Latest news with #Minis
Times
2 days ago
- Sport
- Times
I first saw classy Tom Lynagh play aged 8. Australia must stick with him
F ull disclosure here: Tom Lynagh is a player I have watched occasionally from as far back as his days with the Richmond Minis. Those were the days when he used to play in the same team as a junior Slot. It has been an unusual experience, then, to have seen his steady growth from eight-year-old to international. So I am clearly biased here. Yet when we assess: how did it go for the 22-year-old No10, who was making his first start for Australia and playing behind a retreating pack and off a scrum half with whom he had never stepped on the field before? I think that's not really a question, is it? It's an answer. How else could it have gone?
Time of India
6 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Fashion discovery was broken, so Myntra rebuilt it
For the past 18 months, Myntra has been building a content ecosystem designed to solve one of the most significant consumer friction points in fashion shopping: discovery. Until now, most e-commerce marketplaces have been designed in a way that treats discovery like a scavenger hunt. Generic filters and endless scrolling have diminished the joy of finding that perfect product, one that makes the consumer feel good and confident about their decision. The greatest strength of e-commerce marketplaces, their vast catalogue, has become a marketing nightmare. Platforms attempt personalised recommendations and semantic search, but shopping for fashion online still does not feel as easy or effortless as it should. Meanwhile, consumer behaviour is evolving rapidly. The shopper's journey no longer begins in a storefront or search bar, but when they are scrolling through social media or consuming entertainment. Spotting what a celebrity wore at the Met Gala might lead to a quick Google search, or a Google Lens scan to discover similar products listed online. But this journey is not intuitive. People want to be inspired first, and then they shop. Myntra is betting its future on that idea. Instead of rebuilding its catalogue, it is rebuilding the top of the funnel. In mid-2022, the platform launched Myntra Minis, short-form influencer videos embedded directly into the app's shopping interface. Over 150,000 videos have been uploaded to date. Sunder Balasubramanian, CMO of Myntra, told ETBrandEquity, 'Minis gave us a wealth of insights into how people interact with influencer content. Shoppers loved the inspiration, but Gen Z, a key cohort for us, sought relatability. They wanted to know: what are people like me wearing and buying?' Then in 2024, Myntra launched Ultimate Glam Clan , a programme that transforms the average shopper into a creator. Any user can upload a photo or video of something they have bought on Myntra. If someone purchases through that post, the creator earns a commission. Myntra saw modest success through these initiatives: 1 million users signed upOver 1 million posts uploaded4.5 billion impressions deliveredTop content viewers watched 30 to 40 videos per sessionA 20%+ uplift in conversion rates among content-exposed users Last week, Myntra rolled out its most ambitious content-to-commerce experiment yet: Glamstream . 500 hours of celebrity-led content4,000 episodes across music videos, podcasts, web series and styling shows100+ celebrities, in partnership with 50+ content creators and studios Balasubramanian stated, 'We are not just experimenting with content formats. We are trying to understand what kind of content converts on a commerce platform. Nobody knows that yet.' This layer of content is fully shoppable and is designed to both inspire shoppers and enable purchases simultaneously. Users can not only see what their favourite creators or celebrities are wearing, but also browse a curated list of similar products displayed below the video and add items to their cart instantly. The back-end has evolved at a similar pace. The initial MVP (minimum viable product) relied on manual tagging. Today, machine learning auto-tags fashion products in videos using visual similarity and catalogue data. Like most brands, Myntra is still on the learning curve when it comes to building a successful social commerce business in India. In 2021–22, the company launched M-Live, a live commerce platform that failed to take off. The key learning was that appointment-based viewing did not resonate with Indian users. Especially among Gen Z, browsing is spontaneous, often happening during a commute or just before bed. According to Balasubramanian, phase one is about building adoption and understanding user behaviour. Then comes scaling and personalising content to match individual preferences. Once that is in place, brand integrations and monetisation will form phase two. But it is still early days for the platform. 'Currently, 16% of monthly active users engage with content. Our goal is to take that up to 50%,' noted Balasubramanian. 'Next, we are building creator pages (for influencers and everyday users alike), metrics like likes, followers, earnings, and a personalisation engine, so that each user sees a content feed tailored to their fashion preferences.' While content-to-commerce is not new, most brands still rely on affiliate links and traffic redirection to drive purchases. If Myntra succeeds, it will have made content-to-commerce journeys more effortless and intuitive, potentially changing how consumers in India shop for fashion online.
Yahoo
07-07-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Shiploads of cars ready to set sail for US from UK as trade deal kicks in
Shiploads of Minis, Aston Martins and Range Rovers will set sail for the US on Monday as the UK-US trade deal kicks in, but British farmers say they have been used as collateral to save the car industry. Auto shipments across the Atlantic were down more than half in May after Donald Trump's imposition of a 25% tariff on 3 April on top of an existing 2.5% levy. However, as of one minute past midnight US time on Monday – 5am in the UK – that has been reduced to 10% for cars, and UK manufacturers expect pent-up demand to be unleashed. Aston Martin's chief executive, Adrian Hallmark, said the luxury carmaker had stopped shipping between April and June, something he said had been 'not catastrophic, but slightly uncomfortable'. The outline of the trade deal was agreed between Trump and Keir Starmer in early May, the first such bilateral pact to mitigate the president's import taxes. However, delays in agreeing the fine print meant the higher tariff had continued to apply, pushing the cost of British cars up by more than a quarter for US importers. Hallmark told a British car industry conference last week that he was 'planning to invoice three months' worth of sales in a 24-hour period', with stocks in the US down by 50% due to the pause. Aston Martin exports 90% of its cars, but its customers are wealthy and were willing to wait. 'The demand has been strong and will be in good shape when we start to invoice cars like fury on Monday next week,' he said. On the eve of the trade deal coming into force, the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, received reassurances from the sportscar maker Lotus that it had no plans to close its UK factory, in Hethel, Norfolk. Reynolds contacted Lotus bosses after it emerged that the carmaker was considering shifting production to the US – a move that would jeopardise 1,300 jobs. A Department for Business and Trade spokesperson said Reynolds met Lotus and its owner, Geely, on Sunday to clarify the company's situation, and 'was reassured by management that they are committed to their UK operations and have no plans to close their Hethel plant'. A decision to relocate manufacturing abroad by a prestige brand such as Lotus would be embarrassing for the UK government. Labour's industrial strategy, published last week, singled out automotive production as among the strategic sectors it wants to support. The car industry welcomed the US-UK trade deal when it was struck, with it preventing job losses at JLR, the maker of the Jaguar and Land Rover brands. Range Rovers are particularly popular in the US. However, the lower 10% duty only applies to a quota of 100,000 cars a year – slightly below last year's export numbers – leaving little room for growth. JLR alone exported 84,000 cars in the year up to April 2025. The initial trade deal also included a promise of zero tariffs on steel but this has been held up by negotiations over the origin of some raw materials for smelting, particularly at Tata's plant at Port Talbot in south Wales. Concessions were won with new tariff-free quotas for British and US beef in each other's markets, as well the controversial removal of a 19% tariff on American ethanol imports, which the UK industry says leaves biofuel plants facing closure. The president of the National Farmers' Union, Tom Bradshaw, said the government must stop using agriculture as a bargaining chip in talks and urged Starmer to take the sector off the table in the talks on steel and remove the 10% baseline tariff Trump has applied to all imports. 'Agriculture has borne the responsibility of removing tariffs for other sectors. At some point they've got to stop relying on agriculture to take the burden,' Bradshaw said. 'Agriculture has nothing left to give.' On the upside for farmers, they can now sell 13,000 tonnes of British beef to the US, but again there is a catch. They will not be able to sell until January next year because beef is part of a wider tariff deal with other countries, and this year's quota has already been filled by Brazilians who stockpile beef in storage near the Mexican border. The UK steel industry has at least won a temporary exemption from the 50% tariff imposed by Trump at the start of this month until 9 July, but it still faces a 25% tariff on exports. It is waiting anxiously for delivery of the promised zero rate tariff. 'Time is running out to secure a UK-US steel deal and remove damaging tariffs,' said Gareth Stace, the director general of UK Steel. 'Every day of delay costs our steelmakers dearly. Contracts are being lost, investment decisions remain on hold, and uncertainty is paralysing business decisions. We urgently need a swift, positive resolution to these talks to protect jobs, unlock growth, and restore confidence in the sector.' Yet even in a zero-tariff deal, Port Talbot may still face issues. The UK operations of the Indian conglomerate are relying on imports of steel melted and poured in its sister plants in India and the Netherlands while they move from a polluting blast furnace to the greener electric arc furnace to smelt steel. However, UK Steel is hoping there can be an exception to the tariffs agreed for the Welsh operation along with the five other plants in the UK. UK trade officials are understood to be optimistic they can secure such an exemption. Sign in to access your portfolio
Entrepreneur
05-07-2025
- Business
- Entrepreneur
Citigroup Sells Swiggy Shares Worth INR 12.2 Crore
This latest equity movement, combined with the winding down of Minis, suggests Swiggy is refocusing on core services while investors recalibrate their positions accordingly. You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. Citigroup Global Markets has offloaded its stake in Swiggy to BNP Paribas Financial Markets in a block deal worth INR 12.2 crore, according to stock exchange data. The transaction involved the sale of 3.2 lakh shares at INR 381 apiece and was executed through bulk deal mechanisms. Citigroup Global Markets, the brokerage and investment banking arm of US-based Citigroup Inc., sold the shares to the investment unit of French banking major BNP Paribas. The move marks a notable shift in foreign institutional interest in the Indian foodtech company, coming at a time when Swiggy is undergoing internal restructuring. The share sale comes shortly after Swiggy announced the impending shutdown of its digital storefront platform, Minis, by August 10. Minis, which once offered home-cooked meals, handmade products, and baking supplies, has not been visible on the main Swiggy app for over a year—indicating the company had already begun winding it down in phases. While Swiggy continues to be a major player in India's food delivery and quick commerce space, recent financials suggest mounting pressure on profitability. In the quarter ending March 31, 2025, the company reported revenue of INR 4,410 crore but posted a loss of INR 1,081 crore during the same period. Food delivery accounted for 37 per cent of its total revenue, with quick commerce contributing the rest. Neither Citigroup nor BNP Paribas issued public statements on the rationale behind the transaction. However, such secondary market trades often reflect broader investor sentiment and strategic rebalancing, especially in the run-up to Swiggy's anticipated public offering.
Time of India
02-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Swiggy to shut down B2B offering for small businesses Minis
Synopsis This follows heightened competition from rivals in Swiggy's core businesses of food delivery and quick commerce. Minis was Swiggy's SaaS offering that allowed local stores and D2C brands to create online stores without having to build a website or app, and worked on a zero-commission model.
