Flipkart to Go App-Only From September

E-commerce major Flipkart will go the Myntra way, the company it had acquired last year, by operating only through mobile app from September.

The company’s Chief Product Officer Punit Soni told employees at a town hall meeting last week that Flipkart will operate only with a mobile app from September, a spokesperson for the country’s largest online retailer 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 percent 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,” Flipkart said in a statement.

The online retailer expects more and more people making purchases through smartphones and mobile Internet, which have seen an exponential growth.However, for now, the company continues to offer both desktop as well as mobile option for its customers, the company said. “We continue to offer both desktop as well as mobile option for our customers.”

Flipkart has 30,000 sellers and over 45 million registered customers. Launched in October 2007, Flipkart currently clocks over 10 million page visits daily, reaching 1,000 plus cities, and delivers 8 million shipments per month.

However, some Industry experts have expressed their reservations on the move of Flipkart to go app only strategy. Founder CEO of Freecharge Kunal Shah questioned the app-only strategy in his Facebook status update, but without naming Flipkart.

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.