Future of Travel and Fashion in the App-only World

Long winding mountain roads, rain drenched ancient temples and churches, bustling gurudwaras and quaint hillside villages – the month of April was spent soaking all this and more as I travelled across different states, hopping from one bus to another with my little rucksack in tow. What made travel by public transport easier was the fact that I had packed light, deciding to give my laptop and bulky DSLR a break and instead opting to rely solely on my smartphone for all my camera and internet needs. And trust me my trusty phone never let me down! From capturing treasurable travel moments, to helping with the directions while on unfamiliar trails to taking care of my shopping whims on the go, my smartphone was my most trusted and sought after companion while on the road.

'App-only' is the way to go

Come to think of it, one cannot thank technology enough for encapsulating so much of the world in these small wonders called smartphones. Imagine, there are thousands and thousands of applications in there to take care of all our big and small needs. From our newspapers, to our favourite online stores – it’s all in there! And the way technology is moving, the apps-only world is not far away. Why, many web portals are  looking at wrapping up their web presence and opting for mobile-only mode, thanks to our ever increasing reliance on our smartphones and their growing popularity all over the world.

In this Myntra, India’s biggest fashion retailer has already taken the lead and announced the decision to close its web and mobile websites and operate its business solely through mobile application or app. A very visionary decision, one must say given the huge shift of young buyers from websites to mobile apps. If I were to take myself as an example, I am glued to my phone for some work or the other for my phone is my multitasking device, from answering mails, to reading top news of the day to microblogging, to posting photos on Instagram – my phone is my most used gadget. Now in between all this multitasking, why bother to turn on the laptop to log on to my favourite shopping site when the site’s app is right there on my phone. Shopping right through the smartphone app not just makes the process more quick and convenient but also saves me the hassle of putting my other tasks on hold.

'App-only' is the way to go

There’s no doubt that with their decision to go app-only Myntra has set off a new trend in the Indian online shopping scenario. This trend that will most definitely be picked up by other players in the eCommerce domain in the coming times, for given our increasing usage of smartphones, the mobile-only approach works in favour of both the buyers and the retailers, as both of them will have their efforts concentrated on just one shopping platform, rather than juggling web portal, mobile websites and mobile apps simultaneously.