The democratization would not have been possible without a clearly laid-out strategy and, equally importantly, the role of a new commerce tool.  

Nandita Sinha, who took over the position of CEO of Myntra in January in 2022, while sharing the core business strategies of the brand, said, “First is accessing in itself: how do we create access. India is a country that still has some distance to go in terms of penetration and availability of brands versus the size of the market that is available.” The brand has been doing this by providing a wide option of global brands, Indian D2C brands, and brands that have been part of the ecosystem for so many years to Indian consumers. 

“The second important aspect is technology, which is at the heart of everything we do. If I were to summarize Myntra in two phrases: ‘Passion for Fashion’ and ‘Passion for Technology’. Therefore everything that we do across the value chain right from the first experience of the customer to the post-purchase experience and how brands and partners are enabled is done through technology,” she further added. Technology is indeed the backbone for the success of any brand.  
 
“Third, is the partner ecosystem. As we have gone ahead in our journey, one of the big things we have realized is we need to enable the partner ecosystem around us. How we build a partner ecosystem using technology is the third pillar we are working upon. Fourth is sustainability and a lot of initiatives have been in this direction like using 100 percent paper packaging for all of our deliveries. Apart from this, going ahead, we will continue to invest in building the team as well as the leadership,” she asserted.   
 
Betting Big On Technology

There is no denying that technology is one of the most critical factors determining the success of any brand. For example, according to a McKinsey report, “It is imperative to invest ahead and build the required resources, including people and technology, to a greater extent than usual; strategic choices should lean towards e-commerce. A successful e-commerce business requires the right resources and technology in place to operate at scale.”
 
While sharing how Myntra is investing in technology, Sinha stated, “Right technology is at the heart of whatever we do and this differentiates us from all of our competitors even in the mind of the customer. If you look at the upwardly mobile Indian customer, for them Myntra is a platform of choice and a lot of is driven by differentiation we are able to create through technology.”
 
The company adopted this ‘technology differentiation’ not only in any particular segment but across the value chain. So whether it is about discovering where the brand is able to provide hyper-personalized immersive experiences for discovery or about personalization across the journey, the brand is betting big on technology at all levels. 

Live Commerce and Social commerce: The Emerging Avenues

If we look at consumer behavior, various reports suggest that in the online ecosystem, Live Commerce and Social have been becoming popular choices among consumers. 

The pandemic has further given a push to this trend as the average number of hours spent on screen by consumers has invariably increased, particularly among millennials and Gen-Zs. 

Thus, brands are leaving no stone unturned to cash upon this opportunity. They are banking upon this opportunity. They are banking upon influencer marketing heavily to reach these millennials. 

“If you look at live commerce and social commerce, these are really the opportunities of the future in the sense that if you look at the GenZ today and if you look at the audience today, they are really looking at social commerce and live commerce, as a very natural way of discovering as well as interaction with influencers who are very relatable who are like them who are talking their language/lingo,” stated Sinha. 
 
“And this is where Myntra took the first step of being a commerce platform which really takes the leap of enabling the content-to-commerce journey. So if you look at social commerce today, we have been able to create a platform where the customers are not only exposed to brands' stories but also understand influencer-led discovery where they are able to see styles, trends, and all of these coming together with a very robust ecosystem of the influencers,” she further added. 
 
Opportunities Galore In The Beauty Space

One of the rapidly growing sectors, the beauty industry is set to grow from a mere $11 billion in 2017 and is expected to close $30 billion by 2025. Hence, for brands in the category, there is a lot of potential going forward provided the right strategies are put in place at the right time. 

“We have grown around 2.5 times in the beauty business in 2021 and a lot of that growth has actually not just come from the metro and Tier-I cities but also from Tier-II and Tier-III cities,” she concluded.