Why I am not ‘Appy about Myntra going the App Way

Online fashion retailer Myntra (a Flipkart acquired company) has shut down its desktop and browser version from 15^th of May 2015, and is now available only as an App. Probably the first online retailer to say no to omni-channel retail strategy. As their website now says – “Myntra is now App Only”.

As an implied justification of this decision, Mukesh Bansal, CEO, Myntra, and Head of Commerce, Flipkart says “Presently, we see 90 per cent traffic coming from the mobile app. Over 70 per cent of sales are via mobile devices.” Other reasons include – fast expected growth of smartphones in India, shift of consumers to smartphone over web for commerce and information consumption.

However, the “Appy” decision still means that Myntra is willing to risk losing a good 30% of its sales which was coming over the browser. Why would any retailer risk a potential drop in sales in the near term by shutting down one of the avenues of sale?  What does Myntra really expect to gain?

The answer probably lies in Myntra’s statement: “With mobile-based commerce emerging, we want to create a differentiated / personalised shopping experience for our consumers”

A retailer’s mobile app is like the best spying device available, and it takes your explicit consent for being spied upon.

I downloaded the app on my Android device from the Google Playstore. As you can see in the image below, the Myntra app wants to (automatically) access the following information about you available on your mobile: Your identity, Contacts, Location, Photos/Media/Files, Wifi connection information, Device ID and Call information.

After installing the app, you can browse the products on sale, admire what for now appears to be great deals, but you can buy only after you login to the app.

So here is the implication - Myntra, through its app, wants to sell products only to those customer’s whom it can know intimately, much more than on first name basis. With access to almost everything that your mobile phone is privy of, like where do you go, who are your friends, what have you bought in the past, it is ready to offer a “personalised” service.

It is willing to risk losing those 30% of sales coming through the browser which had inferior or limited personalised information. A browsers on a desktop would not allow location information, or even the identity of the person making the purchase as login was optional.

While Eco-101 taught us that markets were good for they allowed multitudes of nameless buyers and sellers to interact, and then transact at a discovered market clearing price generating economic surplus for both buyers and sellers, the App only model is preparing to create a million markets of 1 person each.  You will get an offer – a great deal on the surface, but the offer is only for you. Will it be good for you? I doubt it, unless you are one of the early investors in Myntra. Let me remind you of Adam Smith’s timeless statement – “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest”

I strongly recommend Jaron Lanier’s excellent book – “Who owns the future” for a different and more alarming perspective on the digital revolution.