# Flipkart to go Myntra way, shut website by September: Sources



## ssdivisiongermany1933 (Jul 7, 2015)

BENGALURU: When Myntra did it, it was a highly controversial move. But less than two months after the fashion e-tailer switched to an app-only strategy, parent company and India's largest online retailer Flipkart too has decided to morph into an app-only player.

The company's chief product officer Punit Soni informed employees at a town hall meeting last week that Flipkart will operate with only a mobile app from September, said sources familiar with the development.

Flipkart's planned phase-out of its web presence indicates phenomenal traction among Indian consumers to make purchases through the mobile app thanks to exponential growth of smartphones and mobile internet.

The app also allows e-tailers to create personalized shopping experiences for consumers by understanding their location, preferences and purchase patterns, something that's not possible to do to the same extent on the web.

When TOI asked Flipkart about the September plan, the company did not deny it. It said, "India is gradually transitioning from a mobile first to a mobile only country. At Flipkart, we have been following a mobile first approach and 70%-75% of our total traffic is already coming from our mobile app. We are constantly experimenting with various aspects of our service to create the best shopping experience for our users on our app. Meanwhile, we continue to offer both desktop as well as mobile option for our customers."

Flipkart has 45 million registered users clocking over 10 million daily visits, and expects to more than double the gross merchan dise value (GMV) of the products it sells on its platform to $8 billion this year.The company raised $2 billion in 2014-15, and it was valued at $11 billion in its last round of funding.

Ravi Gururaj, chairman of the Nasscom Product Council, said smartphones are omnipresent in the consumer's palms and allow a vastly superior, more secure and highly personalized user experience when incorporating elements like seamless user authentication (via one-time password, biometric scanners), rapid payments via digital wallets, presence (via GPS, NFC and beacon sensors), real time push notifications, and the ability to invoke cameras for discovery interactions.

"All of these capabilities are simply not available or easy to implement on landlocked' desktops. Large platform players will realize he benefits of adopting a less-is-more approach since ewer internal IT systems need to be built, tested, supported and maintained in he future," he said.

Myntra, which Flipkart acquired last year, is said to have seen a 10% decline in sales in the immediate aftermath of its going app-only. But it was confident of making that up in the following weeks. Myntra had said that prior to abandoning its website, 90% of traffic and 70% of sales came from the mobile platform.

Myntra's move was controversial and many analysts weren't convinced by Myntra's explanation of the move. But Flipkart's decision to go the same way indicates that the two companies are clear that it's better o focus fully on what they believe is the future and not fritter resources and mindshare on a channel that looks destined to become irrelevant, if not die -- at least or online retail.


Flipkart to go Myntra way, shut website by September: Sources - The Times of India

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Time to shutdown flipkart from my life also /////


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## Desmond (Jul 7, 2015)

Good bye Flipkart.


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## Nerevarine (Jul 7, 2015)

TL DR :  
we have made a lot of bad decisions lately, our services have become crap, we do not ship to non metro cities anymore.. we dont care about product availability, and we will shove a crappy mobile app down your throats, 
F*** you customers
-Flipkart


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## rijinpk1 (Jul 7, 2015)

ssdivisiongermany1933 said:


> Flipkart's planned phase-out of its web presence indicates phenomenal traction among Indian consumers to make purchases through the mobile app thanks to exponential growth of smartphones *and mobile internet.*



 costly and cost increases day by day! i stopped using 2g when airtel increased the price to nearly rs 200 for just 28 days! forget about 3g either.
it is been some times flipkart app asked me to review the app on playstore. I think september is the right month to give a review then


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## vidhubhushan (Jul 7, 2015)

they have become real big confused creatures. most of these apps means Invasion of Your Privacy. they need your Contacts, Messages, Gallery, GPS location etc. Why can't these just be a simple interface to buy? because these all things (out data) means Money for them.
i checked  bank's app and it wants contacts, sms etc. i just stopped at that.


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## ankitj1611 (Jul 7, 2015)

If they will do this then during flash sales it will be difficult for those using tricks to get the product added to cart.And for flipkart it will be helpfull to them as we will not get error Internal server error etc etc


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## REDHOTIRON2004 (Jul 7, 2015)

Lol flipkart!
I already use amazon, snapdeal and ebay.


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## bssunilreddy (Jul 7, 2015)

Good bye Flipkart...


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## kARTechnology (Jul 7, 2015)

amazon is much, much better than FK....goodbye FK...
Many people don't have Mobiles when they have PC's - what will they do??? ahh, no worries, Amazon...

*when is Newegg Coming here with local warehouse?*


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## SaiyanGoku (Jul 7, 2015)

R.I.P flipkart, you will not be missed.


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## Anorion (Jul 7, 2015)

see very few reasons why this is a bad idea. apart from data use and app using personal data... 
what really is the problem here


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## REDHOTIRON2004 (Jul 7, 2015)

Anorion said:


> see very few reasons why this is a bad idea. apart from data use and app using personal data...
> what really is the problem here



Both are bad things.

Privacy, security, small screen with sub standard resolution pics, non standard interface and experience due to different shapes and size of mobile phones, limited compatibility and comparability between different platforms like iphone and android is going to be quite difficult. Even now myntra doesnt have an official app for android gingerbread and back which is still quite present in many mobile phones. 
Apart from that debit card or credit card transaction through mobiles are definately not recommended as they are much more prone to getting hacked etc compared to desktop or laptop browsers.

There are many other problem with mobile apps as well. Hope you see the problems now.


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## SaiyanGoku (Jul 7, 2015)

Anorion said:


> see very few reasons why this is a bad idea. apart from data use and app using personal data...
> what really is the problem here



I don't want to type everything on phone's screen while I have my PC/laptop with me.


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## funskar (Jul 7, 2015)

Flipkart's way to graveyard


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## Anorion (Jul 8, 2015)

REDHOTIRON2004 said:


> There are many other problem with mobile apps as well. Hope you see the problems now.


No I really, really don't understand this reaction. Acc to me, phone is actually more secure for credit card transactions than desktop. At least my phone is, cannot speak for droids. 
Does FK have an app on Gingerbread Androids? 


At best I think this reaction is because using app after using site is like breaking a habit
I think everyone will use the app if there is a good deal


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## sujoyp (Jul 8, 2015)

I like to see bigger images of product...complete detail on a single page...basically nice user interface...

using app is like click multiple times, keep on zooming in out, scrolling up down side...blah 2 days back I wanted to check price of some clothes didnt bother myntra..just checked jabong.com


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## Flash (Jul 8, 2015)

I use flipkart, only to read customer reviews. 
Sometimes i encounter funny ones.


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## Ronnie11 (Jul 8, 2015)

oh jeez not this again..how difficult is it for these sites to maintain a site and an app..goodbye flipkart.


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## avinandan012 (Jul 8, 2015)

all ppl who debating about moving to app. this is merely a business decision. Only the app consumers are looser. 
In desktop you can get side by comparison of same product from different seller / different  online shops. but in app you are limited to one product one price one seller. you have to click multiple buttons to get to other sellers thus the inconvenience. and most ppl will not go for that. So flipkart wins here. 
Another thing is reviews and other related data you can see in browser but in app as of now its not available.

 The pro-sumers will always compare and buy but majority are consumer thus this will increase sell / visit.


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## thekillinggunner (Jul 8, 2015)

Thank you flipkart for your services and go **** off and sell your products to yourself  RIP flipkart


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## Inceptionist (Jul 8, 2015)

Celebrations at Amazon India's HQ.


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## Nerevarine (Jul 8, 2015)

fgt flipkart, purchased letsbuy.com and then itself with bad decisions ://


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## Nanducob (Jul 8, 2015)

Just got 2k items for free on myntra mobile app,now  Got a popup that first 500 orders from 8 pm will be free up to 2k.Mine was the 258 th order.App rocks


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## REDHOTIRON2004 (Jul 8, 2015)

Nanducob said:


> Just got 2k items for free on myntra mobile app,now  Got a popup that first 500 orders from 8 pm will be free up to 2k.Mine was the 258 th order.App rocks



Question is how long can these kind of offers be offered?
No company can sustain its business by offering free bies like that. They are only offered to increase traffic and doesn't work all the time.
It seems that myntra is regretting its decession otherwise there is no reason for these kind of offers.


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## saswat23 (Jul 8, 2015)

REDHOTIRON2004 said:


> Question is how long can these kind of offers be offered?
> No company can sustain its business by offering free bies like that. They are only offered to increase traffic and doesn't work all the time.
> It seems that myntra is regretting its decession otherwise there is no reason for these kind of offers.



Absolutely. Surely they will revert back to websites later.


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## Nanducob (Jul 8, 2015)

REDHOTIRON2004 said:


> Question is how long can these kind of offers be offered?
> No company can sustain its business by offering free bies like that. They are only offered to increase traffic and doesn't work all the time.
> It seems that myntra is regretting its decession otherwise there is no reason for these kind of offers.


Free offers wont last long since they will go bankrupt !

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saswat23 said:


> Absolutely. Surely they will revert back to websites later.


You can say that but myntra haven't changed from app only mode.And  Flipkart has got a nice reputation ,im guessing there wont be a return to pc mode


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## tkin (Jul 8, 2015)

How difficult is it to maintain a website? Everyone uses SOA now a days. They just have to make an interface and connect it with the webservices that are feeding the mobile app. 

Stupid decision if you ask me. Mobile data is costly and its set to become costlier for us Indians in future. Its unreliable, sometimes the signal will go out for a second or two, specially during travelling, suppose the customer was a middle of payment, he is thoroughly screwed(talking about hassle, not the money). I cannot purchase an item when I am making a call.

The mobile screen is tiny. Also app only means I cannot compress data using Chrome, leading to more data consumption, also the app consumes more battery than browsers and frequently pops up with ads till I greenify that $hit.

And finally speaking not everyone is using a smartphone or have a 3g connection on it. I think this will turn out to be a rumor after all. Flipkart is testing the waters, gathering market feedback, unofficially.


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## ASHISH65 (Jul 8, 2015)

They do this to have freehand in pricing manipulation !


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## Faun (Jul 8, 2015)

They can lure the customer base with apps only offer and freebies. But in the long run the prices will be set higher when the VC funding runs dry, and for the conditioned customers it won't be evident as a sudden change.

Let's see how this works out. I haven't used flipkart for a while. And don't plan to use the app.


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## Makx (Jul 8, 2015)

Looks like they were waiting for airtel zero to get the clearance before making the announcement.


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## Faun (Jul 8, 2015)

Makx said:


> Looks like they were waiting for airtel zero to get the clearance before making the announcement.



In the grand scheme of things, that's the most probable plan.


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## ashs1 (Jul 10, 2015)

Nanducob said:


> Just got 2k items for free on myntra mobile app,now  Got a popup that first 500 orders from 8 pm will be free up to 2k.Mine was the 258 th order.App rocks


Lucky you..got the same offers today and ordered shoes. but Price didn't reduce even after ordering, hence had to cancel.


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## Nanducob (Jul 10, 2015)

ashs1 said:


> Lucky you..got the same offers today and ordered shoes. but Price didn't reduce even after ordering, hence had to cancel.


Hmm yesterday we needed to put a coupon code to avail the offer.Today there were none.I think theyre kust foolin


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## $hadow (Jul 10, 2015)

never worked for me on the least


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## topgear (Jul 11, 2015)

Why September, Flipkart should shut it's primary website right now and offer some smartphones for free to make their app more attractive. Those who will get the "freebie" will be so much happy but is anyone dumb enough not to compare prices when they need to purchase something later ?

So just get whatever you can from FK / Myntra but for god's sake, don't suggest them anything as they are in their own wonderland boasting of their business success. Many online sellers are singing the app song nowadays like they are going to bring another revolution in cell phone market space but at the end their own greed, shadowy deals with some telcos [ Telcos are always planning on increasing data rate and what not ! Remember Net Nutrality ] will bring them down to earth.

But here only comforting thing is other etailers are not going to shut their primary website and go nuts with app only website. So let Flipkart be the leader in the app revolution in e-taling sector. All hail to the King and King shall soon change it's name


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## kkn13 (Jul 11, 2015)

Flipkart has even worse marketing team than Airtel then
Time to switch to Amazon , not only do they have more variety and more products,their service has also come on par with flipkart now atleast in the heart of Mumbai


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## Nanducob (Jul 11, 2015)

kkn13 said:


> Flipkart has even worse marketing team than Airtel then
> Time to switch to Amazon , not only do they have more variety and more products,their service has also come on par with flipkart now atleast in the heart of Mumbai



Amazon is the next Flipkart


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## a_k_s_h_a_y (Jul 12, 2015)

obviously they know what they are doing. its not like they are stupid or something.

The Death of the PC Has Not Been Greatly Exaggerated | WIRED

I guess pc is just for creating content and devices for consuming. Of course there will always be PC gaming and other high end use cases.


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## topgear (Jul 13, 2015)

kkn13 said:


> Flipkart has even worse marketing team than Airtel then
> Time to switch to Amazon , not only do they have more variety and more products,their service has also come on par with flipkart now atleast in the heart of Mumbai



The only thing amazon needs to overrun flipkart is a 30 Days replacement policy for Amazon fullfilled items and introduction of Amazon prime.


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## $hadow (Jul 13, 2015)

Amazon prime will be the best valuable option left with Amazon, wonder if they will ever introduce those black Friday deals.


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## kartikoli (Jul 14, 2015)

Flipkart will be out of my shopping site as they go app only the next option is amazon but they dont ship anything above 5k to U.P. so my only option will be left is ebay and snapdeal. I think paytm will gain user as flipkart go app only.


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## Nanducob (Jul 14, 2015)

kartikoli said:


> Flipkart will be out of my shopping site as they go app only the next option is amazon but they dont ship anything above 5k to U.P. so my only option will be left is ebay and snapdeal. I think paytm will gain user as flipkart go app only.



Have you tried changing the pin code to the nearest city?
They usually send via indiapost


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## kartikoli (Jul 14, 2015)

Nanducob said:


> Have you tried changing the pin code to the nearest city?
> They usually send via indiapost


They Dont ship even in Noida which is so close to Delhi, I am worried if they messup if I use Delhi pincode. Dont want to block money and then wait for refund.


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## SaiyanGoku (Jul 14, 2015)

kartikoli said:


> They Dont ship even in Noida which is so close to Delhi, I am worried if they messup if I use Delhi pincode. Dont want to block money and then wait for refund.


Use CoD option


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## kartikoli (Jul 14, 2015)

SaiyanGoku said:


> Use CoD option


I think its worth a shot, I'll try next time


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## Nanducob (Jul 14, 2015)

kartikoli said:


> They Dont ship even in Noida which is so close to Delhi, I am worried if they messup if I use Delhi pincode. Dont want to block money and then wait for refund.


Hm it's a popular cuty,i guess.There must be some issue with the tax laws in the state.I have noticed this as the tax for items is around 15 percent for myntra ,jabong.Earlier it wasnt there.In between there was a time when my pin codes weren't serviceable


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## kartikoli (Jul 14, 2015)

Nanducob said:


> Hm it's a popular cuty,i guess.There must be some issue with the tax laws in the state.I have noticed this as the tax for items is around 15 percent for myntra ,jabong.Earlier it wasnt there.In between there was a time when my pin codes weren't serviceable



Amazon limits delivery of goods above Rs 5,000 in UP - The Times of India

But if other sites like FK can deliver then why not amazon


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## Makx (Jul 14, 2015)

amazon stopped after flipkart Flipkart Won’t Deliver Orders More than 10K to Uttar Pradesh
Now, Amazon Stops Taking High Value Orders From UP


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## Ironman (Jul 17, 2015)

Its Time for FLIPKART to Flip !

R.I.P in advance.


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## $hadow (Jul 17, 2015)

They are big organizations yet they don't have a proper customer database.


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## vidhubhushan (Jul 17, 2015)

Flipkart delivers above INR5000 items to U.P. at times and at times it stops. I started a FB page, emailed them and they resumed unrestricted delivery. the only catch i think there will be - a PrePaid Only Option, which is fine with me.
Amazon says it delivers only up to INR5000 items to U.P. with a PrePaid option only and according to them it is due to Regulatory Issues (have not defined till now what is that).
The reality is that Amazon Itself (i.e. Amazon Fulfilled Item Sellers) does not deliver and has these restrictions. See Proof.
The Other Amazon sellers (i.e. Seller Fulfilled Item Sellers) deliver without any restrictions. See Proof.

When I told them this, their CS said - It is Amazon fulfilled and the other is Blah Blah and if you do not understand what is that then ask and we will do more Blah Blah. I told them what I know about it and asked them how these rules (if any present) are different for one type of Sellers only? They have not responded back on that.
If there are tax rules then how come Flipkart is able to deliver and how come Amazon sellers are able to deliver items even if it is Seller Fulfilled ( the packager and courier may change but all else remains the same )? 

Any one has any real answer?



kartikoli said:


> Amazon limits delivery of goods above Rs 5,000 in UP - The Times of India
> 
> But if other sites like FK can deliver then why not amazon





Nanducob said:


> Hm it's a popular cuty,i guess.There must be some issue with the tax laws in the state.I have noticed this as the tax for items is around 15 percent for myntra ,jabong.Earlier it wasnt there.In between there was a time when my pin codes weren't serviceable





SaiyanGoku said:


> Use CoD option





kartikoli said:


> They Dont ship even in Noida which is so close to Delhi, I am worried if they messup if I use Delhi pincode. Dont want to block money and then wait for refund.





Nanducob said:


> Have you tried changing the pin code to the nearest city?
> They usually send via indiapost





kartikoli said:


> Flipkart will be out of my shopping site as they go app only the next option is amazon but they dont ship anything above 5k to U.P. so my only option will be left is ebay and snapdeal. I think paytm will gain user as flipkart go app only.


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## mitraark (Jul 17, 2015)

They do not deliver to those areas because of increasing number of abuse cases.

*www.quora.com/Why-are-Amazon-and-Flipkart-not-delivering-products-in-Noida

Also, i'd prefer to believe in the management team of Flipkart who have decided to go APP only even though so many common people are doubting their move. I'm sure they have considered everything before taking these decision. 

As it is for any business, you never know what can make or break a company; if the APP only decisions fails there would be many "I told you so!" posts. But you have to move fast and break things if you want to excel.


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## Anorion (Jul 17, 2015)

the tax thing seems legit


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## Nanducob (Jul 17, 2015)

Abusing for some financial gain is understandable ,but abusing for time pass? Why would someone waste time to order online and refuse for fun?
.
This year Online retailers like flipkart,jabong etc are fined 54 crores to Kerala for sale tax issues.
I have read that a product sold via cod is susceptible to regional taxes as you are paying to the delivery guy which is considered as a in state sale?
So I think it has more to do with taxes than abusers


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## Nanducob (Jul 18, 2015)

wow today wanted to buy from Myntra end of reason(lol) sale.And now they don't deliver even though they have their own courier service at 695001.sent a rage mail to them,waiting for response


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## amjath (Jul 19, 2015)

Today I was looking at flipkart's log and I found this.



> {"event":"PUSH_NOTIFICATION_RECEIVED","data":{"notificationId":"EM-MPNJ9RHGE5KHNRX","deviceId":"xxxxxxxxxz","isPush":true,"connectionType":"3G","networkOperatorName":"Vodafone IN","timestamp":1437188386307,"date":"2015-07-18 08:29:46.307"}} {"event":"PUSH_NOTIFICATION_RECEIVED","data":{"notificationId":"EM-MPNMXE8FIRMQZID","deviceId":"XXXXXXXXXXXX","isPush":true,"connectionType":"WiFi","networkOperatorName":"Vodafone IN","timestamp":1437289151043,"date":"2015-07-19 12:29:11.043"}}


Why does a push notification log needs network and connection type?


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## d6bmg (Jul 19, 2015)

No web retailer in the world did it before and survived.
But, e-India being wired as it will ever be, who knows what will happen..


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## a_k_s_h_a_y (Jul 19, 2015)

instead of ads on google and facebook. flipkart now sponsors those kabaddi matches and saas bhau tv shows. 
this is their way forward I guess.


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## Anorion (Jul 19, 2015)

there is a borderline charity business, get stuff from amazon
Amazon: Nearly 20 Years In Business And It Still Doesn't Make Money, But Investors Don't Seem To Care


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## pcdatarecovery (Jul 21, 2015)

Off course e-commerce websites are getting online traffic through smart-phones, because each hand has this device. Smartphones is the market pullers these days.


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## ssdivisiongermany1933 (Aug 1, 2015)

flipkart seems to have started to make transition as deals of the day are now available only on the app


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