Yesterday, at a press event in Bangalore, Myntra announced that on 15th of May, it will shut down its website, and switch to an application only option. At the event, Mukesh Bansal, CEO of Myntra and Head of Commerce at Flipkart, and Sachin Bansal, Co-Founder & CEO, Flipkart, spoke extensively about the importance of mobile for India, saying that 95% of traffic and 70% of their transactions are coming via mobile. Sachin Bansal's said, "When cars came for the first time, the questions were being asked that horses are so much better. I’m seeing similar arguments, because consumers are using mobile." However, it's one thing to go mobile, and quite another to shut off all web, including the mobile web. MediaNama's take: 1. It's about lowering the customer acquisition cost: Web based channels of promotion largely end up being about customer acquisition for each transaction. Unless users sign up and log in (not something users actually like doing), there's really no means of reaching out to them, and driving repeat usage. Email marketing (much of which is just spam) is about driving impulse purchases, and again, involves a cost. What will change with an app only approach? Much of the communication will involve driving app installs, which can potentially lead to many transactions, and hence potentially reduce the cost per transaction. With the user always signed in, it can allow Myntra to personalize promotions because they will have access to a users location, and more importantly, their phone book: what your friends like or…
