Exactly a week back on 15th May, Myntra transitioned into app-only mode. The fashion etailer shut down their website, a move which raised many questions. Will it work or no? Will the news be received well by customers? Will their sales get hit? Well, not all customers are happy and the sales have taken a hit. Latest figures suggest that Myntra’s sales have dropped by 10%.
While they hope to bounce back soon, Myntra’s rivals will continue to serve via desktop as well as app. Although, Snapdeal receives 70% of their order from mobile phones, their spokesperson said, “Our data shows that there are still many customers who use PCs to shop online. We do not want to force our customers to use one specific medium to shop on Snapdeal.”
Amazon also shares the same sentiment, “We believe that as a consumer-obsessed company, we have to enable our customers to shop anytime, anywhere, and anyway they want.” Shivani Suri of eBay said, “At eBay, we believe in an inclusive strategy rather than an app-only strategy.”
And Jabong had already made it clear, “We strongly believe customers should have the choice to buy either on his smartphone or on the computer.”
That leaves Flipkart that also owns Myntra. The marketplace leader had stated earlier on to turn app-only in a year. Efforts to seamlessly move to mobile platform can already be seen as Flipkart reduced desktops ads, acquired mobile-centric startups and recently introduced product listing ads.
But after witnessing drop in Myntra’s sales as a result of going app-only, will Flipkart stick to their plans to shut their desktop site? If so, will they be able to retain their pack leader status? Or will they drop the idea?
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