Myntra enters social commerce amid online shopping boom

Myntra, India's biggest fashion marketplace, has forayed into social commerce at scale amid the ecommerce boom in India and the rise of online shopping.

The digital fashion retailer, which was experimenting with creating more user engagement "since the first lockdown", has launched M-Live for live shopping. The platform will enable online sessions where fashion influencers will showcase the product and users can ask questions and also shop the product.

"Think of this (M-Live) as a TV channel. There will be sessions taking place at different timeslots and users can attend based on the influencer hosting or the products being showcased," Achint Setia, VP and Business Head, Social Commerce, Myntra, told YourStory.

M-Live, which was piloted between September and October, has conducted about 500 live sessions so far and plans on doubling this number in the coming months. The social commerce arm could also engage close to 50 percent of its monthly active users (MAUs) in the next three to four years, according to a statement shared by the firm.

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Myntra claims to have a "very captive customer base", out of which 55 percent are women. The platform refused to reveal their current MAUs but says it is very large.

This move comes at a time when online shopping has become the norm, giving ecommerce platforms increased traffic and an opportunity to engage their users using influencer-led shopping.

Firms including beauty giant Nykaa, and omnichannel cosmetic brand SUGAR Cosmetics have taken both content and influencer-led model to push their products.

Now ecommerce giants Flipkart and Amazon have also entered this race. While Myntra's parent Flipkart is leveraging short-video app Moj's userbase, rival Amazon is in talks to lead a $100 million round in Trell, a social commerce platform with local influencers.

The four-year-old platform lets content creators, who have over 50,000 followers, advertise brands that have tied-up with the startups.

In its pilot run Myntra's M-Live has seen between 300 and 100,000 users attending the live session.

"The traffic on session differs from influencer-to-influencer and the time slot," says Achint.

Myntra aims to churn out over 1,000 hours of live video content every month to increase user engagement.

India's ecommerce market is projected to be $220 billion by 2025, while social commerce could touch upwards of $50 billion in terms of Gross Merchandise Value (GMV), according to EY India.