May 19, 2014: Online retailer Myntra.com which is in talks with Flipkart has announced that it has plans to open retail stores across India to boost its flagship private label wear line Roadster. The fashion portal which signed Ogilvy India Worldwide to manage its brand building exercise is expected to remain as a standalone fashion portal post its merger with Flipkart. Ganesh Subramaniam, Chief Operating Officer of Myntra.com was quoted as saying “We are looking to go offline for pure brand-building, not to increase sales. We will start by opening one Roadster shop each in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore and later venture into other towns and cities.”
Myntra intends to do brand building by opening up offline fashion stores and for this it has already roped in Bollywood star Ranveer Singh who is fresh after his back to back hits. Ranveer Singh has been signed to endorse the casual wear brand of Myntra-Roadster.
Myntra plans to open physical stores across India next year to boost its private labels, even as talks of the fashion portal’s merger with Flipkart continue. The company which gets 20 per cent of its revenue from company owned private labels looks forward to increase it to 35 per cent by the end of the year. The current in house private labels of Myntra like Hrithik Roshan HRX, Dressberry, Kook n Keech, Anouk etc. offer 35 per cent higher margins than the external brands.
