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Myntra is the leading e-commerce fashion and beauty platform in India. Founded by Mukesh Bansal, Vineet Saxena, and Ashutosh Lawania in 2007, the platform started to be a space to sell customised gift items. Now, it has redefined the online shopping experience by catering to millions of customers and offering products from 5000+ local and global brands across categories like footwear, clothing, accessories, and beauty through convenience and innovative experience. By the end of 2023, Myntra had monthly active users of around 60 million, marking a 33% hike from the previous times. In March 2024, it reported around 33 million local website visits. It also features a number of private brands such as Roadster, HRX, House of Pataudi, and All About You. The e-tailer provided a virtual mall feature that allows brands to have a prominent display for an additional fee. Brands such as Adidas, Puma, Decathlon and Calvin Klein Watches have signed up for this feature.
Let’s take a look at the key strategies that made Myntra the most popular and top online fashion platform in India.
Swift Adoption to E-Commerce Trends
Myntra was able to consistently keep itself on track and stay ahead in the e-commerce fashion industry by using seamless technology. It leverages Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to offer tailored recommendations and immersive experiences. For instance, it has Style Finder and Myntra Studio which analyse the preferences of customers and offer curated outfits. With this, the company had a conversion increase of 20%.
The platform is one of the first e-commerce platforms in India to adopt live shopping events which increased its conversion rates by 10 times within a period of 6 months from its launch (in June 2022). Myntra enabled in-store pickups and returns for online buys by collaborating with retail brands and created the Myntra Insider Program that rewards users with points that can be redeemed for exclusive offers and early sale access. It has a Go Green initiative that includes partnerships with labels to provide eco-friendly clothing and packaging.
Flipkart Partnership
In 2014, Myntra was acquired by Flipkart for a value of $230 million. It continues to be a standalone platform under Flipkart’s ownership, focusing mainly on fashion and beauty items. With this collaboration, Myntra scaled its operations and strengthened its position. Flipkart offered Myntra with technological expertise, extensive resources, and logistical infrastructure. It leveraged Flipkart’s advanced supply chain to provide fast delivery, even in Tier 2 and 3 cities. Flipkart backed Myntra with all the financial support which led Myntra to go full-on during high-demand events such as End of Reason Sale.
With Flipkart handling all the operational challenges, Myntra was able to focus on its strengths - customer engagement and unique fashion innovations. This partnership made both parties benefit from each other. Flipkart was able to cater to value-powered consumers and Myntra focused more on high-end and fashion-forward customers. With Flipkart’s reputation and global scale, Myntra got the attention of global brands such as Levi's, Nike, Puma, H&M, Mango, and Marks & Spencer to present themselves to the Indian market.
Signature Marketing and Sales Campaign
Myntra is good at attracting customers with its iconic sales campaigns. One of the most welcomed strategies is the End of Reason Sale (EORS), a biannual sale event that became synonymous word with the company. It features massive discounts across all categories, countdown marketing, and early access to loyal customers. In 2023, EORS recorded 5,5 million orders in 6 days with more than 50% of customers coming from Tier 2 and 3 cities.
Another strategy is the Big Fashion Festival, launched to get in touch with the shopping spree during the festive season in India with massive discounts and exclusive collections. It partnered with over 5000+ brands to drop special-edition festive collections and offer customised collections through AI. With this, it saw a 3x increase in festive category sales with Tier 2 and 3 cities contributing for around 40% of the sale.
Myntra also did several influencer and celebrity campaigns with one popular campaign being ‘#BeUnskippable’ featuring Bollywood actors Ranveer Singh and Disha Patani. It targets regional markets with localised marketing strategy and language-based content. For instance, the platform did ad campaigns for regional festivals like Pongal, Onam, and Durga Pooja. Myntra also integrated gamification into its app to give a fun touch to the shopping experience.
User-friendly Mobile Experience
Myntra capitalised on the use of mobile by making its app more accessible. More than 85% of Myntra's traffic comes from mobile devices. The app has an intuitive interface with a clean and visually appealing design as well as easy-to-navigate menus. It also gives early access to sales such as EORS and other app-exclusive discounts for the app users. A lightweight version of the app is introduced for users from Tier 2 and 3 cities with limited storage and slower internet connections.
The app has features including voice commands to facilitate the users by making the search quick and convenient. The customers can upload images to find similar products. There are advanced filter options that allow users to refine searches by brand, size, colour, price, and discounts. Myntra introduced Myntra Move which integrates healthy tracking into the mobile app to reward the users with discounts and coupons based on the number of steps walked. The app is facilitated with multiple regional languages to cater to the diverse population of the country.
In 2024, Myntra reported more than 150 million downloads with 5 million active users on a daily basis. App users have a 3x higher conversion rate than the users from the website. The users spent an average of 12-15 minutes per session.
Strong Social Media Presence
Myntra has developed a robust social media presence using multiple platforms to connect to their different kinds of users by following platform-specific strategies. Myntra focuses on visually appealing posts, reels, and stories that showcase influencer collaboration, trending fashion, and products on Instagram. On Facebook, the platform shared longer content like BTS videos, live-streamed events, and campaign stories. It uses Twitter to serve customers by giving updates on trends, partnerships, and offers. YouTube is used to share in-depth fashion tutorials, celebrity promotions, and series videos.
It incorporates user-generated content, interactive feeds, and influencer collaborations as the main marketing strategies with a main focus on current trends. Through user-generated content, Myntra encourages users to share their own take on fashion. One of the campaigns #MyntraStyleStar showcases IRL usage of products from Myntra. Interactive feeds include conducting polls, quizzes, and contests to engage users. Influencer collaborations include major celebrities such as Kartik Aryan and Kiara Advani as well as local influencers.
Cover Image: Myntra Head Office, courtesy Myntra Linkedin Page.