Fashion marketplace Myntra's FY18 loss shrinks, revenue soars

Flipkart-owned Myntra Designs Pvt. Ltd significantly narrowed its loss for the year through March 2018 as revenue tripled and it controlled its expenses.

The Bengaluru-based fashion portal reported revenue from continuing operations of Rs 398.30 crore for 2017-18, up from Rs 117.5 crore the previous year, according to its consolidated financial statements filed with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

Consolidated net loss shrank to Rs 178.7 crore from Rs 655.8 crore. Total expenses rose 10.5% to Rs 953.21 crore from Rs 861.92 crore, driven mainly by a rise in staff costs to Rs 302.37 crore from Rs 221.69 crore.

Myntra Designs is a marketplace whose revenue does not reflect the value of merchandise sold through the website or app. Instead, its revenue reflects listing fees, money from data processing and so on although it does absorb much of the customer acquisition cost, discounting expenses and more.

In its regulatory filings, the company attributed the sharp rise in revenue to it decision to hive off its business-to-business operations and focusing on its marketplace operations.

A Myntra spokesperson separately said that these “data points are partial” and don’t give the entire picture of the company. “Myntra and Jabong continue to grow at a healthy rate with a firm focus on delivering the best of fashion and lifestyle for our customers,” the Myntra spokesperson said.

Myntra has 13 private labels that include Roadster, HRX, Mast & Harbour, Dressberry, Ether, Anouk, K&K, Harvard, and Invictus among others, which contribute 23% of its revenue.

Myntra was acquired by homegrown e-commerce giant Flipkart in 2014 and currently operates as an independent subsidiary. After Flipkart founder and group CEO Binny Bansal’s unceremonious exit in November, Kalyan Krishnamurthy took charge of all the subsidiaries including fashion e-tailers Myntra and Jabong and payment wallet PhonePe.