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<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>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>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

<ul><li><keyword id="7980696" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="bobble-ai" source="Orion">Bobble AI</keyword>'s recent report on the E-Commerce Industry in India shows E-commerce in India has witnessed an uptick of 77% between 2020 and 2021.</li><li>Flipkart dominates in terms of engagement metrics like search frequency and active sessions; Amazon wins in terms of transactions, with significantly less average session times.</li><li>Purplle had a 70% growth in active users in the 2021 shopping festival, compared to a 50% increase for Nykaa; common user base grew from 15% to 17%.</li></ul>E-commerce in India has witnessed an uptick of 77% between 2020 and 2021 and tier 2,3 cities are transacting more than ever as per a report by India’s largest conversation media platform Bobble AI. Bobble AI report is based on over 50 million smartphone users’ (in 640+ Indian cities) data processed in a privacy-compliant manner. It also revealed that while tier 1 cities dominate the fashion festival figures, transactions in tier 2 cities like Jaipur, Guwahati, Lucknow, Kochi, Mysore, and Bhubaneswar are at an all-time high – up 82% over the previous year. Apart from that, the majority of consumers are between the ages of 26 and 35 accounting for 37%, and between the ages of 18 and 25, accounting for 26% with 72% males and 28% females. According to the data intelligence company’s survey on the state of eCommerce in India, which was conducted across Tier 1, 2 and 3, beauty e-commerce apps usage grew by 64%, whereas fashion e-commerce grew by 368% over the past year. The festive period has only led the two e-commerce domains to skyrocket, with at least two transactions completed by shopaholics during the fashion festivals. In an interesting insight highlighted by the study, India’s fashion e-commerce industry has transformed from ‘Monopoly’ to ‘Ludo.’ Fashion giant Myntra faced tough competition from its competitive counterparts, Meesho, Ajio, and TataCliq. While almost 46% of all transactions belonged to Myntra during the 2020 festive period, Ajio bagged around 69% of all transactions in 2021. The share of Myntra’s active users, also using Meesho, Ajio, and TataCliq has also increased significantly, indicating how users are exploring multiple options this year. The battle of the e-commerce legends, Amazon, and Flipkart is worth noting, with Flipkart’s active user base rising 83% in 2021 online shopping festival compared to Amazon’s 72%. Despite the fact that Flipkart is dominating in terms of engagement metrics like search frequency and active sessions, Amazon is winning in terms of transactions, significantly less average session times. Apart from fashion e-commerce, interesting insights have also emerged from the beauty e-commerce segment. Leading players Nykaa and Purplle locked horns this festive season – and Purplle took a piece from Nykaa’s pie. In light of Nykaa’s IPO, let’s look at their market share against Purplle, Nykaa’s pure-play fashion e-commerce competitor. Purplle had a 70% growth in active users in the 2021 shopping festival, compared to a 50% increase for Nykaa. With 15% common user base in 2020, Purplle is now standing at 17% in 2021. The festive season trends point towards healthy and fast-evolving competition in the e-commerce market, which bodes well for customers who are looking for high-quality products at affordable prices. With the festive season coming to a close, it is exciting to anticipate how the competition will pan out in 2022. With India’s e-commerce market set to reach $120 billion by<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinrozario/2021/07/13/e-commerce-in-india-set-to-reach-120-billion-in-2025-says-report/?sh=3db8de784611"> 2025</a>, the future seems promising. Hypergrowth is definitely on the horizon for the segment, and according to Bobble AI’s findings, brands are poised to capture growth opportunities.

Ajio and Myntra locked horns this festive season in fashion e-commerce: Report

<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

<ul><li>What goes around comes around, especially when it comes to fashion and clothing.</li><li>According to PwC and Assocham, landfills are brimming with so much urban waste that by 2050, India is reportedly going to need a landfill that's the size of its capital New Delhi.</li><li>Before World Environment Day, we talk to Myntra about its new e-store, <keyword id="11376339" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="myntra-for-earth">Myntra for Earth</keyword>, that is targeting environment-conscious shoppers and aiming to focus more on sustainability as it moves forward.</li><li>Ayyappan Rajagopal, Chief Business Officer, Myntra tells us about the kind of response Myntra for Earth has seen so far, what kind of sustainable choices do consumers have, changing fashion trends in the future and Myntra for Earth’s goals for this quarter.</li></ul>The future of fashion is upcycling, recycling and sustainable clothing. Brands in India have already started taking baby steps towards converting fashion into a sustainable choice for consumers. More and more consumers are becoming aware of their fashion choices and realising that a worn-out piece of cloth they decide to throw, even as simple as a plain t-shirt, never really goes ‘away.’ It all ends up in a landfill. According to an Assocham and PwC report, landfills are brimming with so much urban waste that by 2050, India is reportedly going to need a landfill that's the size of its capital, New Delhi. At the same time, fast fashion is becoming a trend, which offers consumers the opportunity to buy more clothes at a lower price and that has taken a toll on the environment. It offers consumers an option to swiftly discard their clothes and buy new ‘trendy’ dresses. Consumers and brands aren’t ignoring these horrifying numbers anymore. This World Environment Day, many fashion brands have sworn to make a difference and be cognizant of the harmful effects their products can have on the environment. E-commerce giant Myntra has also stepped up. It has officially launched a sustainable e-store called ‘Myntra for Earth’ that only features eco-friendly fashion choices for all genders and age groups. It has already onboarded 70 leading fashion and lifestyle brands over the last 6 months to offer over 5500 styles to customers on its sustainable store. The store includes handloom and handcrafted, organic, natural-dyed, recyclable and eco-friendly, vegan, and cruelty-free options. The products ordered through this store are delivered in packets made from 100% recycled paper. It is now working towards scaling the number of brands in the store to ~2X by the upcoming quarter while adding another 4000 styles to the existing assortment. We caught up with Ayyappan Rajagopal, Chief Business Officer, Myntra to discuss the challenges of launching a new e-store during a global pandemic, its sustainability roadmap, a few trends that we can expect to see in sustainable fashion and platform’s goals to grow the store this quarter. Excerpts: Q. Tell us more about the 'Myntra for Earth’ store. When was it launched? What kind of response have you seen from the consumers? Launched in October 2020, "Myntra for Earth" is Myntra's sustainable store showcasing a more conscious choice to fashion and lifestyle shoppers. About 70 leading fashion and lifestyle brands have partnered with Myntra over the last 6 months to offer over 5500 styles to customers on its sustainable store. The store offers an immersive and engaging shopping experience for truly ‘sustainability-inclined’ conscious shoppers. As of now, we have seen increased growth in store visits and an uptick in revenue since its launch. The specially-curated store recognises the fashion industry’s sustainability efforts and also aims at augmenting the income opportunities of artisans and NGOs involved. Since its launch, Myntra For Earth store has received a phenomenal response. We are working towards scaling the number of brands in the store to ~2X by the upcoming quarter while adding another 4000 styles to the existing assortment. Q. How are you planning to market this store? Is there a larger campaign-in-the-making to raise awareness? Currently, we are focussing on having the right assortment of brands and products for the consumers in the store as the topmost priority. We have already received phenomenal response from consumers for the products of the store. Nearly 62% of the visitors to the ‘Myntra For Earth’ store are women, with metro cities contributing about 40% of the overall visits to the store. People of all age groups are seemingly conscious about their fashion choices and their impact on the environment in varying degrees. However, those in the age group of 21 to 35 are contributing the highest to the growth of the ‘Myntra For Earth’ store. Q. You have 70 brand partners on Myntra For Earth already. Can you mention a few names? Which are the most loved brands so far? Key names among many include H&amp;M, Mango, Unnati Silks, Bharatsthali, Pothys, Metro Kids Company, Kama Ayurveda, Forest Essentials and Fab India among others. <keyword id="2712840" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Myntra-Fashion">Myntra Fashion</keyword> Brands featured on the platform for their conscious collection include Taavi, Roadster and Ether. Q. So far, we have only seen a few start-ups that are completely sustainable. Are Indian legacy brands following suit? The MFE store has a combination of both home-grown brands like Taavi, Taniera and global brands like Levi, Mango &amp; H&amp;M that give importance to sustainability. Most of the legacy brands have a dedicated charter of well-defined goals on sustainability to educate consumers on organic fashion. Q. Is the packaging for Myntra Earth products different from others? Considering it aims to have a minimal effect on the environment? The majority of the orders are delivered using paper packaging at Myntra. We are gradually moving towards a complete eco-friendly paper for delivery purposes.

Myntra for Earth is working towards scaling the number of brands in the store to ~2X by the upcoming quarter while adding another 4000 styles to the existing assortment: Ayyappan Rajagopal of Myntra

New Delhi, Feb 19 () Fashion e-tailer Myntra on Wednesday said it has partnered Microsoft to accelerate its digital transformation. "As we accelerate our business and grow our value, the ability to scale our technology in a secure environment to accommodate this growth is critical," Myntra CEO Amar Nagaram said. Microsoft Azure platform provides Myntra's teams the ability to deliver innovative and personalised capabilities for customers with speed supported by a strong depth of technology expertise from the Microsoft team, he added. Myntra has worked closely with Microsoft to migrate its platform - from supply chain management to inventory to site capabilities - to Azure. Since the deployment of Azure, Myntra has recorded a 50 per cent rise in orders in the latest edition of its biennial End of Reason Sale.**** * PrimeInvestor.in to offer subscription-based research platform for investors PrimeInvestor.in on Wednesday announced the launch of its subscription-based research platform that will provide quality, unbiased guidance to retail investors for their personal finance decisions. Investors will be able to access in-depth research and recommendations on mutual funds (MFs), bonds, fixed deposit products and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), a statement said. Stock and insurance recommendations will be added soon to the offerings it added. PrimeInvestor will equip customers with in-depth research to help them take informed investment decisions, Srikanth Meenakshi, co-founder of PrimeInvestor.in said.**** * Oliveboard crosses 6 million subscribers in India, launches 'Skholar' Michael &amp; Susan Dell Foundation-funded edu-tech platform Oliveboard on Wednesday said it has crossed 6 million registered subscribers mark on its platform. The company has also launched Skholar, a free preparation platform for UPSC CSE aspirants, featuring revision notes, videos and test series, a statement said. Oliveboard is an online learning and assessment platform specialising in government and bank recruitment exams, with a large part of its user base concentrated in tier-II and III cities in India. Founded in 2012 by ex-Inmobi employees, Abhishek Patil and Satish Kumar, Oliveboard has received pre-series A funding from India Educational Investment Fund (IEIF), an early-stage impact investment fund established by the Michael &amp; Susan Dell Foundation. ***** Havells introduces smart range of IoT enabled fans Consumer electric products maker Havells India on Wednesday announced introduction of new smart range of fans with Internet of things (IoT) features. Priced at Rs 4,500, Carnesia-I range of fans is compatible with voice enabled devices like Alexa &amp; Google Home and can be operated with mobile application. "It is an intelligent fan that can sense temperature and humidity in the room and offer right speed for enhanced comfort to our consumers. With qualitative 'segment first' features we are sure that it will further strengthen our footprint in the industry," Havells India President Electrical Consumer Durables R S Negi said. Indian organised fan market is estimated to be around Rs 8,000 crore. Havells, entered fans segment in 2003 and is one of the fastest growing player in the segment. SR KRH RVK

Myntra adopts Microsoft Azure

<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>Hindi on voice assistants is second biggest globally; 72% Indians prefer non-English language.</li><li>Amazon, Flipkart and Myntra were the top 3 online shopping destinations.</li><li>Groceries, fashion and health, beauty and personal care were the most searched product categories.</li></ul>MMA India, along with the AMMP Council and GroupM India, today launched an industry playbook titled ‘Modern Marketers Guide to Connected Consumer Journeys’. The guide is a compilation of learnings and insights by multiple industry experts and an analysis of the e-commerce landscape in India. In the context of the accelerated adoption of online channels, the playbook powered and supported by GroupM provides marketers with insights into the changing e-commerce landscape and the factors driving this shift. It also delves into the evolving customer buying journey and purchase patterns, sales-driving technologies such as Voice, AR/VR driving sales and effective channel strategy for improved business ROI. Speaking on the launch, <keyword id="6812225" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="moneka-khurana" source="Orion">Moneka Khurana</keyword>, MMA India Board Member; Country Head – India, MMA said, “This one-of-a-kind playbook led by MMA’s E-commerce council members outlines how organizations and digital business leaders can improve their understanding of the shift in consumer behavior and solutions that will drive the next phase of growth. Consistent digital exposure, combined with the presence of available omnichannel touchpoints, has resulted in the development of a new consumer purchasing process. MMA through its e-Commerce Council aims to build an overall understanding of the ecosystem and address cluster-specific issues improving capability in the omnichannel marketing. We hope this playbook will assist marketers and brands to effectively re-strategize their market approach – from the customers they target to the channels they sell through.” Shedding further light on the playbook, Tushar Vyas, President – Growth and Transformation, GroupM South Asia said, “Consumers now have multiple sources for discovery and information research and today, it consists of highly connected non-linear moments. The growth in internet users, reduction in data prices and changing consumer behavior are the key growth drivers for the evolution of eCommerce in India. We understand the changing online retail market and how it is set to grow 3x in the next 4-5 years mainly driven by underpenetrated categories like grocery, education, health. Considering the emergence and growth of eCommerce platforms, this handbook provides A-Z solutions on how marketers can use eCommerce as a platform to enhance a brand’s reach in these rapidly evolving times.” Commenting on this initiative, KRS Jamwal, Executive Director, Tata Industries Ltd. Says, “It is indeed my pleasure to pen a foreword for this very timely and thoughtful playbook. After rapid growth in India's e-commerce market, while the focus on cost and delivery efficiency will remain, it will become hygiene. Going forward, platforms and brands will need to differentiate by providing customers with a better, preferably personalized, yet holistic buying experience that enhances the browse and purchase journeys, and even attempt to bring aspects of the in-store experience online, leveraging tech. The MMA report provides an overarching view on consumer behavior shifts as well as identifies challenges that organizations may face as a result of those shifts, with best practices and possible solutions." Key highlights: Landscape: India today has 622 million internet users (8% growth over 2019) and is expected to touch 900 million users by 2025. With affordable data prices, consumers are increasingly becoming more “digital”. The online retail market is set to become 3 folds in the next 4-5 years, majorly driven by under-penetrated categories like grocery, education, and health. Voice, Video, and Vernacular: Though voice is at a nascent stage Indians are leapfrogging on Voice adoption; the market is expected to grow by 40% by 2022. Not just on Google Assistant, voice is rapidly growing as a preferred medium of input across Search and YouTube. Online video spends have seen the highest growth rate of 46% in 2020, as compared to other media channels. Online content consumption grew 35% post COVID, with a total growth of 13% in time spent on OTT from January 2020 to January 2021. Vernacular internet users prefer voice find voice a more natural way of interacting with technology which helps reduces friction. Hindi on voice assistants is the 2nd biggest language globally after English, while Hindi <keyword id="504074" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="voice-search" source="Orion">voice search</keyword> queries have seen 400% growth y-o-y. Pre-purchase: Urban internet users are relying on online platforms for product research. 62% of urban users are researching products online before making any purchase either online or offline. 50% of offline shopping across categories involves online product research. Channel Choice: The biggest retail trend is the increasing popularity of the direct-to-consumer or DTC model. D2C brands are witnessing a high number of subsequent funding rounds and strategic sale to incumbents. Working through a middleman can block access to end consumers. Brands with a DTC model can leverage direct relationships through loyalty programs, special discounting and promotions and unique and category-specific shopping experiences. Purchase: Online retail is shifting from electronics to grocery. 73% of customers have purchased through online shopping platforms in the past 12 months. The deciding factors are - 63% on product quality, 55% on price and 55% on product information, return and cancellation policy, and product warranty. There has been an interesting purchase pattern in the consumer journey in the last 3 months where Amazon, Flipkart and Myntra were the top 3 online shopping destinations and <a name="m_-845459193505835215__Hlk80787303">groceries, fashion and health, beauty and personal care were the most searched product categories</a>. Conversational Commerce, Voice Search, Video Streaming and Augmented Reality will also help brands drive their ecommerce strategies.

Online shoppers in India expected to reach 500 million by 2030: MMA and GroupM report

<ul><li><keyword id="936689" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Comic-Con-India">Comic Con India</keyword> started in 2011 in Delhi and has now expanded to Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune. </li><li>The event has been witnessing a 15-20% increase in footfall every year.</li><li>Its brand associations have doubled since 2015, this year brands including <keyword id="44883" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Maruti-Suzuki">Maruti Suzuki</keyword>, <keyword id="13722" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Lenovo">Lenovo</keyword>, AMD, <keyword id="319719" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Myntra">Myntra</keyword>, <keyword id="106317" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Asian-Paints">Asian Paints</keyword> and ACT Fibernet have associated with the event.</li><li>Comic Con India will soon launch in Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Chennai. </li></ul>It is that time of the year again when comic lovers are gearing up to experience the two-day extravaganza that is Comic Con India (CCI). After its inaugural show in Delhi in 2011 saw about 5,000 visitors, the grand event has witnessed close to 15-20% increase in footfall, on an average, with each passing year. Today, CCI has expanded beyond Delhi to cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune. It will soon launch in Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Chennai. Moreover, witnessing the love among youngsters for pop-culture and everything related to comics and superheroes, increasingly brands have started looking at the event as an effective touch-point, to reach out to its target audience. As Mumbai gets ready for the event to be held this weekend, we caught up with <keyword id="229684" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Jatin-Varma">Jatin Varma</keyword>, Founder of CCI, who spoke to us about the event’s growth in the past few years and why more and more brands are choosing to associate with the event. Edited excerpts: Q. What kind of growth has CCI witnessed in the past few years? Can you give us an estimate in terms of an increase in the number of stalls/footfall? Over the past few years, we have seen our footfalls increase at an average of 15-20%. However, this also depends on the increase in showfloor space as we can only accommodate so many people at one go. Q. There has been an increase in brands wanting to associate with the event too. What are the benefits that a brand draws from associating with CCI? What kind of increase has your brand association seen? Brands associations have been growing for us, year-on-year. In fact, it has doubled since 2015. Ours is a unique platform, where a brand has the ability to reach out to an extremely engaged consumer. Plus our audience sits in the sweet spot of 18-36 years of age and spends hours at our show, therefore giving a brand a great experiential marketing opportunity. Some of the brands that have associated with us this year are Maruti Suzuki, Lenovo, AMD, Myntra, Asian Paints, ACT Fibernet, Sony Entertainment, Viacom, Disney India, Warner Brothers, Hotstar and Lionsgate Pictures, amongst others. Q. What kind of associations are OTT players like Hotstar and Lionsgate Pictures looking at? It's a sponsor association, where they take up space to showcase the latest content on their platforms. Their key objective is to market the premium content on their platforms. Q. Comic Con in the US sees participation from many prominent celebrities, to celebrate their movies or shows. Can we expect the Comic Con format in India to get closer to the US format in the next few years? That's a misconception that people end up having at times. All shows around the world, including the US feature comics, merch, cosplay, gaming and more. The same applies to us. What differs is the scale of the show at times (depending which show you might compare us with). The format is exactly the same, having travelled, experienced and also been part of organizing teams of shows around the world, I can attest to that. With respect to guests, that's a larger market-based issue, wherein the Studio has to decide whether the local market justifies investing in bringing talent down to the country along with previewing content exclusively for the Indian audiences. I think you'll see this happen more and more in the coming years, with talent and previews not just at our shows but in general being showcased for the Indian audiences. Having said that, over the past few years, we have brought down guests from various popular television series (such as Game of Thrones, Doctor Who, Sherlock) and recently even a WWE star in collaboration with WWE India. And since this is the Indian market, we actively feature previews and talent from Indian properties, be it films, TV or web series. Q. How have you been marketing CCI so far? Have you increased your marketing spends this year? Does digital take the biggest share? Our marketing is mostly digital, leveraging our database and social media. We certainly have partnerships along with some ATL spends, but we mostly connect with our audience digitally. The marketing spends this year are about 10% higher than the last financial year. Q. Can we expect CCI to go to more cities in the near future? Definitely! We are launching Ahmedabad in February 2020 and we also plan to go to Kolkata, Chennai and again to Pune soon. Q. What are your strategies to taking CCI to the next level? Next season will kickstart our 10th year as an organization. Going forward we hope to expand the experiential element of the show and give fans more to do at the show. We hope to leverage our partners to give Indian fans access to more content as well as access to their favorite stars. Lastly, we hope to push forward the gaming element at our shows in a bigger way.

Comic Con India has seen doubling of brand associations since 2015; to launch in Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Chennai soon

<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

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