Why Myntra CMO Sunder Balasubramanian thinks content-led commerce will be the future

Myntra has launched the Ultimate glam clan affiliate feature launch, allowing creators and everyday shoppers to earn commissions by sharing Myntra-linked content across social media platforms, as the company sharpens its focus on creator-led and content-driven commerce.

Chief Marketing Officer Sunder Balasubramanian positioned the affiliate launch as part of Myntra’s larger ambition to democratise social commerce in India and build a creator-commerce ecosystem powered by everyday shoppers, nano creators and tier-2 and tier-3 creators. 

“Our real goalpost is that the next million creators in India will come out of this programme,” Balasubramanian said.

Under the affiliate launch, creators can now distribute content created on Myntra across platforms such as Instagram and YouTube and earn commissions ranging from 8% to 12% based on sales generated through affiliate links.

The launch builds on Myntra’s broader social commerce ecosystem, which the company has been scaling over the last 18 months through three creator pillars: Ultimate Glam Clan for shoppers-turned-creators, Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) featuring celebrity-led content, and Style Squad, which incentivises creators posting about Myntra across social media.

Balasubramanian said the company sees shopping behaviour increasingly shifting from catalogue-led browsing to content-led discovery as social media adoption deepens across the country.

“Today everyone with a mobile phone is across multiple social media platforms, being exposed to influencers, creators, content, making their own content,” he said.

“We strongly believe that the future will be content-led commerce,” he added.

According to Myntra, over 75% of Gen Z and millennials now use social media as their primary discovery platform, while more than 80% rely on video-led content for awareness around brands and trends. The company also highlighted growing consumer trust in user-generated content over professionally produced advertising.

“There are very few platforms where both inspiration and shopping happen together. Today, inspiration and discovery happen somewhere, shopping happens somewhere else. We are looking to bring the two together,” Balasubramanian said.

The company said it does not want to merely tap into India’s existing creator economy, but expand it further by enabling monetisation opportunities for nano and micro creators.

“We don’t just want to tap into the existing 2.5 million creators. We want to build an ecosystem across the country that democratizes this even more,” Balasubramanian said.

According to the company, more than six million users have already signed up for the Ultimate Glam Clan programme, with over 100,000 nano and micro creators currently earning through the platform. The company added that nearly 70% of creators on the platform come from tier-2 and tier-3 markets, highlighting the growing influence of regional India in shaping the creator economy.

Balasubramanian noted that creators are increasingly helping bridge aspiration and accessibility gaps for consumers across smaller markets.

“When consumers see influencers they know speak about a brand or trend, there is implicit trust over there and that helps in the decision-making process,” he said.

Myntra also revealed that social commerce now contributes 10% of the platform’s revenue, with the contribution doubling year-on-year in 2025, according to the company. Users engaging with creator-led or influencer content on the platform show 10% higher conversion rates, while return rates are also lower among shoppers consuming user-generated content before purchase.

The company is also positioning the model as a performance-led alternative within influencer marketing. 

“As a platform or as a brand, you are not paying someone just to put up a post. You are incentivising them when they impact sales,” Balasubramanian said.

“For us, it is not just top funnel, but full funnel,” he added, referring to Myntra’s content-commerce strategy.

The launch also marks the next stage in Myntra’s evolving social commerce journey, which began with initiatives such as Myntra Studio and Myntra Live. Balasubramanian said the company initially experimented with live commerce formats before seeing stronger traction in short-form and creator-led video content.

Myntra said users currently consume over 27,000 hours of content on the platform, including podcasts, interviews, microdramas and reality-style formats, signalling the company’s growing ambition to evolve from a transactional marketplace into a content-first commerce platform.