Apparel Online Bangladesh Magazine February Issue 2019 | Page 76

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Myntra's Ananth Narayanan resigns, source says
‘he was not clear about his role'
revenues by around three-fold. The
net loss for FY ’17 was Rs. 655.86
crore. This comes without much
increase in the overall expenses
that stood at Rs. 953.2 crore as
compared to Rs. 861.9 crore in
the previous accounting period,
which shows that the company
has managed to register healthy
growth despite cutting down on the
expenses.
E-commerce firm Myntra recently
announced the departure of its
Chief Executive Officer Ananth
Narayanan from the online firm.
The development puts an end to
months of speculation about his
exit following a recent rejig at the
parent group Flipkart.
Amar Nagaram has been appointed
as Head, Myntra and Jabong, and
will report to Flipkart CEO Kalyan
Krishnamurthy, a statement issued
by the online firm said.
Narayanan is reportedly in
talks with Star TV-owned video
streaming app, Hotstar for the CEO
position. The position has remained
vacant after former CEO Ajit
Mohan quit it becoming Facebook
India’s Managing Director.
The sources close to the matter
said that despite ongoing talks,
Narayanan may consider moving
back to his previous employer,
McKinsey, to join the consultancy
firm’s US practice.
“Post the restructuring of fashion
business at the Flipkart group,
Myntra and Jabong merged and
Walmart did not see a clear role
for Narayanan. Also, Narayanan
himself was not very certain about
the road ahead in this new set-
up, as Krishnamurthy was going
to take direct control of the two
entities as the Flipkart CEO,”stated
a person close to the development.
Myntra said in a statement issued,
“Ananth has played an important
role in making Myntra and Jabong
into a formidable player in the
fashion e-commerce market and
steering the company towards
sustainable growth. Over the last
three-and-a-half years, Narayanan
and the management team have
built a strong foundation for the
company. Myntra and Jabong are
an important part of the Flipkart
group serving our valuable
customers. The company will
continue to execute the growth
strategy and leverage synergies
with Flipkart as appropriate.”
Narayanan had joined Myntra
in 2015 as its CEO and had been
heading the combined entity after
the Jabong acquisition.
Meanwhile in a separate
development, Flipkart-owned
Myntra has consolidated its recent
losses to Rs. 178.7 crore for 2017-
18. The revenue for the year ended
March 2018 fell by 80 per cent to
just Rs. 427 crore, according to
documents filed with the Corporate
Affairs Ministry.
The platform has cut down its net
losses by more than a third while
at the same time improving its
“The total revenue from continuing
operations of the company during
the year 2017-18 was around 3.5
times its revenue from operations
for the previous year,” the company
said. Myntra attributed this growth
to the firm’s strategic initiative
of hiving off its B2B business
and focusing on its marketplace
operations and also actively
exploring and partnering with
various brands for providing
consultancy services.
The positive show by the online
marketplace comes after the
revised e-commerce policy that
bars the e-commerce players from
selling the products by the firms in
which they own a stake.
Myntra’s major part of the revenue
comes from the marketplace fee
that it gets from sellers who list
their products on the platform.
Walmart on a hiring spree; to add 2,000 technology
experts to its workforce
The world’s biggest retailer
Walmart is planning to hire
2,000 technology experts this
year to support its efforts both
offline and online. The retailer’s new digital tools
include algorithms that help store
associates pick online orders faster
by mapping the optimal route
through the aisles.
The hiring binge will
support Walmart’s efforts to
expand its online business and
embed in-store technology, such
as robots that scrub floors and
scan shelves. The recruitment will expand its
battle against Amazon to capture
the best talent beyond technology
hotbeds like Sunnyvale, California,
where both companies have offices,
and into emerging corridors like
76 Apparel Online Bangladesh | FEBRUARY 2019 | www.apparelresources.com
Northern Virginia. It is looking
for data scientists, software
engineers, designers and others to
work in nine offices from Silicon
Valley to Bangalore, said Walmart
Chief Technology Officer Jeremy
King in an interview.
The retail technology group that
King leads currently has about
7,500 employees after hiring 1,700
last year, he said.