Myntra, a specialist online fashion retailer, shut its mobile-only websites in May this year to "consolidate its technology".
Flipkart, Myntra's parent and full sector online retailer, has followed this with a bold plan to completely replace all mobile and desktop sites with smart phone apps for both brands. Its rationale for such a ground breaking move is to simplify the various technologies in play and become the best app retailer in online retail. India is growing much faster on mobile than the other online technologies with the overall online retail sector predicted to reach a value of $50bn with 500m transactions a year by 2020.
Flipkart claims the two brands have over 30 million app downloads and finding the best way to strengthen their leadership in mobile is to become the sole focus. The fight is clearly with Amazon: This is a strategic move and one that will claim headlines during its current fundraising activities.
Comments from many suggest they have moved too early, but having a focus differentiates the company from Amazon and that is clearly a factor. It will be interesting to see how Amazon responds. Mobile dominates many geographic areas in which legacy fixed line infrastructure never existed and in these areas, online desktop may be a hindrance rather than a foundation.
