistically cater to the fashion needs of people under one roof, the kids’ category is an integral part of the overall value proposition of the online fashion platform and has registered a 90% growth over the last year. This may be attributed to the growing attractiveness of online shopping, from the perspective of safety, during the pandemic. As the nation’s largest destination for fashion, Myntra currently houses over 1.1 lakh styles from over 450 leading brands, in the kid’s category. Some of the leading brands on the platform in the Kids’ segment are, H&amp;M, UCB and GAP, among others, while leading products include, Dresses, T-shirts, Sweatshirts, Value Packs and Night Suits. The category also performed extremely well during the course of the pandemic, when its share of revenues doubled, registering strong organic growth for home wear and day wear article types, such as value packs, night suits and innerwear, among others. During the current year-end festive season, Myntra witnessed huge demand for party and outer wear, with sequins and embroidered dresses for girls and blazers and suits for boys. Winter Jackets and sweatshirts are also emerging as favourite among kidswear. Interesting facts on Kids wear: <ul><li>The ratio of products for boys and girls being sold on Myntra – 45:55 </li><li>Most searched product/style in the category – Girls (Dresses), Boys (T-shirts), Kids (Jackets)</li><li>Peak seasons – Festive season, summer holiday season, Children’s day</li><li>Upcoming trends in Kidswear – Printed joggers, colour blocked sweatshirts, brand carriers, casual dresses, smart sleepwear with witty quotes and cartoon printed T-shirts </li></ul>The ongoing End of Reason Sale, EORS, on Myntra which will end on 24 December, offers the perfect opportunity for parents to shop for winter wear for their children. On offer are over 150 brands and 11000 winter styles, with some of the top brands offering ‘Specially curated for Myntra’ ranges, bringing a very differentiated and fashionable line-up that is priced sharply. Strengthening the kids category even further, Myntra has launched ‘Toys’ on the platform recently, expanding its offerings in the segment. Coming as it does, ahead of Christmas, the section is live with 850 styles currently and on track to launching 1500 more in the next 3-4 months. Some of the leading brands in the segment include ToysRus, Disney, Barbie and Mattel among other leading toys brands in the country. Speaking on the segment, Ayyappan Rajagopal, Head of Business, Myntra, said, “The kids’ category is one of the major areas of focus for Myntra, especially after a very successful run in the recent months, peaking during the festive period. We have always been stronger in this segment in the metros and up north, and with the launch of a number of south and regional selection and brands our penetration into T2 and T3 cities has also increased significantly. Right now, we are witnessing over 100% growth in kids’ winter wear, with teens and pre-teens in the age group of 8 to 16 years, growing the highest. Overall, we are expecting strong traction in winter wear, T-shirts, dresses, infant apparel and ethnic wear, as a category in the days ahead.” Myntra strengthened its portfolio in the infant space with big launches like Chicco &amp; Mothercare. Along with that, many new launches like Max, Levi's kids, converse, Jordan helped the platform grow its footprint in the branded space.

Exclusive: As Myntra’s kidswear segment grows by 90% in 2020, the platform forays into toys and adds 200 kids brands

<keyword id="1489410" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="e-commerce-in-India">E-commerce in India</keyword> is once again grabbing the headlines and this time, for all the right reasons. Bangalore-based <keyword id="319719" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Myntra">Myntra</keyword>, arguably India’s largest standalone <keyword id="1127700" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="fashion-e-tailer">fashion e-tailer</keyword>, has recently closed a <keyword id="6357455" type="EVENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="Funding">funding</keyword> round worth $50 million from an investor consortium led by <keyword id="1430452" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="PremjiInvest">PremjiInvest</keyword>, the family office of the <keyword id="10862" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Wipro">Wipro</keyword> chairman <keyword id="6419840" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Azim-Premji">Azim Premji</keyword>. Myntra is also in talks with a clutch of investors to raise an additional $40 million at a higher <keyword id="51393" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="valuation">valuation</keyword>, according to an Economic Times report. So far, the <keyword id="2049121" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="E-commerce-firm">e-commerce firm</keyword> has raised $125 million in risk capital funding. Another fashion e-tailer that is also raising <keyword id="57924" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="big-money">big money</keyword> is Gurgaon-based <keyword id="6388367" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Jabong">Jabong</keyword>.com, which is backed by Berlin-based <keyword id="1965711" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Rocket-Internet-GmbH">Rocket Internet GmbH</keyword> – a venture arm of the Samwer brothers. The e-commerce firm is reportedly raising a fresh round of equity funding worth $100 million, of which it has already received $27.5 million from the British <keyword id="2049123" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Development-finance-institution">development finance institution</keyword> <keyword id="1613067" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="CDC-Group-Plc">CDC Group Plc</keyword>. 
 All this is good news for the cash-strapped Indian e-commerce segment. So we have taken a close look at the recent fundraising by the <keyword id="2049116" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Indian-e-commerce-players">Indian e-commerce players</keyword> and identified five key trends that seem to be prevailing. Will they rule the <keyword id="2049126" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Fundraising-scenario">fundraising scenario</keyword> and determine the parameters of growth throughout 2014? Let us have a quick look. 
 
Growing big is the key priority E-commerce start-ups in India are finally coming of age and looking beyond the quickest possible exits. When Myntra closed $50 million in funding a couple of days ago, the company was immediately approached by its bigger rival <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> who had reportedly come up with an acquisition offer worth $200 million. According to a TechCrunch report, e-commerce giant <keyword id="18635" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Amazon">Amazon</keyword> had also approached Myntra but the details of the proposed deal are not yet available. 
 Although rumours were rife that Myntra could be considering either of the deals as part of a bigger strategy, the e-tailer has decided to stay off the <keyword id="1949341" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Exit-route">exit route</keyword>. In fact, its ongoing talks for an additional round of funding worth $40 million clearly indicate that the company has in place some well-thought-out <keyword id="414633" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="growth-plans">growth plans</keyword> and big ones at that. The only other reason for back-to-back funding is to raise the valuation but at this point, Myntra doesn’t look like it is on the block. Neither has it decided to quit in a hurry like <keyword id="6359128" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Redbus">redBus</keyword>.in did last year. <keyword id="2049136" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Indias-largest-bus-ticketing-firm">India’s largest bus ticketing firm</keyword> was acquired by the <keyword id="1643008" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ibibo-Group">ibibo Group</keyword> for around $125 million but the sale cut short a successful <keyword id="530125" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="entrepreneurial-journey">entrepreneurial journey</keyword> that could have become a $500 million business in terms of revenue and could have achieved a $1 billion valuation. 
 As for Jabong, the very fact that it is backed by Rocket Internet may tell the industry insiders a different story. Rocket is known in the market for its fast and furious build-and-sell business module, and the start-ups are essentially replicas of successful US businesses. But the kind of funding Jabong is raising right now shows that the company is in no hurry to down the shutters in India even though two of its four co-founders have recently left the company. Jabong started its India operations in 2012 and competes with key e-com players such as Flipkart, Myntra, <keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword> and <keyword id="6354743" type="COMPANY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Amazon-India">Amazon India</keyword>, among others. 
 
Only <keyword id="2049143" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Core-expertise">core expertise</keyword> matters Internet giant <keyword id="6355629" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Google">Google</keyword> has already given us a case in point when it sold <keyword id="487941" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Motorola-Mobility">Motorola Mobility</keyword> to Lenovo for $2.91 billion, less than two years after paying $12.5 billion to acquire it. The deal is not a total financial loss as Google has managed to keep patents worth billions of dollars and expects to turn Lenovo into a manufacturing unit for its <keyword id="6355645" type="COMPANY" weightage="40" keywordseo="android">Android</keyword> OS. But selling <keyword id="11148" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Motorola">Motorola</keyword> is a sure indication that Google should have focused more on its <keyword id="1430489" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Core-Competencies">core competencies</keyword> – search, software and selling ads – instead of developing hardware. 
 You will find a similar case here as Jabong has reportedly sold its <keyword id="2049146" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="logistics-arm">logistics arm</keyword> <keyword id="2049145" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="JaVAS">JaVAS</keyword> (Jabong Value Added Services) to Gurgaon-based QuickDel Logistics as part of its business restructuring and funding exercise. Jabong <keyword id="170488" type="POSITION" weightage="40" keywordseo="co-founder">co-founder</keyword> <keyword id="536011" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Praveen-Sinha">Praveen Sinha</keyword> has also confirmed to the media that JaVAS is now an independent entity. 
 However, that brings us back to the basic question. Should companies try and provide end-to-end solutions to ensure a complete customer experience or should they focus on core competencies and leave the rest to the experts in those fields? We particularly raise this question as many Indian e-commerce firms are currently focusing on <keyword id="2049154" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Proprietary-payment-gateways">proprietary payment gateways</keyword> and customised logistics services in a bid to propel their services to the next level. However, such services can actually make you lose money unless a company is catering to a customer base as vast as <keyword id="6357395" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="eBay">eBay</keyword> or Amazon. 
 After JaVAS, the writing is definitely on the wall. The bells and whistles can always come in later, but the key focus must be core competencies. Of late, even <keyword id="6354427" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Apple">Apple</keyword> seems to be falling in this trap – its newest hardware products have ‘n’ number of <keyword id="2049161" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Incremental-features">incremental features</keyword> but real innovations seem to be eluding the iconic company. 
 
Investors showing better <keyword id="170907" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="risk-appetite">risk appetite</keyword> India’s e-commerce market is projected to grow sevenfold to $22 billion in the next five years, and investors, both national and global, want to have a piece of the pie. According to <keyword id="1981" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Rahul-Khanna">Rahul Khanna</keyword>, managing director of the <keyword id="6357097" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="venture-capital">venture capital</keyword> firm <keyword id="218905" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Canaan-Partners">Canaan Partners</keyword> (India), e-commerce players in India (and everywhere else for that matter) require very deep pockets to scale up to the level of breaking even and hitting profitability. In this space, sales margins are typically low; volume is high, and logistics &amp; back office <keyword id="6362476" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="investments">investments</keyword> only become viable when companies are catering to a very <keyword id="2049169" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Large-customer-base">large customer base</keyword>. Consequently, <keyword id="2049171" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Follow-on-rounds">follow-on rounds</keyword> are extremely crucial for sustainable growth. Now that big institutional investors like PremjiInvest and UK-based development <keyword id="25455" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="finance">finance</keyword> institution CDC Group are entering the arena, the much-needed <keyword id="2000080" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Cash-burning">cash burning</keyword> is sure to propel growth to the desired level. 
 “E-commerce is fast maturing in India and that’s the main reason <keyword id="363248" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Global-Investments">global investments</keyword> are flowing in,” says another analyst. “When big players like Amazon show interest (the e-commerce giant has reportedly approached Myntra), investors are quick to sense the tremendous <keyword id="452394" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="growth-potential">growth potential</keyword> lying here,” she adds. 
 
Forget the buzz you are creating; it’s result time now Analysts, who have followed the course of events over the past few weeks, also point out another interesting trend. Be it Myntra or Jabong or other up-and-coming e-commerce businesses, it’s their <keyword id="2049173" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Growth-quotient">growth quotient</keyword> that has attracted <keyword id="2049174" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Big-funding">big funding</keyword>. In other words, start-ups who are delivering in a big way will get the valuable <keyword id="2049175" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Growth-dollars">growth dollars</keyword> as investors are now looking beyond the buzz and focusing on <keyword id="1730239" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="business-fundamentals">business fundamentals</keyword> and results. 
 Companies must have the numbers – in terms of customer base, <keyword id="169826" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="growth-figures">growth figures</keyword> and brand leadership – to justify the big money they are raising. For instance, Myntra expects to more than double its <keyword id="657194" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="gross-sales">gross sales</keyword> to over $250 million by March 2015 and the fashion e-tailer’s <keyword id="2049176" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Monthly-gross-sales">monthly gross sales</keyword> could touch $20-25 million by April this year. Myntra is expected to end the current fiscal with more than $100 million in gross sales and it is targeting $1 billion in <keyword id="6399113" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="GMV">GMV</keyword> by 2016-2017. Flipkart, which raised $360 million last year at a valuation of about $1.6 billion, is also projecting a GMV of $1 billion by 2015. 
 Jabong, too, has aggressive growth plans and the latest round will be used to strengthen its <keyword id="2049177" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Supply-chain-infrastructure">supply chain infrastructure</keyword> and enhance its <keyword id="2049178" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Technology-platform">technology platform</keyword>. According to industry sources, Jabong might have generated <keyword id="2049180" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Gross-merchandise-sales">gross merchandise sales</keyword> of $100-150 million for the fiscal 2012-13. Other key investments in the Indian e-commerce space since 2013 included online marketplace Snapdeal raising about Rs 300 crore and baby care portal <keyword id="1615917" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="FirstCry">Firstcry</keyword> bagging Rs 92 crore. 
 
Inventory, <keyword id="6630005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="private-labels">private labels</keyword> are adding value 
With the lone exception of Snapdeal that runs a 100% marketplace, most of the big e-commerce entities in India are flourishing on a hybrid model – a strategic mix of inventory, private label and marketplace. In fact, Jabong has been doing all three for some time now, although a bit discreetly, and it could be now pushing hard to extract every penny from each of these categories. 
 
Myntra, on the other hand, focuses on both inventory and private label, with the share of private labels rising rapidly. A couple of years ago, the e-tailer acquired Exclusively.in Inc., the company behind the private label brand Shersingh.com and the fashion site Exclusively.in, in a cash-cum-equity deal. Myntra is reportedly eyeing more private labels to add to its portfolio as the margins are pretty high in this segment and add substantially to the profits. 
 
Bottom line: Is it a <keyword id="2049185" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Volatile-situation">volatile situation</keyword>? In one of her latest blogs in <keyword id="6359301" type="POSITION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Entrepreneur">Entrepreneur</keyword>.com, entrepreneur-writer Erika Trautman has nicely summed it up. “No matter how great the idea, if your start-up doesn’t create hard and fast results with analytics, targeted business solutions and mobile integration, it won’t survive in 2014. Launching a start-up can’t just be about how cool your product is. No business can subsist off just buzz and Press. This year, start-ups must focus on business fundamentals and start emphasising partnerships that generate results.” 
 
Can the Indian e-commerce players innovate, scale up and deliver (as the takeaways so amply illustrate) to justify the trust investors are now putting in them? Will there be new ventures to take up the gauntlet? Let us wait and watch. 
 
Image: Thinkstock Photos/Getty Images

You Searched For "myntra big sale" and got 11 results

Indians spent big on festive season sales, UPI transaction up 40% in Oct: Report

IANS

How Myntra is using IPL to build deeper connections and drive brand salience before its Big Fashion Festival

Karuna Sharma

Myntra is expecting a 1.8X increase in traffic during its upcoming Big Fashion Festival sale, will focus more on regional and influencer marketing to engage with consumers

Samarpita Banerjee

Myntra expects 2X increase in traffic over the previous festive season in its upcoming Big Fashion Festival

BI India Partner

This festive season, e-commerce platforms are betting big on Tier II and III markets, which are likely to contribute $150 million to e-commerce growth this year

Karuna Sharma

Myntra forays into social commerce; Launches ‘M-Live’ for real-time video-enabled, interactive shopping experience

BI India Partner

Exclusive: Myntra to increase its focus on Beauty and Personal category; plans to add 500 brands and 50,000 styles by 2022

BI India Partner

Why Myntra is betting big on video content and its loyalty program for its next phase of growth

Samarpita Banerjee

Flipkart Vs Amazon! Sale war to begin with heavy discounts; here’s the deal

BI India Bureau

Exclusive: As Myntra’s kidswear segment grows by 90% in 2020, the platform forays into toys and adds 200 kids brands

BI India Partner

Indian E-com Players Are Raising Big Money; These 5 Takeaways Can Help You Understand What’s Changing

Sanghamitra Mandal

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