Benefitted from Flipkart's wide reach and marketing exercises, says Lawania of Myntra

Business Today's Taslima Khan spoke to Myntra co-founder Ashutosh Lawania on all that Myntra has learnt from Flipkart over the last one year of consolidation. Lawania, a graduate of IIT Kanpur hails from Agra, Uttar Pradesh, heads Operations and Customer experience at Myntra.

Q- One of the ways this acquisition was supposed to work was to ensure that there would be lot of synergies between Flipkart and Myntra, in terms of Myntra dwelling upon the resources of Flipkart like logistics, warehousing and advertising expenditure. How has this worked over the last year?

A- After the acquisition, we thought we won't be going in for integrating things so fast. We thought we will be going in probably assessing each other and everything where we can drive synergy using technologies and processes and integrate only if we see benefits. But over the last one year, we have exchanged a lot of ideas, knowledge and thoughts among different teams. We share best practices among ourselves.

Q- Tell me the two best practices that you have learnt from Flipkart.

A- From an operations side, now we are using Ekart logistics and sharing some of the load we had with them. Earlier we were using third-party logistics, and we have realised that the customer experience Ekart provides is much better than what third-party logistics services provide. That has also helped us bring down the cost of our logistics. Myntra Logistics was fulfilling about 50 to 55 per cent of the orders on Myntra, mostly in areas where order density was higher. The rest were being fulfilled by third-party logistics where costs are obviously much higher for us. If we were to expand in areas where our volumes are lower, it would have not made economic sense for us, so we are leveraging Ekart. Flipkart has a much higher volume in all product categories and much wider reach. So we have been able to provide better experience at lower costs.

For instance we didn't have volumes in several parts of Mumbai, which is a huge city. Ekart is helping us there. (Myntra Logistics is spread across in over 75 cities and Ekart offers an additional coverage of 170 + cities)

Also, some of the marketing exercises that Flipkart has been doing, such as the 'Big Billion Day', which helped push up traffic on its site, have helped Myntra learn. We did something similar in early January this year, called the 'End of Reason' Sale. Whereas Myntra ships around a lakh orders daily, our volumes went up by 15 times on that particular day. Our volumes shot up that day and we were able to deliver to customers as well. Since Myntra fashion and Flipkart fashion are combined, it is now one team now talking to the brands. So the combined team is able to negotiate better in terms of campaigns and promotions or discounts.

Q- What are your exclusive brand partnerships like?

A- We currently offer over seven exclusive premium brands that are available only through Myntra along with other designer brands (Colehaan, Replay, Sela, Soludos, Scotch & Soda, Desigual etc). We are able to command exclusivity wherever we have the volumes, usually not on the entire brand but definitely on certain products. In total we have close to 1,500 third-party brands and ten private brands.

Q- The perception is that Myntra took the lead in launching private brands...

A- Yes, we are the pioneers in this direction. We have private brands in every category. We have created brands that are coming from celebrities as well such as HRX and WRONGN. Their personality and inspiration has been kept in mind for creating these brands. Roadster, Dressberry and HRX are our biggest brands yet and we are seeing good traction for WROGN which is endorsed by Virat Kohli and was launched this February. About 20 per cent of our business is coming from private brands now.

Q- What is Mynta's character in terms of strengths?

A- We believe we are much more trendier as compared to anybody else. That is the kind of brand imagery we have built. We pioneered some of the international brands and we also got in some of the designer brands. We have pretty much partnered with all the leading brands. We have leveraged content very effectively. Our philosophy is that in the future, content (what are the current trends/what to wear on particular occasions) will be playing a very big role in what people buy. We have also taken steps to bring Bollywood celebrities closer to the consumer by getting their styles to the consumer. We have been able to get 20 per cent of our business through private labels in 24 months after we launched.

Q- Is Myntra more strong on the men's fashion side?

A- I think we are equally strong on both sides. I think women's fashion on Myntra has been growing really fast. In the last one year, contribution from women's business has really scaled up.

Q. What is the total contribution in business from women's wear?

A. I think women's fashion makes for close to 40 per cent of the business, while 60 per cent comes from men's fashion.

Q- When did you get your first international brand on board?

A- By the second quarter in 2013, we started getting international brands. So it has been close to two years since Myntra started selling international brands. Scotch and Soda, Desigual, Antony Moratto, Replay, and a few more are exclusive to us. Mango is one that is non-exclusive to us.

Q- Which are the features which Myntra has taken a lead in?

A- Myntra was the first to launch exchange policy one and a half years back. We have launched brand sizing tools where you can check your size-fit across different brands. We have also launched the Myntra Fashion Incubator wherein anybody can come and showcase their collection. If we like it, the brand can come and sell on Myntra. That is a year-long training programme wherein we have started the first batch. We shortlisted 30 from those applied and eight of them are now on board, undergoing training. These are small-time designers who don't have the financial support. The first batch started in December and after six months of training, they will be ready to sell on Myntra. Myntra took part in Wills Fashion Week and last year we also launched the Myntra Fashion Weekend to showcase new collections and private brands.

Q- What is the entire business of roping in celebrities?

A- We are in the fashion business and Bollywood is connected with fashion, so that works as a big lever for us. We currently have Ranveer Singh for Roadster, Hrithik Roshan for HRX and WROGN with Virat Kohli. We have been working with Masaba Gupta who has been helping us with our private brand Anouk. Some celebrities, like Mandira Bedi, retails her own brand of sarees with us.

Q- It seems to be a talent war in ecommerce. Which are the key areas you have identified where you need senior talent?

A- We have the senior leadership well in place at Myntra. We are hiring to strengthen our team on the technology and product side. We are also looking for senior leaders in marketing and private labels business.

Q- What differentiates you on the HR front?

A- The kind of culture we have build in Myntra is really different. It is a very flat structure and believes in meritrocracy. We make sure people have fund and for that HR continues to do lot of programmes. Myntra does a cricket tournament called Myntra Premier League. We have got a hiking club, a running club. Myntra has one of the best offices in terms of look and feel. We have painted fashion on the walls. Fashion almost oozes out of our buildings. We have facilities like gym and rooms for relaxation, thinking rooms.

Q- What prompted the decision to go mobile only and shutting down the desktop site?

A- We believe in India the future is mobile so we are focused on developing our technology interface and solve all problems on mobile. We have been seen really exponential growth on mobile. More than 90 per cent of the traffic and more than 70 per cent of the business is coming from mobile. We are investing heavily in mobile. We have only shut down the mobile website, not the desktop website.