Flipkart,Myntra Plans Shutting Down Website & Migrate to App: Foolishness or Parsimonious?

Flipkart was considering shutting its mobile site as well as its desktop-based website to move sales entirely to the mobile app. Spokespersons for Flipkart and Myntra confirmed that the companies had shut their mobile websites. The desktop-based sites are still functional though both companies are considering shutting them over time, two people familiar with the matter said.

“Over the past year we have come to believe that we can serve our users much better through our apps simply due to the flexibility it offers. With the app, customers can stay logged in to Flipkart at all times. This helps them save time and get smoother and faster checkouts. Our app is designed to work relatively well even in low bandwidth conditions compared to the m-site,” the Flipkart spokesperson said by email.

Source: Flipkart moves towards becoming app-only platform - Livemint

I get the point for shutting down the mobile site, but why are they shutting down the normal site?

As for remaining logged in, I can leave one blank tab open after closing all others and I'll still be logged in. It all depends on cookies. I can do this with the mobile site too.

Stupid Move.

Most of us are connected to Internet, but not all have Smartphones. :-?

S

Monopolistic attitude! Forcing people to install their app like Facebook did

Here's the thing:

*articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/images/pixel.gif
Accepting that desktops weren't giving the same returns on investments anymore compared to a few years ago, Bansal said Flipkart will keep an eye out for more acquisitions in the mobile space and look to fill the gaps on tech and talent front.

"I believe it (mobile advertising) can be a big business for us," said Bansal, who is spearheading the ad business for Flipkart post a reorganization at the seven-year-old company which started off as an online bookstore.

Search giant Google and social networking site Facebook dominate the online and mobile advertising space, globally and in India, but e-commerce majors who boast of large consumer traffic and data are now looking to target shoppers on their platforms, prompted by their growing seller base and high adoption of smartphones.

Flipkart eyes more buys to boost mobile advertising business - timesofindia-economictimes

A

So most people will install this app like facebook...
People need to go by their own convenient way not the way company wants us to follow them... they need to follow us...
like "consumer centric"...

singleindian said:
Monopolistic attitude! Forcing people to install their app like Facebook did

Hmmm... most of the time I browse or buy from PC only as the mobile internet speed even at so-called '3G' speeds is abysmal. Half the time their app fails to load. If they want to go mobile only they better fine tune their app's performance first or risk losing customers to other shopping sites.

Who got the harebrained idea that Indians prefer browsing on the mobile rather than the PC?

*s30.postimg.org/rb9x0fev5/screenshot_www_flipkart_com_2015_03_23_00_50_02.png

so this was the reason why I was being redirected to the app download page from Opea Mini

If they remove the normal site, they lose me as a customer atleast.

Myntra was saying it gets 85% of sales form mobile only.
Can't really tell how this move will affect them. They have to shutdown the website for 3 months and test out.

Its a good thing, new start ups can replace the websites.

adityak469 said:
so this was the reason why I was being redirected to the app download page from Opea Mini

If they remove the normal site, they lose me as a customer atleast.

count me in as well, I am not comfortable entering my card details on these apps.

kartikoli said:
count me in as well, I am not comfortable entering my card details on these apps.

me too man. Just foolishness on flipkart going App centered for its business. See its sales will plunge...

K

Amazon time!! I hate using apps to browse stuff like this
a website is always the first preference for everyone

what if someone doesnt have a smartphone(lost,broken or simply living under a rock)
very poor marketing strategy
expected better stuff

Even Snapdeal never had to this

Their loss. Amazon has the app for the longest of time but never thought of killing the web version.

K

Mr.Kickass said:
Even Snapdeal never had to this

I never thought I would actually agree to that one day!!

maheshn said:
Hmmm... most of the time I browse or buy from PC only as the mobile internet speed even at so-called '3G' speeds is abysmal. Half the time their app fails to load. If they want to go mobile only they better fine tune their app's performance first or risk losing customers to other shopping sites.

Who got the harebrained idea that Indians prefer browsing on the mobile rather than the PC?

The recent discount offerings on placing order via their app is the way they are doing this probably. Using customers as testers.

Time to move to Amazon.in

Been using Amazon, never missed Flipkart since then.

In India most people still use non smartphones for Internet access which do have app support nor are they able to handle desktop version. In that case mobile site is the preferred method. So closing mobile site is not a good idea. I mean the more the choice a customer has the better right?

My Average purchases are maximum on Amazon given their better pricing. Say last year, 24 orders were from Amazon, 9 From Snapdeal, 4 from Flipkart.

Their App pricing isn't any better than Desktop sites of Amazon or Snapdeal. They will realise that soon, Its a blunder.

Amazon is crap as they dont ship anything above 6k to U.P., I couldn't purchase yureka where as I was paying upfront (prepaid) also I wanted to buy a laptop ~50k which I will have to purchase from other sites

They make exclusive contracts with companies and then dont ship to major part of the country. I live in heart of the city (Lucknow) and every one ships to my pincode. (Please check if you anyone can buy to these pin codes 226001, 226003, 226004)

I can understand your pain and the logicless policy not to ship products >6K to Lucknow.
But people from rest of UP have taken these ECommerce Companies for a ride.
*timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/t...-above-Rs-5000-in-UP/articleshow/43269889.cms

and also these Terrible Tax rules:

UP has atrocious sales tax regulation. Each of the goods for sale to UP has to have a Form -38 issued for it by a very corrupt sales department. Each Form – 38 costs money. I guess the physical sellers just bear this cost but to an e-commerce company the margins get hit drastically on each shipment and even more when the goods can’t be delivered.

Capital Mind ? Flipkart Won?t Deliver Orders More than 10K to Uttar Pradesh

But there is thing called customer rating. If a person is constantly buying from a seller the seller can make a difference. But they neglecting UP is bad decision.

The in the face ad from Flipkart "Sorry, We have shut down... just kidding".. is plain stupid.

No owner of any shop in the right mind says that, even when its time to actually close the shop in night. They say, "badhana", which means "to Grow". So, "Shop badha diya" means "growing the shop" which actual means "closing the shop for today". But no one says that. -_-

Are they throwing this as a prank for "April 1"??

:conspiracy:

The idea for app only way might have come from some brilliant thinker/management guru hired with all the billions raised. Money probably is making them forget what made them the success they are - customer service and price. I will not install a mobile app just to buy something hence will leave Flipkart / Myntra for good if they force it.

I can understand high taxes but same is the case with other other companies as well. I am against the fact that these companies make exclusive deals and then we can't buy those, I see lot of adds for yureka phones selling at 2~3k more on olx.
If people's are taking them for a ride then restrict to prepaid orders only but stopping all deliveries is not justified in any way.

I think they should simply stop all deliveries to UP. Amazon dont exist for us

Flipkart is giving 10% discount if bought via their APP...

bssunil said:
Flipkart is giving 10% discount if bought via their APP...

**Only on selected products**

Haven't found any great deal even after using the app.

kkn13 said:
Amazon time!! I hate using apps to browse stuff like this
a website is always the first preference for everyone

what if someone doesnt have a smartphone(lost,broken or simply living under a rock)
very poor marketing strategy
expected better stuff

+1 i don't have one. will get one soon though but am still comfortable on a desktop system

It's not about being comfortable. It's about.. Choice.

I can't quickly middle click and open the products in different tabs and then compare the products side by side, add the first product in wishlist and buy the other product, while also reading reviews of another product opened in another tab, and deciding if its worth buying since the price seems to be comparatively more than other shopping site.

Having said that, I think FK is trolling big time, in preparation for the April fool.

Vyom said:
Having said that, I think FK is trolling big time, in preparation for the April fool.

Yeah, no **** sherlock.

C

Website Vs Mobile App

No of Mobiles Phones are higher than PCs
64% of Internet Traffic is now done using a mobile
People use a Mobile App 6 times more than a Website
79% Smartphone users use Mobile Phones for purchasing decisions
50% of users make purchase on mobile within 1 hour
73% of Business Owners use Mobile Apps daily

Re: Website Vs Mobile App

cbs_infosys said:
No of Mobiles Phones are higher than PCs

64% of Internet Traffic is now done using a mobile

People use a Mobile App 6 times more than a Website

79% Smartphone users use Mobile Phones for purchasing decisions

50% of users make purchase on mobile within 1 hour

73% of Business Owners use Mobile Apps daily

Majority of the people who are using mobiles are not using internet, and limit their mobile use to watching videos/hearing music/SMS.
Not all the people use 3G in India to aid the worry-free money transaction in mobiles.
Shopping via PC > Shopping via mobile.

We are still using 2g and 3g is still a dream for majority. And shopping via mobile is still something not everyone is comfortable with.

This shutting down of website idea is as I see it is sheer incompetence/laziness . They are like a billion $ company and they can't manage to run a website ? wtf !

Damn...i hate touchscreens.

Why India’s Flipkart abandoned its mobile website | Mobile Website

^^Their loss. These figures never meant the amount of purchases being done. It is only traffic percentage.