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When <keyword id="80487" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="walmart">Walmart</keyword> announced its acquisition of a 77% stake in <keyword id="6354742" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> last month, <a href="https://news.walmart.com/2018/05/09/walmart-to-invest-in-flipkart-group-indias-innovative-ecommerce-company">its press release </a>included a direct reference to its “kirana” strategy. The US <keyword id="6354851" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="retail">retail</keyword>er said that it planned to “partner with kirana owners and members to help modernise their retail practices and adopt digital payment technologies”. Kiranas are small shops, usually run by families, that can be found on every street corner. These micro-businesses sell groceries and focus on specific neighbourhoods, culling a remarkable degree of loyalty through services such as free delivery and credit schemes. Walmart will work with these stores on two fronts. As part of its Flipkart deal, it is likely that they will integrate more of these stores into Flipkart’s supply chain network and get them to start using Flipkart's PhonePe digital payments network. However, on another level, Walmart also plans to expand its Indian wholesale cash-and-carry business - which it operates under the Best Price brand - and increase its business with the kirana stores, which are important customers. <keyword id="6543143" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="mera-kirana">Mera Kirana</keyword> In mid-2014, Walmart launched its Mera Kirana programme, aimed at helping these mom and pop stores improve the efficiency of their operations, especially in terms of assortment and sourcing. Under the pilot programme, Walmart introduced spaces in its Best Price stores that resembled kirana stores, but with a number of technological modifications in order to showcase what these stores could be doing better. It also offered training modules to kirana store owners that focused on best practices, tech adjustments and cost savings. It made sense for Walmart to work more closely with kirana stores and make their operations go digital. These stores comprised roughly 70% of the orders from its wholesale cash-and-carry business, so by making them adopt to new technologies, it made the process of supplying and distributing products to them a lot easier. Following the deal with Flipkart, Walmart plans to make Mera Kirana front-and-centre of its wholesale strategy. According to <a href="https://www.livemint.com/Companies/dOydx4hB1VEaNMaYIoj0IO/After-Flipkart-deal-Walmart-India-looks-to-scale-up-kirana.html">a report in Mint</a>, it plans to expand the programme and also establish a new “dark store” or fulfilment centre by the next month to exclusively supply goods to these stores. Customers, but also competitors While kirana stores are important customers for Walmart’s wholesale business, they act as competitors in the retail sector. WIth their last mile connectivity, strong customer loyalty, reasonably low overheads, they cater to the demographic that isn’t used to shopping online or at large retail stores. As the saying goes, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Walmart’s latest strategy announcement highlights its plans to make allies out of these stores as it prepares to counter <keyword id="18635" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Amazon">Amazon</keyword>’s push into India’s retail market. Walmart is looking open <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/walmart-to-open-50-new-stores-in-india-in-4-years/articleshow/64106655.cms">50 additional Best Price stores</a> in the next four years, taking its total store count in India to 71, and the expansion of the Mera Kirana programme will be vital to achieving this growth.

Keeping it ‘local’: Kirana stores are essential to Walmart’s future operations in India

New Delhi, Jul 6 () Kirana stores are emerging as the hub that helps maintain regular supply of essentials as cities struggle to get back to their normal rhythm and many such neighbourhood stores are considering greater technology adoption, according to a report. The report is based on a survey by consultancy firm EY that gathered insights through 27 qualitative interviews across 12 cities in India, 5 metros and 7 non-metros with participants who represent small and big kirana across a diverse socio-economic background. Stating that there is a renewed trust in hyper-local communities, EY's latest report 'Sentiments of India – Pulse of the country, Kiranas' said 40 per cent of respondents (kirana store owners) want to partner with online delivery and supply platforms as they feel it can help them grow and tide over in these testing times. Commenting on the findings, EY India Partner - Customer Experience and Design Thinking, Shashank Shwet said, "amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the kirana stores have emerged as local unsung heroes servicing the community at large. The kirana store owners have taken a lot of effort to keep up with the changing demands of the crisis and managing their day-to-day supplies." Moreover, he said, "the way that these kirana store owners have adopted to innovation and digital technologies, such as digital payments, changing operating models and reduced friction towards technology, to cope up with the pandemic is highly commendable." According to the survey, 20 per cent of the kirana store owners across metros and non-metros have started leveraging online platforms to get a steady supply of goods and assistance in deliveries. "Kiranas have proven themselves to be both agile and resilient, being able to bear the brunt of an unforgiving pandemic. Lacking other means, they have created a simplified online journey using chat apps as a medium of taking orders, providing contactless delivery and then receiving payments through digital platforms," the EY survey said. The pandemic has also led to a renewed trust in the local kirana store with a surge in new consumers visiting the local stores both in metros and non-metros with 79 per cent of respondents in non-metros and 50 per cent in metros state that there are new consumers coming to their store post the lockdown period, according the the survey. "These are consumers who would earlier shop online or from supermarkets, are now preferring to buy from local kirana stores to avoid long queues and there is a semblance of trust and traceability," EY said. RKL DRR DRR

COVID-19 prompts kirana stores to adopt innovation, digital technologies: Report

<ul><li>Indian e-commerce giant <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> has partnered with 27,000 kirana stores across 700 cities.</li><li>Interestingly, Reliance Jio for its grand e-commerce debut too is working with kirana stores.</li><li>Flipkart hopes to reach out to Tier 2 and 3 cities faster with this partnership.</li></ul>Walmart-owned Flipkart brought 27,000 kirana stores onboard to ensure last mile delivery ahead of <keyword id="2546729" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Big-Billion-Day-sale">Big Billion Day sale</keyword>. Kirana stores are Indian equivalents of mom and pop stores. Flipkart is leveraging its in-house tech solution called the ‘Allocation Engine’, to help automate allocation of shipments to delivery agents and partners, including kiranas. “Our approach to inclusivity for last-mile partners is guided by the synergies we share. After digital payments, the next big revolution in Kirana is going to be ushered in conjunction with e-commerce,” said Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO of Flipkart Group in a statement. ‘Big Billion Days will re-invent kirana stores as convenience stores’ Krishnamurthy hopes this initiative will re-position and re-invent kirana stores as convenience stores from an e-commerce perspective, while offering them a new source of revenue, making it a win-win situation. But Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries too has his eyes on Indian kirana stores. Ambani has interests in retail and looking to launch e-commerce vertical too. “The main purpose of new commerce is to completely transform the unorganised retail market, which accounts for 90% of India's retail industry. The 30 million merchants and kirana shop owners, who generate direct and indirect livelihoods for over 200 million, form the backbone of India's commerce ecosystem.” he said at his annual general meeting in August this year. While Flipkart hasn’t yet announced the dates of its Big Billion Day sale, it might coincide with Reliance Jio’s e-commerce entry. Meanwhile for Flipkart, this latest initiative is a step towards reaching out to the cities where most of its consumers are – in Tier 2 and 3 cities. They had also launched a Hindi app to gain its next 200 million consumers. “Almost 50-60% of our business comes from Tier 2 and 3 cities. With Hindi content, the selection and range of offers has been updated and tens and millions of new consumers can access the app a preferred language,” Rajneesh Kumar, chief corporate officer told Business Insider in an interview, adding that he hopes the upcoming sale will surpass the previous highs. See Also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/flipkart-big-billion-day-sale-2019-date-and-preparation/articleshow/70977185.cms">Big Billion Day sale is clashing with a severe slowdown but here's why Flipkart is confident</a>

Flipkart brings 27,000 kirana stores on board ahead of its Big Billion Day sale

New Delhi, Feb 23 () German wholesale retailer Metro Cash &amp; Carry is gearing up for expansion in India with the addition of five new stores this year and also plans to accelerate its e-commerce play and partnership with kirana stores, according to a top company official. The wholesale retailer, which has registered profits in the last two years in India, has so far partnered with 2,000 kirana stores in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Delhi, offering them complete end-to-end retail solutions. "The company thinks India is a big growth market. The opportunity for growth in India is huge in both physical stores and e-commerce," Metro Cash &amp; Carry India Managing Director and CEO Arvind Mediratta told . As part of expansion plans, he said, "we have five stores coming up this year in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana." Metro Cash &amp; Carry currently has 27 cash and carry stores in India in 17 cities. When asked about investments for the new stores, he declined to comment but said besides the new physical stores, the company has also been focussing on its partnership with local neighbourhood stores through its 'Smart Kirana Programme'. The whole idea is how to make a kirana store smarter in terms of usage of technology, by running business more efficiently, targeting more customers using data analytics, drive more customer traffic and make it more successful and profitable, he added. "We believe in helping kiranas in increasing their sell-out, not just sell to them because if their sell-out improves, and if they think Metro can help increase their sell-out, we automatically become their preferred supplier," Mediratta said. The company has provided point of sale (PoS) devices, which come with a Metro app to kirana owners through which they can order items from Metro online, get daily sales and profit report while also track top customers, the most selling articles and slow moving items. The device also allows them to accept debit/credit cards and accept wallet payments, which offer customer cashbacks and other offers. It enables passing on of such benefits to the end customer, he added. "The programme is working well and we believe we now have enough results and have got approval from our global board to expand this programme and take it national. We are now already in the process of scaling it up," he said. For scaling up its Smart Kirana Programme, Mediratta, said the company is taking it one step at a time. "Our idea is to first saturate Bangalore, Hyderabad and Delhi before you enter newer cities. You get better returns on investment if you do one market and do it really well, this is one of our big learnings when it comes to profitability. Strengthen your dominance wherever you are," he said. Metro has partnered with Paytm in Delhi and MSwipe in the rest of the country for digital payments while it has also roped in ePayLater which not only offers credit to kirana stores but also to their end-customers enabling them to shop at specific stores, Mediratta added. Stating that Indian retail landscape is changing with new-age online players both in business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) investing a lot of money, including on pricing which has put a lot of pressure on local kirana stores. In order to help the small stores keep up with the changes, he said Metro is also helping the kirana owners remodel their stores and convert old closed-loop stores into an open format modern store where customers can come inside and shop thereby increasing customer traffic and impulse buying. "What we are tying to do is organise loans for these kiranas for remodelling, because it can cost from Rs 75,000 to Rs 2 lakh and the remodelling operations takes only 48 hours," Mediratta said. RKL DRR

Metro Cash & Carry to open 5 new stores in India this year, enhance partnership with kirana stores

<ul><li><keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> on Wednesday said more than 50,000 kiranas have partnered the platform. </li><li>The number of kiranas joining the programme has doubled since last year.</li></ul> In a move to make e-commerce more inclusive, cin preparation for the festive season and the ‘Big Billion Days sale. Flipkart said it has significantly expanded its kirana onboarding programme to make deliveries to customers in more than 850 cities. The number of kiranas joining the programme has doubled since last year. "Through a combination of their hyperlocal presence and innovations by Flipkart, this programme has become a great enabler in strengthening the kirana ecosystem in the country," said Amitesh Jha, Senior Vice-President, Ekart and Marketplace, Flipkart. The company aims to provide a personalised e-commerce experience to millions of consumers while creating opportunities for digital upskilling as well as additional income for kiranas. The kirana programme has been expanded to places like Tinsukia (Assam), Agartala (Tripura) and Kannur (Kerala), connecting kiranas and consumers to the country's fast growing digital commerce. To help kiranas onboard and be active participants in the festive season, Flipkart's team initiated contactless onboarding of kiranas through online application forms where kirana partners directly uploaded details along with required documentation. The team organised digital training on various tools including app-based dashboards and digital payments, helping kiranas transform their business from traditional general trade stores to modern convenience stores. "As one of the oldest <keyword id="6354851" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="retail">retail</keyword> formats in India, kiranas have one of the highest penetration and showcase effective management of the supply chain drivers such as facilities, inventory, information and sourcing, as well as in maintaining a long-standing relationship with consumers," Jha said. Last year, kiranas collectively delivered over 1 million shipments during Flipkart's ‘The Big Billion Day'.

Flipkart says it has onboarded 50,000 kirana stores for the festive season

<ul><li>A Bank of America Merrill Lynch states that <keyword id="58448" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Reliance-Retail">Reliance Retail</keyword> market value , will skyrocket to a massive $200 billion in two years. </li><li>Since 90% of India’s retail market is unorganized and dominated by <keyword id="6513856" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="kirana-stores">Kirana stores</keyword> – Reliance might have a wide market to play in. </li><li>Recently, Reliance Industries backed startup Fynd launched Uniket, a direct-to-retail solution, which will help shopkeepers in Tier 2 and 3 cities go online and expand their businesses.</li></ul><keyword id="3820" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mukesh-Ambani">Mukesh Ambani</keyword>’s retail venture is unlike any other global ventures. Instead of eating up mom and pop stores like every other large retailer, it is juxtaposing its new e-commerce venture on mom-and-pop stores, or kirana stores as they are called in north India, by modernizing them. This strategy of erasing lines between offline and online retail will earn it rich dividends, <a href="https://www.businesstoday.in/markets/company-stock/reliance-industries-market-capitalisation-rises-reliance-jio-jio-fiber-bofa-ml/story/385191.html">believes</a> research firm Bank of America-Merrill Lynch (BofA-ML). In its latest report, the firm predicts that Reliance Retail’s market value will skyrocket to a massive $200 billion in two years. A big chunk of the value created will come from serving the kirana stores. Since 90% of India’s retail market is unorganized and dominated by kirana stores--Reliance might have a wide market to play in. So what is it that Reliance is offering these small stores? <ol><li>Reliance Retail intends to help shopkeepers enter the new digital age and will be aided by an agile Jio, its innovation and country-wide strong network. </li><li>RIL’s Point of Sale (PoS) offering (or New commerce business, as the company calls it) will help merchants take online orders, generate GST-compliant bills, get inventory decline alerts etc. It can also help them migrate to GST and other tax regimes easily.</li><li>RIL also benefits by being able to offer Kiranas a faster delivery of replenished stocks, according to the report.</li><li>Even brands and consumers benefit in this initiative with Brands benefiting from better data analytics, better ads and promotion of their products. Customers could get access to discounts directly from brands without the merchant looking to offer incentives. Trials have already stated for this service, BoFA-ML said.</li><li>Ambani intends to add more services and offerings. At the IMC 2019 event, it introduced an app which will allow small businesses to make <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/enterprise/news/reliance-jio-is-offering-a-new-bot-maker-for-small-businesses-to-build-their-own-video-call-assistants/articleshow/71590602.cms">their own chatbot</a>. That will directly aid the millions of kirana stores which could be connected in.</li><li>Recently, Reliance Industries backed startup Fynd launched Uniket, a direct-to-retail solution, which will help shopkeepers in Tier-II and Tier-III cities go online and expand their businesses. </li></ol>The Kirana stores will take time to change their usage patterns but when they do, it could lead to its growth at breakneck speeds of 20% per annum, the research firm says. “We estimate RIL will tie-up with 5 million kiranas in FY21 and 10 million by FY22. We expect RIL to be able to charge ₹500-750 per month per kirana as a service charge for its M-POS device (rather than an upfront fee),” the report said. <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none; width: 468pt; table-layout: fixed;"></colgroup><tbody><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Year </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Total Revenue estimate in ₹ million </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Implied growth </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Industry avg (3-year CAGR) </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">FY20E </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">1,744,158 </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">33.5% </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">20% </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">FY21E </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">2,346,035 </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">34.5% </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">FY22E </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">2,818,581 </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">20.1% </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">FY23E </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">3,282,231 </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">16.4% </td></tr></tbody></table> Source: Bank of America Merrill Lynch report In the worst case of growth, this kirana business will add to $6 billion to the enterprise value to the overall base value of $36bn – that’s at least one-sixth of the additional value created come from one segment. If this business picks up faster pickup – it can contribute as much as $25 bn from new commerce and that will increase the total retail business value to $70 billion, as per Bofa-ML’s calculations. The icing on the cake for Reliance Industries’ investors will be the plan to spin off its retail and telecom ventures and list them individually. In a bid to grow fast and stave off large national and international players who are <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/amazon-prepares-for-the-mukesh-ambani-challenge-with-a-bet-on-future-group-shares/articleshow/70799094.cms">established in the market like Amazon, Big Bazaar</a> and others, Ambani is taking the road less travelled.

Mukesh Ambani is set to make big money out of India’s millions of small kirana shops

New Delhi, Feb 18 () MaxWholesale, a B2B e-commerce platform for kirana stores, on Tuesday said it has raised USD 3 million (about Rs 21.4 crore) in funding led by IAN Fund-I and Abu Dhabi-based Al Falaj Investment Company (AFI). The Series-A round also saw participation from existing investor Maple Capital, along with Infoedge's ex-CFO Ambarish Raghuvanshi, Maple Capital's Abhinav Grover and Biba Group's Siddharth Bindra, among others, a statement said. Raman Roy and Abdelghani have joined MaxWholesale's board as directors, it added. "With the investment, MaxWholesale will hire talent to develop its technology further and accelerate growth... MaxWholesale is also looking to expand its reach to Kirana stores in the coming months," it said. The platform currently services 10,000 kirana stores in Delhi. The company manages various warehouses in Delhi-NCR with the delivery fleet of 60 vehicles in Delhi, Gurugram, Noida and Ghaziabad. "We felt that there was a dire need for technology in this sector and, hence, we introduced data science into this field to make restocking more predictable and organised," MaxWholesale founder and CEO Samarth Agrawal said. With this approach, the company is aiming to change the way in which the business is done at these stores, he added. "In the last year, we clocked 20 times growth in terms of revenue. Going forward, we are excited to use this investment to extend our capabilities and drive a bigger impact for FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) chains and kirana stores through our technology-driven platform," he said. He added that the company will soon open its ecosystem to NBFC (non-banking financial company) lenders for providing credit and working capital loans to its kirana stores. Pankaj Karna, managing director at Maple Capital, said that with the infusion of technology into the wholesale market, MaxWholesale has created an ecosystem for kirana stores wherein everyone can be benefitted. "We are confident about the capabilities of the whole workforce building the product and we are happy to back them in their journey," he added. SR HRS

MaxWholesale raises USD 3 mn from IAN Fund, Abu Dhabi's Al Falaj Investments

India may soon incentivise <keyword id="6513856" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="kirana-stores">kirana stores</keyword> which become part of the e-commerce ecosystem by converting their operations to handle both online and <keyword id="2707926" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="offline-sales">offline sales</keyword>. The special package of incentives for the smaller format mom and pop stores is likely to be a part of the e-commerce policy being drafted by <keyword id="2191129" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="The-Commerce-and-Industry-Ministry">the Commerce and Industry Ministry</keyword>. "We will offer incentives for kiranas willing to integrate their operations on the e-commerce platform so that the switchover could be swift. The incentives could be in the form of interest subventions on loans required for the switchover or as one time grant," said officials privy to the development. Several technology companies and e-commerce entities, including Facebook, Walmart and Amazon, have offered to provide necessary technologies that would help kiranas integrate with e-commerce platforms. Trade bodies have also launched various initiatives for this switchover that also requires small store owners to get necessary skills to handle online sales. The policy is also likely to encourage the existing e-commerce players to join local stores on their formats and facilitate their sales. In fact, e-commerce companies would be asked to put full details of the sellers on their marketplace so that buyers can take informed decisions and even look to use products sold on the platform by nearby shops for swift delivery and service. <keyword id="9426144" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="the-draft-national-ecommerce-policy">The Draft National Ecommerce Policy</keyword> was floated by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) last year for stakeholder comments. The policy is expected to be finalised this month and announced subsequently. The overarching objective of the policy is promotion of e-commerce ecosystem in the country, increasing jobs and rural productivity, along with exports. The policy is also expected to put in place an e-commerce regulator with penal powers. The regulator will check and penalise companies spreading false information or failing to comply with laid down regulations. It would also have power to suspend licence of companies or take them to competition regulator for taking any anti-competitive measure. Officials said that though the policy would not mandate data location for all e-commerce firms, this would be asked for in the case of three-four key strategic sectors for storing genetic material or any other material data.

E-commerce policy may have incentives for small mom-and-pop stores to join the online ecosystem

New Delhi, May 26 () Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries has launched an online extension of its grocery business under JioMart brand across 200 cities. The service is being offered in all leading metros (Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Kolkata), and even in smaller towns like Mysuru, Bhatinda and Dehradun. JioMart is now delivering in more than 200 cities, Damodar Mall, the chief executive officer of Reliance Retail's grocery business said in a tweet. JioMart last month started a pilot project serving users in three neighbourhoods surrounding Mumbai. Credit Suisse said, "The national roll-out provides customers with a useful alternative to existing players (BigBasket, Grofers) as online grocery orders have spiked, given the fewer store visits". D-Mart, it said, mentioned that April revenues are down 45 per cent year-on-year as nearly 50 per cent of the stores are shut or have very restricted hours of operation. Therefore, online orders should help offset some of the lower sales in physical stores. CLSA said as of now, the website will only use Reliance's offline grocery supply chain as its backbone and deliver to homes. "Success at its ongoing beta tests in Navi Mumbai, which also encompasses mom and pop stores and uses WhatsApp as a platform to order, will be later extended to pan-India," it said. Users can order from a full suite of grocery items by visiting the JioMart website. Products include fruits and vegetables, dairy and baked goods, staples, snacks and branded foods, beverages, and personal and home care. Reliance's private labels also featured prominently. "While it does not commit on a delivery timeline when ordering (due to the lockdown), it aims to deliver orders within a two-day timeframe," CLSA said. Eventually, like other online retailers, it is possible that Reliance integrates its entire retail offerings, including fashion, lifestyle and consumer electronics, onto one super e-commerce platform and mobile app. "This, along with a pan-India extension of partnerships with mom &amp; pop stores after a successful beta test and ramp-up of this new commerce venture is crucial in Reliance's grand plan of converting Jio's 400 million-plus subscribers into customers for its eCommerce and other offerings," CLSA said. Recent partnerships with Facebook-owned WhatsApp for JioMart will only help in increasing monetisation opportunities by increasing the convenience and reach of consumers. The grocery platform was previously piloting deliveries only in select areas of Mumbai. "JioMart has seen a 4x rise in online orders from a low base. With its pan India presence JioMart now directly competes with Amazon and Flipkart in eCommerce," Bernstein said in a separate report. Grocery is 70 per cent of the Indian retail market, 90 per cent-plus unorganised, driven by Kirana stores/small retailers. "Organised penetration is less than 10 per cent while online penetration for grocery is less than 1 per cent," it said. Facebook has made a bigger push into e-commerce with the launch of Shops. "The idea is to bring millions of small businesses online. This will allow free online storefronts for small businesses and retailers and expand Facebook presence across Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger," Bernstein said. "Facebook shops will be complimentary to WhatsApp business use to sign and onboard Kirana stores for JioMart (grocery app of Reliance Retail)." Credit Suisse said JioMart currently fulfills the order by own entity and kiranas likely to be on-boarded subsequently. "The platform lists all the major grocery categories like fruits and vegetables, staples, dairy and bakery, snacks, beverages, personal care, home care and baby care. "In terms of pricing, Reliance has extended the Smart promise of 'minimum 5 per cent off on MRP' to all products on JioMart. The discount is higher on its private label brands, and is competitive to branded products," it said. Reliance Retail had been piloting the initiative in Navi Mumbai, Thane and Kalyan among select population group. It was serving these customers through both Kirana stores and their own warehouses. It also set up Smart Points, which were acting as delivery points in neighbourhood. However, orders post the national launch are being serviced by Reliance Smart and Fresh stores, Sahakari Bhandar stores (owned by Reliance retail), and is not yet fully leveraging kirana network (as on-boarding of Kirana stores is still ongoing), Credit Suisse said. "Just prior to the national launch, Reliance Retail tapped the WhatsApp customer base in the three pilot regions to source orders. In our view, it was just a test phase of integration. The orders were available only for pick-up from nearby Kirana store, whose details were sent to the customer via WhatsApp. However, the national launch, so far, does not have integration with WhatsApp," it said. The brokerage said it placed an order on JioMart but the delivered order value was 55 per cent of the booked order value, due to inventory limitation in the nearby Sahakari Bhandar store. ANZ BAL

Reliance launches JioMart across 200 cities; analysts say co eyeing spike in online grocery orders

New Delhi, Dec 16 () Fashion e-tailer Myntra on Monday said it expects about 15,000 of its kirana store partners to manage 70 per cent of the deliveries during its End of Reason Sale (EORS) slated for later this month.
 The 11th edition of Myntra's EORS is scheduled to be held from December 22-25 with participation from more than 3,000 brands.
 "In order to cater to the growing demand, we have increased our inventory by 100 per cent over the previous December edition and are expecting to serve 18 million users during the four-day sale period," Myntra Jabong Head Amar Nagaram said in a statement.
 The Flipkart-owned company expects to see 5X sales over normal days with over 50 per cent sales coming from tier II and III cities and towns, he added.
 "EORS also provides us an opportunity to collaborate with small businesses within our ecosystem and this time, we have partnered with 15,000 kirana stores for deliveries and 200 tailors for alterations services enabling them to augment their income," he said.
 Myntra is looking at acquiring 7 lakh new customers this edition and is expecting a 50 per cent increase in traffic to the platform over last year.
 The kirana model, under Myntra Extended Network for Service Augmentation, will cater to 70 per cent of the overall deliveries through 15,000 stores across the country, the statement said.
 In addition to this, there are nine forward deployment centres around high demand clusters to enhance logistical capabilities, it added.
 To make shopping more convenient for customers, Myntra has also partnered with 200 tailors to offer alteration services in Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, and has opened 20 experience centres across the country to provide value-added services such as pick up, returns, trial rooms and alterations. SR RVK

15K kirana stores to manage 70 pc of EORS deliveries: Myntra

Kolkata, Feb 14 () E-commerce major Flipkart iscontemplating to go for partnership with local stores offeringits customers a "touch and feel" experience, at least for someproducts, as online commerce continues to be minuscule in theoverall Indian retail industry.The move comes close on the heels of Reliance planninggrocery foray taking local kirana stores onboard.Walmart-owned Flipkart has already established adelivery model using local kirana stores and onboarded some27,000 stores across 700 cities.Now, Flipkart proposes to have authorised "buy zones"where a customer can walk in and check a product but he or shehas to order it online, a company official said on Thursday."Our pilot project was successful in Hyderabad withmobiles where we partnered with local kirana stores for atouch and feel experience. But the order has to be takenonline from a kiosk installed there," Flipkart chief corporateaffairs officer Rajneesh Kumar said.Now, the e-commerce major plans to expand thislocalised partnerships in other parts of the country, he said.Flipkart and Amazon now faces the heat of theCompetition Commission of India's probe against them foralleged malpractices including deep discounting and tie-upwith preferred sellers."Online market accounts for only 3 per cent of thetotal retail market in the country," Kumar said.In fashion, tie-ups with local tailors had offeredhuge benefit to e-commerce company in a sharp reduction in thenumber of returns.In the mobile category, pure online brands had movedto offline brick and mortar stores to expand its base andprotect their margins.On Thursday, Flipkart organised a workshop for MSMEsin Kolkata, a part of a series of programmes to help theenterprises leverage e-commerce to grow their business.Kumar said the move will help deepen base of productson the marketplace platform. BSMNN NN

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