Why is Myntra such a superior product? A deep dive into India’s largest fashion app
E-commerce platforms have changed the way we shop — bringing about a behavioral change a few of us could have ever imagined. From brick-and-mortar stores to the likes of the now popular online marketplaces of Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, etc. — the change has been phenomenal. Covid-19 has done its bit by accelerating the adoption of online platforms. At the height of the pandemic, e-commerce platforms made it more convenient for users to get their favorite items delivered to their doorstep without them having to experience the hassle of stepping out. They also got users, especially the fence-sitters, comfortable with the idea of shopping online as scores of them doom-scrolled their way through the pandemic window-shopping their favorite clothing/lifestyle products. Easy returns upped the ante and the rest is history in writing. The Indian e-commerce market is expected to grow to US$ 111.40 billion by 2025. It’s not magic — there is method to this madness and let’s deep dive to understand how Myntra got the method right.
First, a bit about the platform in question. Myntra is India’s largest fashion/lifestyle e-tailer, providing a premium shopping experience for scores of fashion-conscious Indians. They started with the sale of personalized gifts in 2008 and later shifted to the retailing of branded apparel in 2010. Along the way, they made tie-ups with famous brands and retailed their latest and top-selling merchandise. They soon started selling international and high-end brands and entered the lifestyle section thereafter. Today, they are highly successful and sell over 500 Indian and international brands. Assortment is a key strength and category managers put great emphasis to ensure Myntra has the best variety on their platform. Delivering across 9000 pin codes, they have expanded their reach to tier-1 and tier-2 cities and are India’s top fashion destination.
Myntra faces stiff competition from the likes of Nykaa Fashion, AJIO, Amazon, Flipkart, Tata Cliq (which houses Westside), H&M (which retails on Myntra), Zara, etc. and there is tons of potential for innovation in this hyper-competitive space. They have an edge over their competitors by virtue of their razor-sharp focus on assortment and trends, upscale shopping experience, improved reach across different price points and a greater TAM (total addressable market). Good competition mix in India ensures they go over and beyond and it helps bring out their best in terms of their offerings.
Myntra’s powerful reign lies in its attention to detail — making use of data to ensure meaningful user interactions. Right from marketing, catalogue exploration and search (discovery) to personalized recommendations (engagement), add to bag or wishlist (click to action/adoption) to easy returns (post-sale support) — Myntra has nailed down the entire customer journey making sure each touchpoint is smooth and frictionless.
In addition, their user profiling is top-notch. They understand that for users fashion is more than just the clothes they wear. It is a form of identity and expression. As Virginia Wolff famously said, “Vain trifles as they seem, clothes have they say, more important offices than to merely keep us warm. They change our view of the world and the world’s view of us.” Their deep understanding of this aspect of user psyche is quite evident in their marketing campaigns, app interactions and even their intermediate loading pages. See the example below — I was mind-blown!
Breaking down their art of personalization next. According to research, 86% of buyers would pay more for a better brand experience. At the same time, only 36% of buyers feel like retailers know them. So the main question is how to increase the number of users who find the website tailor-made for them, thus increasing their willingness to spend. Working on brand article price-point affinity analysis, cross-sell propensity tracking and user journey mapping, they have ensured better conversion (and hence higher ARPU — average revenue per user). They’ve also spent months personalizing the storefront to help users find the products they love. Instead of showing the same propositions to all users, the system cycles through all the available propositions (banners), picks out the most relevant ones for each user basis his/her fashion taste and shows the corresponding banners on the homepage. With this change, two users who enter the Myntra store on their apps at the same time see completely different storefronts tailored to meet their fashion shopping needs. They have also made great strides in personalizing search results and product listing using predictive CTR techniques. When two users search for the same keywords or tap on the same banner or notification link, they see the same set of products, but ranked differently based on their individual preferences, leading to faster discovery of the products they love.
Myntra is also revolutionizing social and live e-commerce in India with influencer marketing and MLive respectively. MLive is the live video streaming and commerce section in the app that allows users to buy products in real-time during the stream. It helps increase consumer stickiness and shoots up impulse purchases which is good for the company. It does so by creating a sense of urgency (via stream-only discount codes, etc.) leading to faster conversion and deeper engagement. Myntra Studio and Myntra Fashion Superstar (an influencer reality show) have been innovative initiatives driving high footfall to their mobile and web platforms.
They also do a great job with their user interface which is interactive, responsive and easy on the eyes. Great UI helps increase user engagement and eventually reduces drop-off rates. They’ve also made online shopping and product discovery a fun experience and have greater average session lengths than their competitors. As a cherry on the top, their no qualms return and exchange policy has major upsides as it helps them cement customer loyalty.
Size/fitting is a major pain point for customers and is a common and inevitable issue in online apparel purchases. By helping ease this pain via easy returns/exchanges, Myntra ends up building an ecosystem of trust and comfort with their customers.
Interestingly, they are also working on predictive sizing via “Myntra Size Finder” which is still in its early experimental stages but is a high potential feature nevertheless. Additionally, they’ve also championed last-mile delivery and have adopted a hybrid logistics model in which they distribute logistics between themselves and third-party service providers on a demographic basis. They also put great emphasis on hiring delivery executives themselves to ensure top-level customer experience at even the product drop-off stage.
The last part of the puzzle lies in how Myntra ensures strong brand loyalty and customer retention. They have a flagship loyalty program — Myntra Insider through which they partner with various OTT platforms, lifestyle brands, food and dining brands, and gaming brands. Users earn more points as they go which are redeemable across a wide array of partner brands/platforms. Myntra Insiders will be able to avail of special privileges such as early access to sales, priority customer support, special birthday offers and more, depending on their Insider level. Based on their level of fandom, users are categorized to be either, Insider, Select, Elite or Icon, with each level offering greater benefits and privileges over the previous. The program also offers unique experiences to its users such as a session by a stylist, modelling on Myntra content/platform and co-creating designs and styles for Myntra.
While the Insider page provides a good visual representation of a user’s current loyalty status and the number of redeemable coins, a more seamless redemption process would have greatly helped with user accessibility and conversion rates. As of today, if users wish to redeem coins or look for loyalty-specific deals, they have to step out of their current flow, get into the Insider page flow and scroll through platform/partner discounts. This is not a desirable experience. Additionally, loyalty deals specific to Myntra are not integrated with the checkout flow. There is a high chance of a user missing out on brand, calendar-specific or time-limited deals. Working on this could help Myntra ensure greater retention on their platform.
Closing off — There is no doubt that Myntra has revolutionized the online fashion industry in India. Revamp, reinvent and diversify. That has been their three-point mantra all along. Through big data analysis, deep user profiling, personalized storefronts and catalogue display pages, social and live commerce and a flagship loyalty program as discussed above, they’ve been able to create a highly-functional platform sharp-tailored to user needs. Additionally, an efficient supply chain, a hybrid logistics business model and an excellent team of creative designers have been highlights of Myntra’s strategy that has paid off extremely well in the long run. Of course, there are many other reasons as to why Myntra is doing so well but I hope I’ve done justice to highlight the key ones. Please feel free to let me know your thoughts and observations as well, It’ll be really exciting to see how the online fashion industry evolves and if Myntra will continue its reign in the years to come.
