A year ago Myntra launched FWD — short for ‘Forward’ — its dedicated Gen Z offering. Three months ago it launched The Ultimate Glam Clan, a creator programme on the Myntra app, which already has one-plus lakh sign-ups, it says. And to further drive the creator programme it has an offline event, Creator Fest, which was held recently in Mumbai. Excerpts from a conversation with Myntra’s chief marketing officer Sunder Balasubramanian
What was the idea behind FWD?
We launched FWD, fully recognising the opportunity for Gen Z. Most people talk about Gen Z as the next big generation from a consumption perspective. We realised on Myntra, at least from a fashion and lifestyle perspective, that Gen Z are already purchasing. So it’s really that which inspired us to build a dedicated platform for Gen Z.
Who are the biggest shoppers on Myntra?
The millennials are the biggest. Gen Z are the upcoming ones. The statistics on Gen Z is quite interesting. There are more than 200 million of them in urban India, and we know from reports that over 60 million of them are purchasing something online. So we are genuinely excited about what this cohort offers us as a brand, and as a business, over the next few years. That’s kind of why we doubled down and created a property for Gen Z, because they are very clear and distinct in what they seek, and that’s different from millennials. FWD is an app-in-app, and it’s differentiated versus Myntra on a few counts.
One is that it is ‘trend first’. Myntra, for example, will have a lot of brands — global brands, national brands, D2C brands. But everything on FWD is trend first, because that’s what matters to Gen Z.
Second is that Gen Z is at the life stage where the average order value tends to be about 30 per cent less than what it is for millennials. So that’s another piece we have curated. For example, in western women’s wear the average article price on Myntra would be between ₹800 and ₹900. On FWD, it would be closer to ₹500.
The third thing is how Gen Z shops. They are far more visual. They look for influencer content. They look for videos. So it’s a very immersive shopping experience, where FWD is distinctly different from the rest of Myntra.
Last year, we had about 8 million customers on FWD. That’s doubled to 16 million customers today. And we’re looking to add another 20-25 million customers in the next couple of years.
So, how are you upping the influencer content?
Influencers and creators tend to be the points of reference for Gen Z, and that’s where trends are discovered and scaled. It’s also a domain where Myntra has consistently been focused on. One part of how we do that is the Creator Fest held in Mumbai. It is an annual event. For example, a lot of Gen Z trends of 2025 are shared at the fest.
What are the trends you are seeing?
One key interesting trend that keeps coming up is “back to the future”, or nostalgia, or what is called ’80s to ’90s fashion.
Another one, which we’ve seen in other parts of the world and not as much here, is the ‘alpha feminine’, which pushes the boundary of gender roles.
If you look at the fashion world, they are used to spring, summer, autumn, winter. But Gen Z does not care about that. For Gen Z, it is every month... what is new, what is relevant. It’s much more real-time.
Since you talked about gender roles, what is the ratio of women-to-men creators on your platform?
I’m going to guess it’s almost an equal mix of men and women, and that comes across not just in fashion, but even beauty.
And what about user-generated content?
Through the Ultimate Glam Clan programme, as long as you have 500 followers, all it requires is that you send in your review. Today it’s an image, tomorrow it will be a video. We will make sure that it is seen on the platform by anyone who’s interested in something similar, and you will get payouts if someone buys off it. In the first month, we’ve had people earning up to ₹20,000. So it’s quite interesting how that can play out.