![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.thirdeyesight.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/app-myntra.jpg\")
Last\nmonth, Grofers, one of India’s biggest online grocery delivery\nservices, scrapped its app-only strategy to launch a working desktop\nsite. Previously, their website had not supported purchases, opting in\nfavor of a mobile-only system.\n
\nSimilarly last year,\nFlipkart-owned Myntra — India’s largest fashion e-commerce marketplace\n— announced its plan to go app-only. The company said it was meant to\nimprove personalization, as well as benefitting Myntra as users were\nforced to download the app. Competition would be pushed out as\ncustomers would be more captive in a specific environment and shopping\naround for discounts would lessen.
\n
\nSimilarly to Grofers,\nhowever, the move to adopt app-only backfired. Within a year, Myntra’s\nplan had to be rolled back and the company was forced to launch its\nmobile website again.
\n
\nThis has left experts wondering if India\nis ready for an app-only e-commerce platform. And as expected,\n“probably not” has been the popular sentiment from the e-commerce\nindustry. For one thing, the most popular phones among Indians are\nfeature phones, which cannot support apps and lack the advanced\nfunctionality of the newer smartphones. The percentage of smartphone\nusers in the country is just 29.8% of total cell phone adopters. Even\nwithin this group, the majority own low-end smartphones which cannot\nsupport more than four or five working apps. This often leads to a high\nuninstall rate, which makes customer retention difficult.
\n
\nSo, if\na company plans to go app-only, it risks missing out on a potentially\nwide market of customers, particularly in the likely event their app\ndoes not happen to be among the top four or five apps of choice for a\nuser.
\n
\nAdditionally, an app-only model may have issues reaching\nconsumers across the entire spectrum of platforms like Android, iOS or\nWindows, even if they do own a high-end smartphone. Albinder Dhindsa,\nfounder at Grofers, admits the temptation is there to target app-only\nstrategies. “In the beginning, a small business has only limited\nresources to work with,” he says. “In such cases, an app makes for an\nobvious choice to help reach out to a certain number of Indian\nconsumers — for many of whom the mobile phone remains their primary\ndevice to connect to the internet. As a business grows, providing\nadditional platforms makes sense and is feasible as well.”
\n
\nThat’s\nnot to say that India isn’t ready for apps. Online travel, banking,\neducation, food, healthcare, home services, payments — every sector is\ntrying to woo users to their brand of mobile apps by offering freebies\nand discounts. India, along with China, is one of the world’s\nfastest-growing mobile app markets. However, many believe that an app\nstrategy should not be an issue of “or” but “and”. Rajiv Mangla, Chief\nTechnology Officer of Snapdeal, says that customers have heterogeneous\nshopping habits, hence it makes sense to have multiple access points.\n“We have seen cases where people purchasing high ticket items,\nespecially over INR 10,000 (around $150), prefer a larger screen to\nview product details and requisite content,” he says. Also a factor in\nIndia, mobile internet connectivity is slow for most users. Customers\nmight want to access the portal on a faster broadband-based connection,\nand a robust desktop platform ensures this is available.
\n
\nDevangshu\nDutta of Third Eyesight, a consulting firm focussed on the retail and\nconsumer products ecosystem, is of the view that an app-only approach\nworks best if the app is used frequently, with high customer loyalty or\nstickiness. “This way one can aim to become a default aggregator of a\nparticular service, such as taxi-hire or ride-share, restaurant\nselection, news etc. But, I still feel an app with a narrow\nproduct\/service range would generally be less viable than a website\nwith a similar offering,” says Dutta.<\/span>
\n
\nDhindsa concurs\nthat though there are businesses which are app-only or near to app-only\n(with the app providing over 80% of their transactions), there is an\nequally strong move back towards the mobile website. “New features\ndeveloped by Google browsers and UC Web make the overall experience\ngood. There is browser notifications, faster loading time and smarter\ncaching to minimize data usage and improve speeds,” he says.
\n
\nWhether\nthe future is app-only or if the web retains its relevance, it’s clear\nthat many in India believe that the customer should still have the\nchoice of how they want to interact with a business.
\n<\/p>\n