Flipkart reportedly planning to go app-only from September

India’s largest online retailer Flipkart is planning to phase out selling from its website and drive all sales activity through its mobile app from September, according to local reports. In an article published yesterday (7 July) the Times of India said that it had been informed that Flipkart’s chief product officer Punit Soni revealed the app-only plans to employees at a “town hall meeting” last week.

The TOI said that it asked the company about the reports of the app-only move and received this reply: “India is gradually transitioning from a mobile first to a mobile only country. At Flipkart, we have been following a mobile first approach and 70%-75% of our total traffic is already coming from our mobile app. We are constantly experimenting with various aspects of our service to create the best shopping experience for our users on our app. Meanwhile, we continue to offer both desktop as well as mobile option for our customers.”

Fashion etailer Myntra – which Flipkart bought last year – moved to an app-only platform in May. According to sources, Myntra did see an initial drop off in sales, but expected to make this up soon. India’s consumers appear to favour using mobile apps over desktop applications because of the greater convenience and speed.