Opens in new windowBrands are pulling out all the stops to capture millions of hyper-connected and trend-conscious Millennial and Gen-Z customers in India, a cohort that offers fashion companies an opportunity to explore newer growth markets in Asia. In the centre of it is fashion e-commerce giant Myntra. The mass-market and premium platform is an increasingly important online retail channel for global brands such as H&M, Mango and Ralph Lauren, as well as local players such as Masaba and Rohit Bal.
Based in Bengaluru, the “Silicon Valley of India,” the company uses artificial intelligence and other technologies to offer styling services and product recommendations. “[Indian] Gen-Zs are very, very conscious of global trends and they want to adopt [them] really fast,” says Nandita Sinha, who became Myntra’s chief executive in 2022 after more than eight years at parent Flipkart Group, a company owned by Walmart. By harnessing data-backed consumer insights, trialling social commerce and securing A-list Bollywood celebrity ambassadors, Sinha has helped Myntra attract more than 60 million monthly active users.
E-commerce platforms like Myntra are key to driving growth in India because they help brands overcome the shortage of suitable physical retail infrastructure in the market, she says. “We are just starting off. Only 12 percent of fashion in India is bought online …There are 75 million Gen-Z customers [in India] and we have 16 million of them on our platform, so we have a whole way to go.” But to win market share, partner brands must not assume consumers in India are monolithic, she advises. “It’s important to have the right local partner to be able to navigate through the many Indias that exist.”
BoF: What is it about India that makes it such an attractive growth engine for international fashion brands in 2025?
Nandita Sinha: India continues to defy the odds of the global economy’s growth rates. [India also has an aspirational] young customer base, which is growing, and they will continue to grow their consumption basket.
India is a unique country which has both sourcing as well as consumption capacity. So, this is where the value for international brands becomes extremely lucrative, where they can reach out to this large base of customers in a manner that taps into the supply potential of the country as well. There are three factors [that are driving growth for brands]: rising incomes, younger customers and internet penetration.
BoF: Where does Myntra fit into this growth picture?
NS: E-commerce is an important vector of access for the country. [Myntra] continues to be the largest platform for international [fashion brands with] … almost 60 million consumers coming to us every month. Six million of them come to us every day.
We [also] offer something called Myntra Marketing Services; when brands come to India, we help them build their brand in the country [through] joint marketing activities.
BoF: What is the proportion of traditional Indian and Indo-Western fusion wear sales on Myntra, compared to that of western wear, and what does this mean for international brands?
NS: Traditional wear is bigger but western wear is fast-growing and it’s leading in terms of growth in the womenswear segment. People are celebrating all Indian festivals, weddings have become grander, which is fuelling the consumption of traditional wear as a premium, celebratory category. Runway Icons, our premium [traditional] wear [online destination], grew almost 100 percent in 2023. But we are seeing growth in customers adopting western wear. [In terms of international brands], Mango did a special Diwali collection last year, where they used western silhouettes with elements of celebration … That’s where we are seeing this work.
BoF: How does Myntra plan to capitalise on the high-end fashion opportunity as international luxury brands seek to expand their presence in India?
NS: Premiumisation will continue to grow and [there is] growth in consumption in the affluent and the upper-affluent class. What that means is that luxury and bridge-to-luxury brands are going to find a place in the market. We have an app-in-app — Myntra Luxe — where we partner with different brands, like The Collective (Aditya Birla Group’s multi-brand luxury retail chain across in India), which are exclusively available on our platform.
Some of the big opportunities in the luxury market are in accessories, especially the watches category. Brands in that category, like Tissot, are growing. Luxury fragrances are growing at twice the pace of the normal market.
BoF: What kind of growth rates are other fashion segments seeing? Which categories are outperforming and why?
NS: Footwear and accessories continue to grow ahead of the market. Apparel has seen a little post-Covid jump in consumption as people came back to the office and started travelling again. Things have stabilised a little bit, but we will see growth in that segment next year. The large driving force of that growth is going to come from Gen-Z customers, who are seeking new trends at affordable prices.
Trend-forward merchandise … is probably the fastest-growing market today in the country and platforms that build on that are going to be key in the next few years. Mass-premium and DTC brands are leading the growth for apparel. International brands continue to grow [faster] than the [overall] category, too.
India is a unique country which has both sourcing as well as consumption capacity.
BoF: What are some of the fashion shopping behaviours that define India’s Gen-Z consumers?
NS: Gen-Z consumers here are very different from Millennial shoppers, but they are not different from their international counterparts. Their purchase frequency is 30 to 40 percent more than their Millennial counterparts, which is what we see globally. Second, they are inspired by international trends.
Gen-Zs are moving away from traditional media and looking at influencers and styling. When you look at online catalogue images, Gen-Z’s feedback is [they] want to see the full outfit [to see how to style the item being featured rather than just shots of that item]. Catalogues have to become inspiring rather than just about product images.
This is what we tapped into as we built FWD [Myntra’s immersive shopping app-in-app]. We have something called Myntra Minis, [which features] short, snackable content, short styling and product videos. Almost 10 percent of our monthly active users are engaging with these, and they have higher retention and higher spend.
We are using image search very effectively for Gen-Z and we’ve also started what we call the Glam Clan, where we invite Myntra customers, who post reviews and photographs on our platform, to become influencers.
BoF: How are social commerce, short format videos and collaborations with micro-influencers helping you reach more young consumers, especially in smaller cities?
NS: This year we have doubled down on [social media and collaborations with influencers]. We will create content with almost 40,000 micro-influencers as we go forward, which will help us reach tier-two, tier-three cities, the younger generation, etc. We will double down on reaching out to Gen-Z customers through FWD. Products like cargo pants, for example, which are topical and trendy, we’d see those blow up through FWD. Then we take them to our customers through micro-influencers. That’s what we will continue to build on.
For the size of the country, there are limited high-quality tier-one malls, which are expanding but not enough [compared to the] rate at which consumption is increasing.
BoF: What India-specific challenges and opportunities should brands be aware of as they enter the market?
NS: Global fashion brands encounter challenges like limited retail infrastructure, high import duties and operational complexities in India.
For the size of the country, there are limited high-quality tier-one malls, which are expanding but not enough [compared to the] rate at which consumption is increasing. The second is supply: the more localised the supply the better it is for value delivery to the customer.
Third, India is many Indias [meaning it’s a highly diverse market]. Fourth is brand building. There are brands which have an international legacy, some of that will rub off on India, but you continuously have to build on the brand.
BoF: Myntra is experimenting with AI-led product discovery and curation. How is this impacting conversion rates? What are some of the other technological innovations you’ve trialled?
NS: If you look at the two big pillars of fashion experience, the first is inspiration — which is where social commerce comes into play. We do it through different formats, like influencer-led content, which is our content discovery piece. That has been a big success for us. We’ve seen almost six million consumers who interact with Myntra Minis.
The second piece is assistance. This is where things like MyFashionGPT (which enables users to discover related product options) come into play. Our AI-powered styling assistant My Stylist helps consumers style products they buy. Maya is our AI-driven, conversational, real-time commerce bot assistant. We’ve seen almost two million users interact with these. This is where we see higher conversions, higher revenue per user and higher return rates of these customers.
There are other core vectors where we use AI, like size and fit. That brings down our return rates and there’s higher conversion [so it] really is a very hard-working example of how AI is helping business.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
This article first appeared in The State of Fashion 2025, an in-depth report on the global fashion industry, co-published by BoF and McKinsey & Company.
