It is Business, It is Personal

Recently, India’s biggest online fashion retailer, Myntra announced that it will shut down its website and go app only on May 15th. “It’s not Business. It’s Personal” read their campaign line.

Now, when I saw the ad the first time, I was of the opinion that they are going app only on May 15th. I remembered the conversation I had a year back, with a friend of mine, who worked with Myntra at that time, about how Myntra still didn’t have a mobile app. I felt it was a good move for an e-commerce company to encourage mobile only usage, especially coming for a company which didn’t have a mobile app just a year back. It was only after I read the ad, that I realized Myntra was going app only not on May 15th but starting from May 15th. No more website but just a mobile application. And this is India’s biggest online fashion retailer we are talking about. I mean how on earth can someone be India’s biggest online fashion retailer without a website. It’s one thing to go mobile, but to shut off the website altogether is quite a different story. I had to correct myself. It was not just a good move, but indeed a Giant leap.

Myntra’s reasoning was simple “It’s not Business. It’s Personal”. Words can be deceiving, but not the numbers. The numbers tell a different story.

Myntra gets 95% of its traffic and 70% of revenue from its mobile application. One can still question, how can the company say no to the 30% of their revenue source. The one reasoning I see is that, most of the 30% the revenue coming through website purchases is also associated with users who have access to mobile application but still prefer to shop on a web portal for better convenience. In other words, it could as well be generated from mobile if mobile is made the only option.

Mobile can now be the only option. Not just because it helps you get personal, but it makes all the business sense. Mobile has moved from being a device used for making calls and sending SMSs with support for other Value Added Services to a device that primarily deliveries all the value adding services to your life while also helping you with making calls and sending SMSs.

What amazes is the speed at which the world is turning to this new mobile. A year back, we were debating about why companies should build mobile capabilities. Six months back we were discussing how the time has come for the companies to make mobile as their main focus if they want to bond with their customers. Today, we have arrived at a time where the biggest of the companies are adopting a mobile-only strategy.

If we want to be someone who wants to deliver service to people on their mobile devices, it has become essential today to get into their devices. The debate is not anymore about whether or not to get into people’s mobile but about how quick are we in getting into their mobile.

I believe, it’s time for us to be the new mobile.