The curtains are finally down on Jabong, the Rocket Internet founded fashion portal which was once upon a time, India’s most visited ecommerce portal.
Jabong.com, their desktop website and Jabong app, both are being redirected to Myntra, which is Flipkart’s (and Walmart’s) fashion hub.
And this reveals the reason why Jabong has been shut down.
Flipkart Shuts Down Jabong: The Evidence
Since both website and app of Jabong is being redirected to Myntra, it is evident that Flipkart has finally pulled the plug on Jabong.
There has been no response from the Jabong’s management team on this development.
Last November, during an earnings call, Walmart reported a non-cash impairment charge of $290 million on account of its investment in Jabong, which further proves that Jabong is no more an active digital property for Walmart and Flipkart.
Flipkart had acquired Jabong for $70 million in 2016, and wanted to make it as a fashion destination, along with Myntra.
While Jabong catered to the women shoppers, Myntra was branded as a unisex fashion hub.
Why Flipkart Closed Down Jabong?
The apparent reason right now is focus and priorities.
Jabong had been losing traffic and downloads consistently, as the parent company: Flipkart stopped all branding and marketing campaigns. Infact, app downloads were down by 12% in December, and daily active users reduced by 10%.
At the same time, app downloads for Myntra increased by 40% in the same period and daily active users rise by 31%.
Now, after shutting down Jabong, Walmart and Flipkart can focus extensively on Myntra for developing it as a premium online fashion destination, and prioritize their activities.
Jabong’s Xiaomi Connection
In 2012, 4 young entrepreneurs founded Jabong, and one among them was Manu Kumar Jain, who is right now successfully leading Xiaomi India, along with Mi and Poco brands.
The other founding members of Jabong were: Praveen Sinha, Lakshmi Potluri, Arun Chandra Mohan, along with Manu Kumar Jain.
Later, the company was sold to Rocket Internet, the Germany based Internet company which also founded tons of successful digital ventures including Food Panda.
In 2016, Jabong was sold to Flipkart for $70 million, despite receiving more than 300 million euro as VC funding from a consortium of European investors.
In 2018, there were some large scale management hiccups, as almost 50% of Jabong staff were fired. Talks of a possible shutdown were still in the air at that time as well.
The downfall from India’s most visited ecommerce portal to extinction have been pretty interesting for Jabong.
Now, it would be interesting to see how Walmart treats $59 billion Indian clothes and apparel market, which will become world’s 6th largest in 2022.
We will keep you updated, as more details come in.