How Myntra is scoring with celebrity brands

The e-tailer bets on its portfolio of celebrity branded apparel and customer fascination with Bollywood to position itself as a premium brand

In September, Colors Infinity aired the first episode of its fashion talk show Vogue BFF which featured Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone and well-known fashion stylist and her best friend Anaita Shroff Adajania. As the two style icons spent their time on air gushing over their style secrets, online fashion retailer Myntra scored a silent goal. In addition to being the style partner for the show, Myntra also is the sole retailer for Padukone’s own fashion private label ‘All About You’.
 
Talking fashion in India is impossible without bringing Bollywood into the conversation say fashion experts; a formula that has been tested by several big apparel, jewellery, watches and personal accessories brands. And Myntra, by associating with actors as endorsers and offering its platform for growing their brands, is looking at different ways to benefit from the strong hold that Bollywood has over fashion buyers in the country.

 
“Bollywood’s association with fashion is undeniable and we are open to exploring ways in which we can leverage celebrities and the industry to present and promote our proposition,” said Ananth Narayan, chief executive officer of Myntra and Jabong.
 

Though it is too early to comment on the popularity of the Vogue BFF show, this association puts Myntra in an interesting position. Not only does it get to highlight its association with Bollywood styles through different actors on the show, without actually signing them on as brand ambassadors, it also gets to position itself as a style expert. With this the brand hopes it will differentiate itself from the rest and not be seen as just another fashion marketplace.

 
According to industry experts, Myntra has to work hard to step out of the shadow of its parent company Flipkart, which is a mass-market, discount-driven brand. It needs to be seen as a premium brand to appeal to the fashion buyer and celebrity-backed private labels have helped do that. By associating with shows that deal with Bollywood and celebrity lives and attracting luminaries on to its platform, it is hoping to do that. Experts point out that Myntra is trying to carve out a niche and celebrity labels will help the company’s ‘premiumisation’ journey.
 
Currently, of the 15 in-house brands in Myntra’s portfolio, three are celebrity-backed, namely, All About You by Padukone, Hrithik Roshan’s HRX and cricketer Virat Kohli’s WROGN. The celebrities that have hooked their brands on to Myntra are using the platform’s reach and features to build their labels. The company says that the top 20 Myntra brands have about two million followers on the app.

 
Myntra has tried to occupy the ‘being different from run-of-the-mill fashion’ space in the past too. The company’s ‘Bold Is Beautiful’ campaign, in association with an in-house fashion brand Anouk, was quite popular on social media. The campaign appealed to millennial urban buyers by taking up with themes like homosexuality, single-parenting and staying single. “Bold is Beautiful was a challenge to the status quo. Such campaigns provide Myntra the cutting edge over the others in the space,” says brand consultant Harish Bijoor.
 
Such campaigns are however unlikely to find much appeal outside the cities, Bollywood and cricket are likely to prove more effective buy-ins. Myntra says that it sees more demand for celebrity labels coming in from tier II and III towns, compared to the metros. “This is an indicator of how aspirations across India are growing, customers are inspired by and want to imbibe the style of their icons, they are quick to spot trends and willing to experiment,” says Narayanan. “Growth of smartphones and internet penetration has opened up endless possibilities for customers in areas beyond the metros and our platform is the bridge between their aspirations and access for them,” he said.

 
Currently, private labels contribute to about 23 per cent of the overall Myntra revenue and the goal is to hit 30 per cent over a period of 18 months. Narayanan says more labels will be introduced after analysing the white spaces in the market.
 
The company, however, is ahead of its immediate rival Amazon Fashion in terms of the number of in-house brands. Amazon India has Symbol for men and will soon launch its second private label Myx, an ethnic line for women.
 
Having Jabong in its kitty gives Myntra an added edge. Introducing Myntra’s private labels on Jabong was a strategic move to integrate the two brands and that has helped immensely, the company says. The customer overlap is just 30 per cent between the two brands and the acquisition will add significantly to the overall consumer base. Add to this the fact that Jabong is more popular among customers in northern India and Myntra in the South and that gives the brand a much larger footprint, the company says.

 
The two entities have a combined monthly active user base of 18 million (13 million on Myntra and five million on Jabong).
 
Myntra plans to showcase more brands on Jabong in the coming months and is experimenting with an omni-channel approach. It is set to open its first ‘touch and feel’ store in Bengaluru soon.