Why Myntra is giving its users no choice but to download its app (and why Flipkart might be next)

Mukesh Bansal, CEO of Myntra, and Sachin Bansal, co-founder and CEO of Flipkart

This Friday, one of India’s leading fashion estores, Myntra, will become app-only. Buyers will no longer be able to shop on Myntra through their web or mobile browsers. If they try to access Myntra on a browser, they will be redirected to the app download page on Google Play or Apple’s App Store.

This move has been on the anvil for a while. Flipkart, which acquired Myntra a year ago, shut off its mobile website recently, and is expected to do the same with the desktop browser version in about a year’s time. So Myntra is paving the way to an app-only route for Flipkart too.

Flipkart and Myntra claim that it’s only through their apps that they can give a personalized and social experience to their shoppers.

“Fashion is a personal experience. We believe that only mobile can truly deliver this experience as it captures the user’s lifestyle and context in a manner that no other medium does. Think of all the hardware and software features that one can leverage, like the camera, contacts, location etc. to understand the user’s context and deliver the experience that is deeply personalized,” says Mukesh Bansal, CEO of Myntra and head of commerce for Flipkart, while announcing the move.

Reading between the lines, it becomes apparent that user behavior tracking, which can be far better targeted on an app than a browser, is a prime motivation behind the move to force users to download the app. Push notifications, location intelligence, and all the adtech bells and whistles come into play. Compared to those advantages, Flipkart and Myntra are calculating that the downsides will be minimal.

Intelligence at scale

For most startups, shutting off mobile or desktop websites is not a feasible option, because their apps are clamoring for attention on app stores and jostling for space on a user’s phone. But Flipkart and Myntra already have huge numbers of people who have gotten used to buying from them, so they have reason to think that the bulk of those who have been going to the websites will simply switch over to the app.

Myntra says more than 9 million users have downloaded the app so far. In the next three to four months, it is targeting another 5 million app downloads.

For Flipkart, the user numbers are even more humongous. It has 45 million registered users clocking over 10 million daily visits currently.

Flipkart realized early on that it is sitting on a gold mine of user data, which it can leverage to stay ahead of rivals in India’s ecommerce race. It set up a team of data engineers and began working on what it calls “Intelligence @ Scale” over a year ago. The shove towards using its app will facilitate this.

What Flipkart can’t be sure of is how consumers will react. Most people may not even be aware of the tracking permissions they give apps or the hidden data consumption in their phones due to apps. But already there’s a backlash against arm-twisting users to download the app.

Social media is abuzz with questions about the move.