About 45% of demand for global brands come from non-metros: Myntra's CPTO

AI and personalised shopping drive Myntra's expansion into new regions

Online fashion retailer Myntra is witnessing huge demand for beauty, personal care, and fashion products from Tier 2 and 3 cities and towns and is building various innovations to tap those regions, said Raghu Krishnananda, chief product and technology officer (CPTO), Myntra, in an interview. In 2023, a record number of 75 million new users joined the platform, of which the majority came from non-metros cities. Edited excerpts:

How did the last year turn out for Myntra and how is 2024 shaping up for the firm?

2023 was a milestone year in many ways. We continue to garner customer love and appreciation from our existing users. We recorded 75 million new users joining the platform, contributing to steadily growing our market share. With Gen-Z shaping the future of fashion and beauty, we strengthened our connection with this audience through FWD, our in-app fashion destination for them. We strengthened our repertoire of global brands with 50 additional international brands and labels joining the platform. This made Myntra an integral part of their India strategy. We also launched Myntra Rising Stars to propel the D2C (direct-to-consumer) fashion ecosystem in the country. The threefold growth of Myntra Beauty compared to the overall market reflects Myntra's growing presence in the space. We leveraged the power of AI (artificial intelligence) to drive enhanced discoverability and access.

What kind of innovations are you building?

At Myntra, our focus is on solving for discoverability, and personalisation as well as building engaging experiences. This makes fashion and beauty shopping not just transactional but an enjoyable experience for the customers. Our users benefit from the enhanced discoverability features integrated seamlessly throughout their app interaction. This includes an intuitive UX and UI interface that facilitates easy navigation. Acknowledging that each customer's needs are unique and the concept of ‘fashionable’ varies for different people, our features are designed to offer a highly personalised experience. Our advanced data-science-led size and fit recommendation engine and pioneering attempt to standardise sizes across brands and body types continue to play a significant role in enabling customers to choose the right size. Features like the AI Skin Analyser, examine the users’ live image and identify features such as pigmentation, lines, and dark circles. It recommends skincare products for the specific skin condition. There is a lot of focus towards building engaging experiences on the app for our users. One such initiative has been Myntra Minis, inspired by popular one-minute snackable videos on social media. Our My Stylist feature enables users to upload images of outfits they like. They receive tailored recommendations on how to style or complete their outfits. About 1 million of our customer base are currently engaging on average with My Stylist every month. Our Virtual Try-On feature harnesses the power of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality for a beauty shopping experience.

How are you implementing technology at scale?

Technology is entrenched in our system, from end-to-end. This ensures customers' fashion shopping journey is powered by tech at every stage. It enables our consumers to get easy access to 2.3 million styles from over 6000 domestic, D2C, homegrown, and global brands. The simplified product discovery through features like MyFashionGPT, My Stylist, Myntra Minis, Vernacular Search, and Image Search gives a very smooth and user-friendly shopping experience. Even during high-traffic periods, including marquee events like EORS and BFF, our tech enables our systems to scale to handle more than 750,000 concurrent users and process 20,000 orders per minute at peak. This gives a seamless user experience to millions of customers. We are leveraging our AI and ML (machine learning) capabilities to recommend products based on the purchase history of the customer. MyFashionGPT (product discovery feature leveraging ChatGPT) redefines how our users discover outfits. It allows them to seek suggestions based on various factors such as occasions, moods, and even celebrity styles. This technology, powered by ChatGPT and advanced AI, interprets user queries and showcases a selection of products, providing a more personalised shopping experience. About 2 million people on average use MyFashionGPT every month. We have seen that users who shop using MyFashionGPT are three times more likely to end up purchasing. This is because it helps users discover a complete look from multiple categories of products. Also, our AI-driven chatbot Maya streamlines the shopping experience. It reduces decision fatigue by offering tailored product recommendations across our extensive array of 2.3 million styles available on Myntra. M-Express, our Express delivery service has been performing extremely well. In 2023, over 4 crore one-day deliveries were fulfilled and the fastest delivery was made in 35 minutes from placing the order.

What are the opportunities for international brands and what are the partnerships that Myntra is forming with them?

India is an attractive market for apparel brands. The young audience-based population has significantly higher access to global trends than any of their previous generations. The purchasing power of the average Indian is also growing. The demand for international brands in India is coming from across various geographies. These include premium brands which are experiencing robust growth. With consumers becoming more and more brand-conscious, global brands have a natural advantage. Myntra is the platform of choice for their India foray online. Myntra has over 400 international brands and labels from countries across the globe. About 45 per cent of demand for international brands is coming from non-metros. The category has witnessed a CAGR of over 50 per cent over 3 years and is on an accelerated growth path. Myntra Cross Border program, better known as Beyond Borders, has enabled shoppers to access tens of thousands of styles across global brands.

What kind of demand is Myntra witnessing in Tier 2 and 3 cities and beyond?

There’s been more demand for brands and trends from customers from non-metros. In 2023, a record number of 75 million new users joined the platform, of which the majority came from non-metros cities. Given the prominence of the Tier 2 and beyond markets, solving the unique needs of customers from these geographies becomes important. Key initiatives to serve this growing demographic include the introduction of features like Vernacular Search. This feature empowers consumers to explore and purchase products seamlessly in 10 native languages. Over 4-5 per cent of the queries on our platform are currently through vernacular search. About 40 per cent of users come from non-metros. We have been witnessing significant improvement both in query abandonment rates, and user conversion.

What are some of the top technology trends that you are expecting to shape the fashion and beauty industry?

AI has made its way into people’s wardrobes. The technology delivers a multitude of opportunities for elevating customer experiences and streamlining operational efficiency within the fashion industry. It has multiple use cases. It can be leveraged for query understanding and customer intent analysis. It can be used to offer customised styling advice across fashion and beauty. By employing AI algorithms, designs can be crafted that align more closely with the preferences of their target market. The immersive shopping experiences driven by AR and VR technologies will continue to become increasingly popular. They allow shoppers to try on clothes virtually before they buy them. The fashion world will also see the rise of Blockchain technology enabling the industry across use cases like trust and sustainability. Generative AI (GenAI) will also remain a cornerstone in shaping the future of our customers' shopping experiences. Predictive analytics powered by GenAI can optimise inventory management. GenAI-powered chatbots can also be enhanced to go beyond the capacity of traditional bots. This includes handling complex customer enquiries, providing product information, and improving customer service.