Leading Indian e-commerce website Flipkart and its recently acquired fashion retail unit Myntra have shut their mobile website, but as of now it seems that only platforms which have official apps are affected. Users of Android , iOS and Windows are asked to install the app to shop, and if it’s already installed, they will be redirected to the application automatically. But users of Symbian OS are able to access the mobile website.
“Over the past year we have come to believe that we can serve our users much better through our apps simply due to the flexibility it offers. With the app, customers can stay logged in to Flipkart at all times. This helps them save time and get smoother and faster checkouts. Our app is designed to work relatively well even in low bandwidth conditions compared to the m-site,” the Flipkart spokesperson said by email. Other reports suggest that they may even shut down their desktop websites too, later this year.
Myntra already generates more than 90% of its traffic and 70% of its orders from its mobile app, said Prasad Kompalli, head of its e-commerce platform. “The app is the best way of offering a seamless, personalized shopping experience to the consumer. We don’t want to compromise on the customer experience, so we’ve shut the mobile website. Going forward, we will be launching many innovations on the app that will make the shopping experience even more seamless and personalized,” Kompalli said.
“Mobile and desktop websites are increasingly becoming more and more irrelevant and Indian consumers have showed that they are adopting the app way faster than consumers in the US and even China,” he said.
Other online retailers like Amazon and Snapdeal also have majority of their customers connected through mobile application, but there are no reports suggesting that they will follow the suit. In a developing country like India, the importance of desktop websites can’t be overlooked. Various problems like network coverage issues and high data rates push customers towards researching and purchasing various goods through desktop website. Familiarity and comfort of using websites through desktop browsers, which makes comparing different products a lot simpler, also maybe one of the reasons. And the data given by Myntra and Flipkart may not be fully correct, since a lot of desktop users may not even login for a mere comparison and research of products. Whether this move becomes a successful one is yet to be seen, but it’s a progressive one nonetheless.
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