Myntra banks on Roadster to boost its private labels

Myntra is harnesses its private brands to turn profitable, and is banking on its successful label Roadster to lead the way.

Early this year, Ananth Narayanan, the CEO of Myntra, forged a plan that would see Myntra’s private label business, Myntra Fashion Brands, become the driving force behind profitability. Roadster was priced affordably, stocked more frequently with new designs, and streamlined. The brand now has an annual gross sales run rate of Rs 650 crore which makes it bigger than any other brand on Myntra’s platform.

Roadster’s revenue has now become comparable with other leading denim brands in India, including established global like Levi’s, Pepe Jeans, and Benetton. The feeling within Myntra is Roadster could become bigger than its rivals in coming years, despite being a relatively new brand. But Myntra cannot rely solely on its accomplishments to turn the whole business profitable. The plan is to build more brands to reach the same level as Roadster.

Roadster, launched in November 2012 by Gautam Kotamraju, mainly stocks outerwear and denim and retails exclusively on Myntra and Flipkart’s online platforms. The brand is currently running their “Once Upon a Road” campaign where customers are taking it in turn to tweet snippets that Roadster is making into a road trip story which will then be turned into a cartoon.