Reliance to open 20 cash & carry stores

To take its aggressive plan of expanding its retail

cash and carry format, Reliance Retail would open 20 more stores of Reliance Market, a division of Reliance Fresh by the end of the fiscal. Also on its agenda is opening o at least 60 more stores in the next three years. As of now, the company has seven stores in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Anand, Faridabad, Guntur, Chennai and Mumbai. The existing stores are spread over an area of 50,000 and 1,20,000 sq. ft.

At Reliance Industries' annual general meeting in June 2012, Ambani had announced an ambitious turnover target of Rs 40,000-50,000 crores for Reliance Retail in the next three to four years. And going by the company’s journey so far, after the target was set in 2011-12, Reliance Retail has managed to achieve a 42 per cent rise in turnober to Rs 10,800 crores by 2012-13, compared to Rs 7,600 crores and operational losses of Rs 34.2 crores in the 2011-12 period. The company had also reported an operational profit of Rs 78 crores, first time since its inception.

Its first cash-and-carry store, Reliance Market, which opened in Ahmedabad in September 2011 was the one that heped changed the entire business statistics. By the end of 2012-13, Reliance Market, which caters to kirana shops, caterers, hotels and other business establishments was able to capture a sizeable customer base of 125,000, including 24,000 kirana shops. Then there was no looking back.
While the cash and carry business in India is ruled by global retail giants such as Walmart, Metro and Carrefour, who are currently awaiting clarifications on multi-brand FDI policy to carry out their planned expansion in the country, Reliance Retail is gradually moving ahead in the competition, being the sole domestic player to have successfully tested the format.