Walmart-owned Bangaluru based company Myntra has gone international joining up with the Middle East real estate giant Emaar Group’s e-commerce platform Noon.com and fashion portal Namshi.com to offer fashion-forward brands in the region. These brands and styles were chosen based on regional trends and consumer preferences.
Both Noon and Namshi are a conglomerate located in the UAE. Noon is a horizontal e-commerce platform with offerings in multiple categories. Namshi is a vertical platform, focusing primarily on fashion in the premium segment. The brands that have been launched on Noon include Dressberry, Mast & Harbour, Moda Rapido, Here & Now, Sztori, and HRX. Namshi will list Dressberry, Mast & Harbour, Wrogn and HRX.
Myntra will offer products from its private labels to Middle East consumers through this partnership, which was acquired by the ecommerce giant Flipkart in May 2014.
Then in July 2016, Myntra acquired Jabong in a deal estimated to be worth $70 Mn and after that Myntra and Jabong started integrating their key business functions and streamlining several processes.
Myntra is focusing on casual wear in the Middle East which form a majority part of its overall business in the domestic market with the latest trends indicating a recent shift towards T-shirts, comfort bottoms, and activewear, prompting a focus on similar categories.
This shift in trend is accelerated by a considerable change in lifestyle, owing to the ongoing pandemic.
Speaking on the international expansion, Myntra CEO Amar Nagaram, said, “Our research identified high levels of potential channels across the globe offering significant opportunities in the online fashion segment.”
“Amongst these, the Middle East stood out in terms of the audience’s demographic profile, extremely high mobile penetration, the similarity in fashion preferences, and a large population of Indian origin. We are looking forward to a 5X growth from the partnership over the next two years.”
The Middle East has proved to be a profitable market for Chinese cross-border e-commerce websites. The purchasing power of individuals is much higher than that of the Asian audience due to their high per capita income, making it a strategic market to expand.
Deloitte reported- “The Middle East region has around 15 countries including UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Israel, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Bahrain, and more. The region’s e-commerce market is likely to grow to $48.8-billion size by 2021 from $22.4 billion in 2016 with UAE continuing to lead with a share of 33.2 percent followed by 23.2 percent by Saudi Arabia and 43.6 per cent by others in 2021- a Middle East Point of View – Spring 2018.”
Myntra will continue to explore new markets in order to build brands of international repute and expand its base of global consumers.
