There’s a kind of uncertainty in the air at Walmart-run Flipkart, particularly the way the fashion arm Myntra is to be run. According to a Mint report, Walmart is examining the differentiation between Flipkart and Myntra to figure out if there is enough of a difference for Myntra to run independently.
Myntra and the other fashion site Jabong, both acquired by Flipkart and fully owned by it were run as independent business operations under a CEO recruited from outside. So far, there has been no direct control of Myntra’s operations from the management at Flipkart. But Walmart is now reportedly looking at possibilities of integrating some roles between Myntra and Flipkart’s fashion business and running the two more closely.
According to a Walmart statement on Tuesday, Myntra CEO Ananth Narayanan will now report to Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy and going ahead, Myntra and Jabong may function as fashion brands within the overall Flipkart umbrella and will be integrated with the fashion segment on the main business site of Flipkart.
This development at the ecommerce platform comes at a time when Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal is also leaving the scene. The resignation of Binny Bansal under a cloud of what is being described as ‘serious personal conduct’. Though Bansal has refuted that he had done anything wrong and that an independent internal inquiry has found that the allegation against him were unsubstantiated. But a charge that Binny Bansal had not done the right thing by keeping the issue under wraps and committed errors of judgement. Following these Binny Bansal has quit all day to day responsibilities; but, unlike his co-founder Sachin Bansal, Binny has decided to retain his stake in the company and his place on the Board of Directors.
A section of the observers had already expected that the takeover of Flipkart by Walmart could bring in a lot of changes in the way the business is run at Flipkart, but maybe even they had not bargained for such dramatic changes so soon. Flipkart’s fashion business may yet grow and expand, but the contribution of CEO Narayanan in building the brand to a leading online fashion destination is something that may not be emulated.