Myntra bets on smaller cities for its biggest sale, eyes 32 mn customers

Walmart-owned online fashion retailer Myntra is expecting around 50 per cent of its End of Reason Sale (EORS) to be generated from tier-II and -III cities. Through its 10th and biggest edition of the mega sale event beginning Friday, the company is eyeing to tap 32 million potential customers.

During the sale, the fashion retailer will display on its platform over 800,000 styles from around 3,000 domestic and international brands such as Nike, Swarovski, Tommy Hilfiger, and Marks & Spencer. It will also have Myntra's private brands such as Roadster, HRX, 'All About You', and 'House of Pataudi'. "Myntra is known to be very strong in metros and tier-I cities. But we have started to notice a lot of traction in tier-II and tier-III places and our access to brands has enabled us to focus on these regions," said Amar Nagaram, head of Myntra Jabong.

"Sale like this would make brands accessible to a larger section of the population... That is actually becoming a flywheel for us," he said.

Under the 'Myntra Extended Network Through Store Activation' (MENSA) programme, the company has expanded its kirana store network to over 12,500 stores to manage 70 per cent of the deliveries for sale. "We have learnt a lot from these stores and are working on a plan to take them into deeper regions," said Nagaram.

This edition of EORS will be the biggest ever sale with over 2.2 million unique customers. Myntra expects more than 550,000 new customers to shop on its platform for the first time and order over 8 million products during the sale. Thus, it is gearing up to handle a whopping 12,000 orders per minute at peak.

The company has set up five experience centres in Bengaluru, Delhi, and Hyderabad to offer a host of value-added services such as flexible pick-up and drop, instant returns, trial room, and alterations of products. This special service will be available round the year.

Nagaram, who took over as head of Myntra and Jabong in January replacing Ananth Narayanan, is taking its brands to international markets such as Canada and the US. "We are approaching it in a strategic way. Walmart has enabled this opportunity for us," said Nagaram.

Ever since assuming this role, Nagaram said he was investing a lot into the talent, culture and technology.