Flipkart-owned Myntra is one of the biggest online fashion retail stores. Now, it seems like the company is attempting to move into the offline businesses as well while carrying forward its technological team as well.
Myntra has launched a second line-up of offline stores, called Roadster Go, for its private brand Roadster and it comes with a 30-second self-checkout facility. These stores will feature the same checkout-free concept as found in Amazon’s checkout-free stores. However, while Amazon Go focuses only on groceries, the Roadster Go store will be focused solely on apparels.
“The first Roadster store was all about consumer engagement, so we wanted to increase the amount of time that a customer spends interacting with a brand. With this store, we wanted to use technology and make it intuitive for customers and make the customer journey inside a store much easier,” said Ananth Narayanan, CEO, Myntra-Jabong.
“We are looking at helping curate 50 Roadster Go stores across the country by 2020. We are also planning more such stores for other Myntra Fashion Brands as well. It is a big bet for us this year.”
Introducing Roadster GO. The speed shopping store at Mantri Square Mall, Malleshwaram, Bangalore. Check it out yourself for 30 second self-checkouts, auto billing and online prices. #TheRoadsterLife #RoadsterGo pic.twitter.com/QpfdVLxYtI
— The Roadster Life (@theroadsterlife) June 14, 2018
The new Roadster Go store is located at Mantri Mall in Bengaluru, and the store is entirely RFID (radio-frequency identification) enabled. As such consumers can pick up products they want to purchase and place them in the RFID tray at self-checkout counters. What’s more is that you don’t necessarily have to be a Myntra customer to shop in these outlets.
The counters will detect and display a virtual cart instantly with all the products on the screen. In case, the consumer removes or adds any new product later, the cart gets automatically updated on the screen.
As for payments, consumers can pay with their credit or debit cards, following which the RFID tags on the products get deactivated and users can walk out of the store. Additionally, there’s also a digital fashion kiosk that allows shoppers to pull up the online product listing from Myntra for any particular product, to learn detailed information including fabric, washes, suitability to body type, color matching, and size availability among others.
Furthermore, these stores will have integrated inventory and ‘endless aisle’, enabling customers to browse the collection online at the store, check out product details & availability, and have the goods delivered to their doorstep or collect them at the store.
“Most offline retailers think of sales per square foot. However, we think of data per square foot. In this (Roadster Go) store, through computer vision, we will be able to actually figure out how many people come to the store, what time do they come, how long do they stay and the men vs women split in about a week. Therefore, we will be able to create heat maps and also detect dead zones in the store,” added Narayanan.
The integrated inventory also helps the company to ensure there is a real-time price parity among its offline and online channels. For instance, if a particular product is available on discount on Myntra’s online platform, it will be available for the same price in the retail outlet, which is a win-win for the consumer and for brands, who will know which products are dead on arrival quicker than ever before.
