When
Myntra decided to shut its website last month to exist only as a mobile
application, its bold gamble triggered a frenzied debate among Indian
startups — should they too kill their web avatars to focus on delivering
a great experience on smartphones, as that's where most Indians are
nowadays. Shamik Sharma, chief technology officer at Myntra, certainly
believes so, asserting in an tech.com discussion on the web versus
mobile debate that India is fast developing into a mobile-only market.
His co-panelists - Alok Goel, former CEO of Freecharge; Amit Somani, managing partner at Angel-Prime; and Brij Bhasin, principal at Rebright Partners — too emphasized that consumer internet companies in India must focus on mobile strategy, although they were more tempered on whether startups should be shuttering their websites.
Myntra's decision in favour of a mobile app-only presence was based on the fact that by April, nearly 90% of its traffic and 70% of its business was coming from mobile phones, said Sharma.
"It isn't about the money but just the realization that if we don't build (a mobile-only product), somebody else is going to build it and whoever builds that is going to be the winner," he said. India has more than 900 million mobile phone users, second only to China which boasts of 1.3 billion mobile subscriptions.
Currently, only 15% of the mobile phone users in India are smartphone users, but that number is set to increase, according to veteran analyst Mary Meeker's internet Trend Report 2015. With 232 million internet users, India is also the third-largest internet market, with nearly 65% of the country's internet traffic coming from mobile phones, according to Statcounter.
For new startups, a well thoughtout mobile strategy has become a must, the panelists said. "On the consumer side, if the entrepreneurs don't have a mobile strategy or mobile product, then we are not even interested to have the (funding) conversation really," said Somani of AngelPrime, an early-to-seed stage investor. "Definitely, if you are doing anything where you are not in mobile, then it is a huge red flag right now."
While many startups tend to focus only on mobile apps, a mobile web presence is also important, said Bhasin, principal at Rebright Partners, a Japanese seed-stage investment firm.
"From our portfolio in South East Asia region, about 70-80% of traffic is mobile but that is mobile web, not as much is on app-only," he said.
For Goel of Freecharge, the mobile payments firm Snapdeal acquired recently in India's largest consumer internet buyout, the essence of the web versus mobile debate is customer centricity. Goel was also former COO at online bus ticketing company redBus.
"Mobile-only is not all about shutting down your desktop site or mobile web version," he said, "but it is more about thinking about innovative strategies in which you are using mobile in a way that you add value to the customer's life."
His co-panelists - Alok Goel, former CEO of Freecharge; Amit Somani, managing partner at Angel-Prime; and Brij Bhasin, principal at Rebright Partners — too emphasized that consumer internet companies in India must focus on mobile strategy, although they were more tempered on whether startups should be shuttering their websites.
Myntra's decision in favour of a mobile app-only presence was based on the fact that by April, nearly 90% of its traffic and 70% of its business was coming from mobile phones, said Sharma.
"It isn't about the money but just the realization that if we don't build (a mobile-only product), somebody else is going to build it and whoever builds that is going to be the winner," he said. India has more than 900 million mobile phone users, second only to China which boasts of 1.3 billion mobile subscriptions.
Currently, only 15% of the mobile phone users in India are smartphone users, but that number is set to increase, according to veteran analyst Mary Meeker's internet Trend Report 2015. With 232 million internet users, India is also the third-largest internet market, with nearly 65% of the country's internet traffic coming from mobile phones, according to Statcounter.
For new startups, a well thoughtout mobile strategy has become a must, the panelists said. "On the consumer side, if the entrepreneurs don't have a mobile strategy or mobile product, then we are not even interested to have the (funding) conversation really," said Somani of AngelPrime, an early-to-seed stage investor. "Definitely, if you are doing anything where you are not in mobile, then it is a huge red flag right now."
While many startups tend to focus only on mobile apps, a mobile web presence is also important, said Bhasin, principal at Rebright Partners, a Japanese seed-stage investment firm.
"From our portfolio in South East Asia region, about 70-80% of traffic is mobile but that is mobile web, not as much is on app-only," he said.
For Goel of Freecharge, the mobile payments firm Snapdeal acquired recently in India's largest consumer internet buyout, the essence of the web versus mobile debate is customer centricity. Goel was also former COO at online bus ticketing company redBus.
"Mobile-only is not all about shutting down your desktop site or mobile web version," he said, "but it is more about thinking about innovative strategies in which you are using mobile in a way that you add value to the customer's life."
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