The answer to who wants to shop on their tiny mobile screens is ‘no one,’ something that Flipkart has been figuring out over the past year. So Myntra, the fashion retailer it acquired and ruined by converting it into an app-only experience, may finally be embracing its website-based approach once again.
But a small display size is not the only thing that prevents people from wanting to shop via an app. When you have a phone with limited storage, imagine giving up space for applications you may not use frequently. We mean, how many folks go around buying products from one particular site every week?
Converting the Myntra portal into solely an application clearly did not work out for it. About 7 months after the fashion retailer’s website was shut down, Flipkart may be revisiting the idea of making Myntra available beyond the boundaries of an app. You won’t be able to see the difference if you visit it via your desktop browser.
But Myntra’s collections of sarees and shirts can be browsed via mobile devices now, as Medianama points out. You still have to download the application in case you want to buy one of these items. It looks as though this is about to change soon. Earlier in November, the Flipkart Lite mobile site was launched instead of a full-blown app.
Resembling the Flipkart application which the vendor had been trying to force down consumers’ throats unsuccessfully, the mobile-friendly portal works on Google Chrome and Opera. A Firefox version of the same is yet to be rolled out. Following this release, Snapdeal announced the Snap-lite mobile website that takes a similar route too.
Also see: Flipkart goes social now, adds in-app messaging feature
The desktop version of Flipkart has not been pulled. And we assume Myntra will also be coming back to your computer screen soon.