Myntra bets big on 'kirana' stores for last-mile delivery

Fashion e-commerce platform Myntra today said it will leverage 7,500 'kirana' stores across the country for last-mile delivery of packages during its 'End of Reason' sale to be held between June 22-25.

The 8th edition of the sale, to be held on both Myntra and Jabong platforms, will see participation from over 2,500 brands like Nike, Marks & Spencer and Mango along with Myntra's private brands such as Roadster and HRX, Myntra-Jabong CEO Ananth Narayanan told PTI.

"EORS 8 is expected to bring in over 11 million unique users for Myntra and we are geared to handle 63 million sessions. We expect to register a 40 per cent growth over the previous June edition," he added.

Talking about the sale, Narayanan said the company has created the necessary infrastructure to increase delivery speed by 15 per cent.

"As part of this, we have also doubled our kirana network of stores to 7,500 spanning across 50 cities, thereby targeting to complete 90 per cent deliveries within a week of the sale. About 3.5 lakh of the 5.5 lakh deliveries expected every day would be done by these kirana store partners," he explained.

Narayanan said these 'kirana' store partners (mom and pop retail stores) are chosen after a stringent screening process. After the selection, they are equipped with the tools to carry out the last mile delivery of the packages to customers.

Also, the Flipkart owned company expects over 60 per cent of its sale coming from locations beyond the top 10 cities.

In terms of innovation, the company has taken inspiration from the Pokemon game and designed an augmented reality game on the Myntra app.

Similar to the original game, users will be able to see brands instead of the mystical Pokemon creatures and "catching" these brands will help users redeem special offers, Narayanan said, adding that the company aims to engage 5 lakh users with the game ahead of the sale.

Rival Amazon will also host a sale for its fashion category from June 21-24, with over 500 brands participating in it.