Overview
Flipkart and Myntra merger case study brought the two biggest e-tailers of India together. The merger made it possible for both investors Flipkart and Myntra to strengthen their parts. Thus Flipkart strengthened its structure of product offering while Myntra got a chance to leverage its infrastructure. Moreover, the Flipkart and Myntra merger case study was taken with a vision to compete with Amazon.
Introduction
Briefly, the Indian online retail industry holds 0.55% of the overall retail industry which is about Rs. 25.3 billion and includes unorganized and organized details. The industry players mostly followed a non-inventory model or an inventory-based model which is commonly termed a marketplace model. In August 2014, the companies that adopted the inventory-based model are(all were online retailers ):
- Jabong.com
- Myntra.com
- Firstcry.com
- zovi.com
While those who followed the non-inventory based model are(marketplaces):
- Flipkart.com
- Snapdeal.com
- eBay. in
- Amazon. in
Main Idea
The thing happened in mid-summer of 2014 when India’s biggest e-tailer Flipkart announced the Indian e-commerce industry – the merger with Myntra, its competition and leading company in the apparel and fashion segments, a zone in which Flipkart was lagging behind other players.
At this moment, the co-founders of Flipkart ( Binny Bansal and Sachin Bansal) claimed that they know the future of fashion is e-commerce in India.
Moreover, Myntra has significant domain knowledge with an excellent team along with good relations with lifestyle brands.
The Flipkart and Myntra merger case study can strengthen respective positions in different areas. Although after Flipkart and Myntra merger case study both the companies worked as individual entities and decided to grow together as leaders in the lifestyle and fashion industry.
Also, there were a lot of sayings about the Flipkart and Myntra merger case study by different experts where they highlighted that the consolidation may not be good from the customer’s point of view.
Brief Of Flipkart
Flipkart or flipkart.com was initially started by two ex-amazon employees, Binny Bansal and Sachin Bansal in 2007 with a total investment of Rs. 4 lakh. Firstly, the company started by selling books and got its very first order after 4 months.
As a result, by December 2009, Flipkart grew up as the largest bookstore in India along with which it started selling different products as well.
Further, by 2010, Flipkart started with mobile phones, DVD’s/VCD’s, etc. by march 2011, Flipkart had a GMV(gross merchandise value) of about US$10 million.
As it increased its pace, the company added various categories like laptops, cameras, health care, e-learning, clothing, personal products, and home appliances.
Strengths
- Convenience
- Earning customers trust
- Regular penetration in all segments
- Internet reach
- Excellent service
- Inflow of investment
Flipkart now deals in everything from consumer goods to apparel along with its supply network being valued at around 10000 crores. Now, the question arises why there was still a need to acquire Myntra.
Brief Of Myntra
Being a leader in fashion e-tail, Myntra or Myntra.com was the idea of 2 flatmates namely, Ashutosh Lawania and Mukesh Bansal in Bengaluru.
Further, two more founders joined the same year namely, Raveen Sastry and Vineet Saxena.
Initially, Myntra was an on-demand personalization platform online for customized services where the customers used to personalize their demands like diaries, keychains, T-shirts, etc.
Funding For Myntra
By October 2007, Myntra got its first funding said to be an undisclosed amount from accel and Sasha Mirchandani. As time passed the company received a series of fundings from different capitalists during regular intervals. In 2014, Myntra generated an amount of U$115 million with six rounds of funding.
Acquisitions (By Myntra)
- Firstly in 2012, Myntra acquired brand Sher Singh for exchange of equity and cash and Exclusively. in Inc.
- On this step, the founder quoted that they have been working on Myntra with private label initiative and wished a strong team design and inventory in which Sher Singh did well.
- Secondly by 2013, Myntra moved for the next acquisition, which resulted in the purchase of FITIQUETTE for stock and cash.
- On this acquisition, the founder Mr. Mukesh quoted that they aim to create a compelling shopping experience for customers better than the other global standards.
- Etiquette solved the fit/size problem through online technology. The acquisitions not only helped Myntra with improving the experience but also enhanced their technology with tech talent.
Growth Stage( financial)
- Myntra earned revenue worth Rs. 4-5 Crore with a customer of 150+ companies and fifty colleges.
- Myntra also posted a monthly growth of 10-30% with a gross profit margin of 25-60%, varying according to the product. By 2010, the company was generating Rs. 1 crore of revenue per month.
- By August 2012, the founder said that Myntra had nearly 8000 transactions in a day and shipped around 11000-12000 products per day with a profit margin of about 35-40%.
- By the year 2012-2013 the company recorded a revenue of about Rs. 4 billion.
Strengths
- Return policies
- Convenience
- Schemes and discounts
- 24 hours delivery time
The Merger
Meanwhile, when the year 2014 arrived, in January the news reported that Flipkart approached Myntra for a proposal of the Flipkart and Myntra merger case study.
At first, the situation was vice versa but later Flipkart changed the mind by offering a proposal to run both the entities individually. When the Flipkart and Myntra merger case study went, it was seen that the agreement would save both sides, investors, from investing in fresh capital.
Moreover, the Flipkart and Myntra merger case study would keep the undisputed leaders in e-commerce competing with other players like Snapdeal and amazon( opposite to Flipkart) and Jabong(opposite to Myntra).
Source: Mergers and Acquisition- Flipkart & Myntra
By may 2014, when the Flipkart and Myntra merger case study happened, of course, a reason for the stakeholders to cheer happened.
The registered users increased by 30.7%, the total number of sellers by 3.2%, daily visits by 32.6%, and also the team strength increased by 16.6%.
After the Flipkart and Myntra merger case study the revenue increased to 1.5 billion USD.
However, the financials of the company were disturbing and PAT after the Flipkart and Myntra merger case study came out to be 836.51 crores by 2015 whereas the revenues crossed the 1 billion USD line.
Collegiality
Myntra maintained the zone of fashion and apparel being a leader in this segment. Flipkart was always targeted to enter into this category from the times when it started men’s clothing in 2012.
Experts said that Flipkart is thinking big in addition to which it wants to expand in multi-category, horizontally, and scale player.
Therefore the Flipkart and Myntra merger case study sound like a good strategy to acquire a player in fashion and apparel.
The Flipkart and Myntra merger case study aid Myntra to access Flipkart’s supply network that enabled them to deliver products to 9000+ pin codes that cover more than 100 cities.
By July 2014, both the players had 26+ million visitors which in turn kept the other players down on 23.5 million for Jabong and 16.9 million for Amazon.
Collegiality has 3 main structures
Revenues
The combination of companies results in higher revenues than when they work separately.
Expenses
Further, the combination of two companies results in lower expenses as compared to when they work alone or separately.
Cost of capital
Above all, the companies also get an overall lower cost of capital which is targeted by mergers to cut costs.
Post Scenario
- Moreover, after the Flipkart and Myntra merger case study, they grabbed a share of 50% in the Indian e-commerce online fashion category.
- But news reported that they targeted for a 65% share by the end of 2015 or start of 2016 for which they had a plan.
- Also, the founder of Myntra quoted that in mid-2014 they want to set up an incubator in which 15+ people were assisted in sampling, supply chain, manufacturing, etc, to develop private labels.