Myntra on Thursday opened its first Roadster brand store in Bengaluru's upmarket Indiranagar locality. The store will allow customers who have never shopped for Roadster products online, as well as, existing customers get an experience of the brand offline.
"The purpose of this store is to create a Roadster brand experience," said Ananth Narayanan, CEO of Myntra. "Of course it will do sales, but more importantly it represents the brand and it gives us the chance to experiment with omnichannel technology which we will apply in many other areas."
Myntra picked Roadster for its offline debut since it's not only the largest in-house brand the company has, but also the largest selling clothing brand on its online platform. The brand currently contributes 8 per cent of the overall revenue of Myntra and is on track to hit a run rate of Rs 600 crore in the current financial year.
The company says it has used data and intelligence collected from its app to build the store, and is currently looking at is as a sole offline experiment for the next 8-12 months. In the long run it says it is envisioning ambitious projects such as delivering products which people order from a warehouse to a store within minutes using drones.
"For most offline stores the problem I think is driving traffic or footfalls, but for instance we know that there are 40,000 Roadster customers in this area. There are many things we know from the data we get on the app and we are deploying those learnings," added Narayanan.
Roadster has witnessed phenomenal growth at over 80 per cent y-o-y and is well on its way to achieving a run rate of Rs 1,000 crore by FY19.
"Its entry into the offline segment will further boost its prospects," Narayanan told reporters.
When asked whether Myntra wants to be best-known as offline or online player, he said, "We are a fashion and lifestyle player.. We want to use technology to democratise fashion and lifestyle.. We bring fashion and technology together."
Responding to a query on launching such stores in other cities and for other brands sold under Myntra, Narayanan said, "For now this is the store... When we are ready we will talk about it.. We will do it as we learn from this.."
The company officials said the store is loaded with technology at every step and promises a brand experience.
The store features several new elements to engage customers, this includes a video wall, controlled by shoppers through a futuristic, multi-action touch-interface to showcase the intricate details of Roadster products and provide an update on key international trends and communicate the brand story.
The store is also equipped with multiple touch screen displays which provide data on key looks and the Roadster catalogue, the company officials said adding that the unique 'Scan & Go' purchase mechanism allows shoppers to add their favourites to their shopping cart on the Myntra App, doing away with shopping bags, checkout counters or billing queues.
There will be 100 per cent price parity between online and offline, Myntra Head (Fashion Brands) Manohar Kamath said in response to a question.
He further said that curation of the offline segment is an important step for their private label business which is an integral part of the company's portfolio of offerings.