Myntra seems to have expedited the plan of opening offline stores across the country. The online fashion platform is in talks with several mall operators in different cities to open multi-brand brick-and-mortar outlets, including large department stores.
The development is the part of its plan to open 100 offline stores in the next two years. The platform opened its first offline store in Bengaluru in March last year.
Through offline stores, the company plans to sell women’s fashion, sports and lifestyle products, accessories and cosmetics under the Myntra brand. The move also aims to build a competing brand against Shoppers Stop and Lifestyle, among others.
Earlier, it was reported the company is planning to sell retail beauty and cosmetic products via offline stores. The report added that its first offline cosmetic outlet will come in Bengaluru and likely to follow the model of personal care and beauty stores retail chain Sephora.
With Myntra Beauty offline stores, the company will compete with Body Shop, Colorbar, Lotus, Lakme and Nykaa.
Myntra is the leading retailer in the online fashion segment far ahead of its owner Flipkart and Amazon. In July this year, it reported an annual run rate of nearly $2 billion in terms of gross merchandise value (GMV). The GMV number broke all the records in fashion sale previously claimed by any of the e-commerce players in India.
It appears that the online company plans to increase the GMV size multiple times with its aggressive approach in offline fashion retail.
Meanwhile, in the past one year, various other platforms have steered towards a multi-channel approach.
The online shopping platform Paytm Mall has launched a brick-and-mortar store co-branded with Red Tape shoes in Delhi.
The online furniture retailers Pepperfry and Urbanladder are also venturing into the offline world.
The world’s largest e-commerce firm, Amazon India is making its presence felt in India’s $60 billion organized retail market. Through strategic investment and tie-ups, Amazon has started making gradual inroads into offline retail parlance in India. In September, it picked up a 5 per cent stake in Shoppers Stop for Rs 179.26 crore.
The development was first reported by Economic Times.
