In my previous post, I talked about two startups in the field of creating customised gifts online – Dilsebol.com and Pringoo.com. Part 2 of my post is about another such startup called Myntra.com, based out of Bangalore.
Overall rating: 9 / 10
Speed in dispatching items: 7 / 10
Diversity of items on offer: 10 / 10
Item design interface: 9 / 10
Pricing: 8 / 10
Items available: T-shirt, mug, coaster, keychain, mousepad, greeting cards, poster, jigsaw, diaries / notebooks, calendar, watch, pendant, sweatshirt, money bank, sipper, tiles, wine glass, plaques, engraved keychain, letter pad, magazine cover, jewellery box, marble pen & keychain, photo print (on various surfaces), mirrors, cigarette lighter, pen. Check out the complete list along with sub-categories here.
I’ll be frank right at the outset. Out of the three companies reviewed till now, I find Myntra the best. Nobody beats them in the sheer variety of items that they have on offer for customization. And it’s not just the variety, but also the kind of gifts – many of them are truly unique and hatke. You would really want to give or get a gift of the types they have on offer. They also offer customization on a far more varied types of material / surfaces than the other customized gift providers.
Once you narrow down on the gift item you want to give in the ‘Create Product’ page, proceed to the designer by choosing whatever specific type of that item you want to create within that category. Myntra’s design interface is a joy because of its simplicity. No baffling buttons, no broken layouts. All that you have is a simple step-by-step guided process. You also get more control than the others on position, size, and overall look of how the product will look when printed on. Within the designer, a higher number of fonts is available if you want to type in text; however, I would suggest you to stick to making your design as image and then uploading it.
It’s the little things that make you want to order from Myntra. Any other company – whether a brick-and-mortar store or Myntra’s online competitors – will charge you extra if you want to print on both sides of a T-shirt; Myntra charges a flat rate whether you print on one side or both sides. When you are giving your order, for a small fee you can also specify the item to be a gift, to be couriered directly to the person whom you want to send it to. While I don’t think they’ll gift-wrap the item (duh, they’re sending by courier), they allow you to include a personalized message. When it comes to couriering (whether you choose the gift option or not) you have a choice of three different companies – BlueDart, DTDC, and Aramex. (The Aramex option seemingly can’t be selected though, since clicking on it actually selects BlueDart. Some bug in their code.) Courier charges are extremely reasonable. Curiously, they charge less to send via BlueDart than DTDC! :O
Say you don’t want to design items, only want to buy something. Myntra has a thriving designer community who sell their designs on various gift items for you to buy. None of the other competitors have a thriving design community. They have a design community, but most designs are crap. Myntra has cornered attracted some good designers to its platform!
I’ll share some of my experiences so far with Myntra. I ordered a jigsaw puzzle (to be sent as a gift), part of which you can see assembled in the image above. I was a bit skeptical how my uploaded image would look when printed on a jigsaw, or heck, how even the jigsaw would feel like – but when I got the finished product it was simply beautiful. I’d chosen this to be sent by BlueDart, and it arrived next day after dispatch date. The only thing I didn’t like was that it didn’t come in a box; just in a plastic package with a cardboard back. Otherwise, this turned out to be an awesome gift item.
The most recent items I ordered from Myntra are these customized pens that arrived today. Myntra keeps you informed about your order progress via SMS, and these shipped right on time on 16th September – the deadline they had assigned themselves. (They set a deadline, and most times they deliver before the date they set.) I had asked for this to be shipped by BlueDart but I don’t know why, maybe because this was a large order, they sent it by DTDC instead. DTDC is a bit lax about delivery, so despite the items arriving in Delhi on 17th, DTDC brought to my home only late afternoon on 18th. (I’m sure this wouldn’t have happened with BlueDart.) I ordered these pens as gifts to be given to my schools teachers, but because of this delay on DTDC’s part the only option I have is to go and give these on the day I leave for UK. 😐
To some extent, this is Myntra’s fault, not just DTDC’s. Even when the invoice on the shipped product mentions shipping company as BlueDart, they goofed up and sent by DTDC instead. Why. The. Fuck? When I’m individually paying shipping for each product, I at least deserve to receive the items by the method I want. The pens themselves look classy, and the custom text on them doesn’t seem as if it will come off easily. The boxes they come in seem a bit flimsy though. Anyway, I’m sure my erstwhile school teaches will be delighted. It’s a unique gift item.
Overall, I would say that what makes Myntra stand apart from the crowd are – SMS tracking, delivery options, gift option, wide variety of items with variety in material, reasonable prices, intuitive design interface. When I need to order any customized items in the future, I will continue to prefer Myntra. I might have to pay slightly more than what its competitors charge, but in return I am assured the product quality is going to be good. I would definitely recommend Myntra as the gift / printing solution provider of choice.
