Etailers depending on website & app to bring in the buyers

Online sellers are quickly realising that conducting their business through only mobile apps is not working well. Foresighted etailers are switching to a desktop and app model to hook new customers.

Nilotpal Chakravarthi, AVP of Internet and Mobile Association of India says, “Brands are realising that only ‘one’ channel approach may not work, as the usage pattern of Indian consumers is varied.”

He also says that most companies are recognising that a holistic multi-channel approach is what will sustain them in the long run.

Returning to the desktop fold

Women’s fashion portal Voonik, which had moved to an app-only model, recently reinstated its website.

Sujayath Ali, CEO and co-founder, Voonik says, “We went app only in mid of 2014 and that received a phenomenal response due to increasing smartphone penetration. We saw around 3-4 lakh monthly downloads, and a total of 4 million downloads. This is given the fact that we cater only to women’s fashion.”

Ali says that the purpose behind reverting to a multi-channel model was to capture new customers who come through the desktop site.

“By continuing with the app only model we would have restricted our monthly growth rate. So, to capture 30 million desktop women users, a low hanging fruit for us, we re-launched our website,” he adds.

Voonik’s revenue shot up from 80 lakh per month to Rs. 25 crores shortly after going app-only. 90% of this came from mobile, and 10% from desktop. Ali maintains that the future is going to be all about mobile.

The Flipkart Myntra saga

Flipkart owned Myntra famously closed down its site to move to an app only model. Flipkart was slated to follow by the end of 2015, but as of now its website is still functioning. However, the company has re-launched its mobile website. Snapdeal has also done the same.

Mobile versus desktop

Experts are of the opinion that mobile is soon going to push desktop out of the equation. Aneesh Passi, co-founder of Basil Advisors says that companies need to strike a balance between the two media to ensure they don’t lose customers who visit from the desktop.

Chakravarthi sums it up succinctly, “Nobody is saying apps aren’t important, but it has become crucial for start-ups to have functional and well-designed mobile websites or web apps.”