Why Myntra is all gung-ho about content to commerce

Being the new-age brand that Myntra is, its association with creators is not just limited to creating content around fashion and beauty trends but goes much deeper. The same is reflected in its strong Creator Army of over 1500 creators but also via the way it provides a platform and celebrates the talent in the creator ecosystem through Myntra’s Creator Fest.

Ahead of kickstarting Myntra’s bi-annual End Of Reason Sale from December 9, with early access starting a day prior, i.e.- from December 8, the brand organised the second edition of Myntra’s Creator Fest and also partnered with Grazia to give away Myntra Glammy’s.

Speaking to BuzzInContent.com, Sunder Balasubramanian, Chief Marketing Officer, Myntra, stated that the e-commerce platform has historically had a certain value system for innovation and trying new things, not only in terms of looking at different cohorts but also by dabbling with technology to come up with an AI stylist, FashionGPT or even creating a virtual influencer- Maya, which has enabled the brand to provide its consumers a more seamless fashion and beauty shopping journey.

“In the categories which Myntra operates in, which is fashion and beauty, trends are extremely important and it is the creator ecosystem that acts as the gateway of the same into the country because it is the creators who spot it and talk about it first and then the consumers at large who follow those creators become aware of it. So for us, as a brand that wants to showcase the latest in trends, working with creators enables us to do that. Today, we are one of the biggest brands in the country in terms of just the scale of creators that we have and the impact on the creator ecosystem,” he said.

It was basis this insight that the brand came up with the launch of its IP- Myntra’s Creator Fest which not only gets creators at the forefront but also celebrates their contribution to the brand’s journey.

“When we bring together about 350 creators at the second edition of Myntra’s Creator Fest, we become a platform which enables them to learn from each other on the best practices as the relatively smaller creators also get a chance to meet the big creators and brands through the platform because eventually, it is them who are the purveyors of trends. Additionally, we have also launched our campus program- Campus Tribe this year where we have appointed the youth as our campus ambassadors to act as an enabler in their journey to becoming creators via the Creator Fest they also get a chance to learn, grow, and nurture their ambition in the creator ecosystem,” he said.

Along with this, he also mentioned that what is new in this year’s Myntra’s Creator Fest is that there will be different fashion shows which will talk about the trends of 2024 and some of the creators will also be celebrated and thanked by being awarded Myntra’s Glammys Awards.

Being one of the first movers in the social commerce space, Myntra with its 1500+ creators strong Creator Army doesn’t limit its creators to its app or platform solely but also allows them to build their content on YouTube, Instagram as well as Snapchat, he further added.

Commenting on how the brand is looking at the social commerce space currently as live commerce in India is still at a very nascent stage, Balasubramanian mentioned that while a lot of it is currently being done on the app itself where people not only get to see the trend but also shop it in real-time, it is in this year’s Creator Fest that the brand is doing an industry-first activity where they will be showcasing their ramp walk live on the Myntra App and viewers will get a chance to purchase those pieces instantly.

“What we’re doing is that we are bringing together both trends and commerce today as part of our social commerce and while live commerce is a part of the same, it also has a piece with video and static as well,” he said.

Elaborating on the challenge of concurrency in live commerce, he mentioned that the issue is not just limited to social commerce on Myntra but to any kind of content creation that happens in the country, be it social media content, advertising content, movie content, or any other content.

But to overcome this challenge, what Myntra is trying to do, as per him, is that it is trying to make the content interesting enough for viewers to engage via the fashion show being showcased live on their app and introducing 15-60 second video content which is both snackable and shoppable on Minis which as a platform is not just about discovery of trends but also about inspiration and education on trends.

“All these IPs and our strong association with the Creator ecosystem enable a lot of online and social media impressions for us. In fact, in last year's Creator Fest, we saw over a 3x growth in impressions versus BAU. From a brand POV, these activations not only help us in building brand saliency, strong top of mind recall and high brand consideration amongst our audience but also help us to strengthen our imagery as being a brand that is always on trend,” he said.

Additionally, he also expressed that while a lot of people today compare India with various countries when it comes to social commerce and given that the global benchmark for the same is China, it is also essential to take into cognisance that each country has its way of how the ecosystem plays out.

India being a more mobile-first country has very different dynamics, therefore brands are still learning to build what social commerce is in the country and how they need to fit in.

“While I do foresee the social commerce space growing multifold in India, a young country that is hungry for content, what I think is different brands across categories need to understand how they get the right fit that marries both content and commerce by experimenting and creating new avenues,” he said.

That being said, for Myntra it is all about experimenting with different formats and not just copy-pasting what works in other countries because the brand values are deeply rooted in innovation.

“Myntra, as an e-commerce player, has an added advantage of already having a platform where people can not only spot trends but also shop them smoothly, and we are looking to close the loop through our Minis or through the Live Fashion Show and to push our boundaries on the same, it is the Creators who help because they work and know day in and day out what works more with the users in the country across different cohorts and in our case it is they who help us fashion this,” he said.

Commenting on Myntra’s advertising strategy for EORS19, he mentioned that the brand would be using a 360-degree approach and will therefore be present across mediums and touchpoints such as TV, Digital, OOH, influencer marketing on social media and much more via the brand’s big play on what they are calling “the biggest ever price crash” with the scale of campaign being 200 million plus.

Looking at the success of EORS17 wherein the brand registered a 35% growth on a YoY basis, Balasubramanian also expressed high hopes for the upcoming EORS19 and echoed that the same would also result in a similar growth story as the brand has now got more than 6000 brands participating in the same.

“As per the trends that we are seeing, our focus is not just around pre-wedding, wedding and ethnic wear but also party wear, GenZ Wear, western wear and holiday wear along with travel, luggage, etc. dovetailing into the mix because we're looking at getting more than a million new customers through this year’s EORS19 itself,” he stated.

Delving deeper into how the year 2023 has been at large for the new-age brand which deals in all things fashion and beauty, he stated that this year, Myntra has seen a multifaceted growth overall not just in terms of the core business, users and consumers, but also on various other fronts such as GenZ demand, beauty and personal care as well as D2C business.

“As opposed to last year, the GenZ demand on Myntra has grown to 2x in 2023 alongside Beauty and Personal Care which has grown 3x. Similarly, in terms of D2C brands, we have seen a 70% growth in demand, followed by our core pieces such as Premium Ethnic and Runway items which have seen a 100% growth and premium footwear which has witnessed a growth of 70% this year,” he said.

This growth, in his view, stems from some of the fundamental activities that the brand has done in the past one year such as the launch of FWD selection for GenZs which today includes over 90,000 styles, making Myntra one of the largest players in the country from a GenZ perspective.

In terms of the brand’s association with the creators as well, Myntra in 2023 has put up a total of over 85,000 content on its platform and amongst that is Myntra’s Minis which account for over a million views per day at the moment.

It is owing to this all and the marketing campaigns that the brand has rolled out this year that Myntra has seen strong top-of-mind growth as well as consideration growth across cohorts and BAUs, he concluded.