Myntra to start offline stores too, hopes to be profitable next financial year

Bengaluru: Flipkart-owned online fashion retailer Myntra today said it is on track to touch the $1 billion Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) mark this fiscal. Myntra also said it has become the first-ever Indian fashion e-commerce platform to clock the $1 billion run rate in annualised average GMV (post discounts) in July. “We have now surpassed our January benchmark ($800 million) to make July 2016 the biggest month ever for Myntra. The annualised GMV run rate of $1 billion puts us on the path to touching the $1 billion GMV mark in a fiscal,” Myntra CEO Ananth Narayanan told reporters. [caption id=“attachment_687486” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Screengrab[/caption] He said in the past month, the company had taken some market transforming steps, and “our focus is to continue to transform fashion and lifestyle in India through technology. The reason why we are excited is because we are doing this while actually maintaining what we call unit economics, he added. Asked about being profitable, he said “…next financial year, early next financial year is when we hope to get profitable.” Myntra said it has continued to strengthen key strategies which helped the company clock a growth of 70 percent y-o-y in the first four months of the fiscal. About future plans, Narayanan said, the objectives are clear and the mission is to democratise fashion and make India a colorful stylish place where fashion and life style is accessible to every one. “We will do it by combining technology, retail, fashion and lifestyle and supply chain, bringing them all together,” he said. Stating that a lot can be done to shape the fashion ecosystem that includes partnership with brand partners, Narayanan said, “We want to be a lifestyle destination and not just a fashion destination.” Myntra said in order to bring the offline experience closer to its consumers, it will open the physical experience store in the next three months with Roadster, HRX and All About You. The company said the Omni channel strategy is expected to improve confidence in online shopping and accelerate number of customers converting from offline to online shopping. Myntra also said it is targeting strong growth in new segments such as home furnishing, re-launching its personal care business and expanding its sales of fine jewellery. Home furnishing is about 1 per cent of the revenue and is growing at 50-60 per cent on a monthly basis, it added.