Online fashion retailer Myntra will pilot a programme to help large brands to drive their offline sales through a multi-channel approach and offer an integrated shopping experience.

“We are going to partner with some of our major brands to do omni-channels. Maybe we will leverage their inventory in the stores or the consumer experience that we have in the stores where we can direct the traffic,” Myntra’s CEO Ananth Narayanan said. Myntra is in talks with several brands for the pilot programme to be launched in the next financial year, but Narayanan did not reveal the names.

With the move, Myntra is trying to leverage its smartphone app user base of 7.6 million to drive sales for large brands in the country. Currently, international brands contribute five per cent to Myntra’s revenues while private labels’ share is 20 per cent. The company claims a high repeat customer rate at 80-85 per cent. Over an 18-month period, the firm plans to double the share of international brands and increase the own brand share to 30 per cent of its total sales, which will help it generate higher margins.

Indian retailers have already begun to look at merging the offline and online experiences in retailing for their consumers. Madura Fashion & Lifestyle, part of Aditya Birla Nuvo, launched a digitally integrated store in Bengaluru. Snapdeal’s omni-channel platform named Janus lets customers discover, purchase or even return products to a physical store. Reliance is building a fashion e-commerce portal out of Bengaluru.