Myntra Scouts For Fresh Acquisitions 

Less than a month after acquiring logistics startup, InLogg, Myntra is hungry for more.

The Flipkart-owned fashion e-tailer is looking to make fresh acquisitions in clothing, technology and supply chain to strengthen its presence across verticals, Ananth Narayanan, chief executive officer of Myntra and Jabong told BloombergQuint in an interview.

“We continue to keep looking for acquisitions in technology that can benefit us. Supply chain is the core of what we do and there will be more such acquisitions that will come along. With our new funding round (in Flipkart), we are in a good position to make some strategic investments,” Narayanan added. He declined to comment on the size of investments Myntra is looking to make or the number of firms it may acquire.

Myntra's owner, Flipkart, recently raised $1.4 billion from Tencent Holdings, eBay Inc. and Microsoft Corp in April.

InLogg, a logistics vendor aggregator, is Myntra's fifth acquisition and fourth technology-led buy so far, and will strengthen its logistics capability, said Narayanan. “Our acquisition philosophy is simple. We acquire either for technology, for talent or at times for customer and market space consolidation. Jabong falls into that kitty,” he added.

Myntra had acquired Jabong from Global Fashion Group for $70 million in July last year. Both the entities, however, continue to operate as independent consumer platforms.

Myntra's Private Labels Push

Fuelled by the success of its private label, Roadster, which reached a gross merchandise value of Rs 500 crore in 2016, Myntra is betting big on this space. Some international brands have reached out to the company in this regard and Narayanan is confident that this business will grow swiftly capitalising on the e-tailer's large user base and distribution reach.

Its recently launched brand accelerator programme is closing in on three domestic brands, said Narayanan. The programme aims to help small, local sellers who currently lack visibility and exposure.

Private labels contribute 23 percent to Myntra's revenue. “We are targeting a share of 30 percent in the near future,” added Narayanan.

Myntra currently has 12 brands under the private label category including Roadster, Moda Rapido, DressBerry, Yellow Kite, Kook N Keech and Invictus.

The company will open more brick-and-mortar stores for its private labels provided its first store in Bengaluru for its private label Roadster does well. The other private labels which may have their own physical stores are All About You and HRX.

With an eye on turning profitable by next year, Narayanan expects Myntra's revenue to rise 50 percent this year and adds that EBITDA margins have improved 20 percentage points in the financial year 2015-16. The company is targetting a revenue run rate of $2 billion by March 2018.