Myntra adds warehouse in Kolkata, bolstering storage before festive season

Fashion e-tailer Myntra on Monday said it has set up a fulfilment centre in Kolkata and strengthened its supply chain network across the country ahead of the upcoming festive season.

Myntra has added one FC, three mother hubs, 12 satellite hubs, and 171 distribution centres to enhance capacity significantly for higher storage volumes and optimise last-mile deliveries further, a statement said.

The Flipkart group company will host its 'Big Fashion Festival' from October 3-10 and expects about 1.1 million first-time shoppers to participate in the sale.

The new FC in Kolkata is spread over 2 lakh sq ft and is designed to store up to 45 lakh items and will create employment opportunities for about 2,500 people to begin with, it added.

This facility also serves as a hub for the eastern region - which is an important market for Myntra - with its mature fashion shopper base, it said.

With this expansion, Myntra now has a total of five FCs - Binola, Bilaspur, Bhiwandi, Bengaluru and Kolkata - spread across an area of over 11 lakh sq ft in total. Two of these are also solar power-enabled.

Unlike traditional warehouses, fulfilment centres are equipped with highly automated pick, pack and shipping processes to facilitate safe and timely processing of orders.

E-commerce companies see a large chunk of their business coming in during the festive sales and they make significant investments ahead of time to ramp up their capacity and add features to be able to handle the spike in orders, while ensuring a smooth experience for shoppers and sellers.

According to consulting firm RedSeer, e-commerce platforms are expected to potentially clock over USD 9 billion gross GMV (Gross Merchandise Value) during the festive season this year as against USD 7.4 billion last year - a growth of 23 per cent.

During the first week of the festive season, these platforms are expected to register 30 per cent year-on-year growth in gross GMV to USD 4.8 billion. Gross GMV refers to the total value of goods sold on the platform prior to subtracting cancellation or return.

The report highlighted that in terms of categories, fashion is expected to see a steady recovery this festive season - in line with greater outdoor mobility of consumers and steady rebound of fashion/office wear.

Myntra, in its statement, said it has added three new 'mother hubs' located at Bilaspur, Chennai and Kolkata, taking the collective processing area of its mother hubs to over 6 lakh sq ft in all.

With this addition, the total 30 mother hubs in India will have about 10,000 staff. Since the previous edition of Big Fashion Festival, Myntra has added 171 new last-mile distribution centres across the country, taking the total count to 1,330.

About 4 million customers shopped for 13 million items during the previous edition of 'Big Fashion Festival' last year. Myntra is expecting a strong demand this year as well, and this capacity addition will play an integral role in optimising the delivery experience for its expanding shopper base this festive season and beyond, it added.

"Our tech-pivoted fulfillment and distribution centres with their state-of-the-art infrastructure, play an important role to elevate the quality of service experience we are able to offer to our customers, on the back of optimised delivery timeline, especially during peak periods such as the festive season," Myntra CEO Amar Nagaram said.

With the expansion of the overall storage and processing facility, Myntra is geared up to deliver a fulfilling festive shopping experience for its growing customer base, he added.