Reliance :-


The So called king of Indian Market’s. Is Rolling over more Market’s to Capture. They are into now…

HyperMarkets, SuperMarkets, Convenience Stores, Specialty Stores, Rural Business Hubs… Reliance is on Retailing Blitzkreig, but is it on the right track ?

So Far its spread over 4 Million square feet.

Watch out the Plans :

572 Reliance Fresh Stores Across 59 Cities.

3 Reliance Trends Stores- Apparel & Accesssories

4 Reliance Footprint Stores – Shoes

5 Reliance Digital Stores- Consumer Durables

2 Reliance Time Out- Books, Music, Gift Store.

4 Reliance iStore – The Apple Store !

3 Reliance Mart- HyperMart.

8 Reliance Super – Minimart

11 Reliance Wellness Stores- Wellness Products

2 Reliance Jewels Store – Jewellery

1 Reliance Autozone – Automative Specialty Store.

Over the coming fortnight, Raghu Pillai, President & CEO, Retail Operations & Strategy, Reliance Retail ( RRL), will be on road, and shuttling between Delhi, Banglore and Hyderabad. It’s time for the Reliance Retail juggernaut to unleash three more specialty formats on unsuspecting masses. They’ll all be under the Home Umbrella-and the venture could even be called Reliance Home- with separate formats for Furniture, Furnishing and kitchen Equipment.

The Big Bang of course has been in foods & grocery, where RRL has 572 Reliance Fresh Stores across 59 Cities. And there’s the biggest store in India, the hypermart That’s branded Reliance Mart( there are three of them so Far), in Ahmedabad spread over 165000 Sq Ft. By July the Hypermarkets will be spread over 1 million sq. ft (1.5 sq. ft being hogged by the 572 Reliance Fresh Stores selling Fruits & Vegetables ) – All done over past 17 months, which has company officials boasting that this is the fastest rollout such a scale in the world.

Now What we Think, Reliance May cover huge Market of Retail Induestry, Even Can be the King in this Aspect as well. “Ronak Shah : CEO : Reliance Fresh Vashi Branch” added We are planning to incalculate the Prospect’s mind and getting in the industry with right needs. We May add more offers, we are planning to more outlets for Reliance Fresh, with Major Malls, Featured Gallerias, Hangout’s with nice Products suiting according. we have seen significant mark of advancement at the shop-keeping end of organised Retail.

Competitor’s most of whom are watching RRL’s rollout with eager eyes, wonder whether the Rs 25000 Crore thats Reliance has professed to spend on retail will ever be used up.

Ronak even points out that the 1.65 lakh sq. ft mart is one of its kind, and RRL is currently looking how to optimise the Space, some large Specialty Retailers are headed there.

Have you ever Been to Reliance I Store :

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Reliance Industries will formally open ’Reliance Fresh’ retail store on Friday that seeks to make buying vegetables and groceries a lifestyle experience at neighbourhood market prices.

The store at Hyderabad’s upmarket Banjara Hills is the first of several retail formats that RIL plans to rollout in the coming days.

“The (Reliance Fresh) store is for everyone… prices are affordable for everyone,” RIL President and Chief Executive (Foods Business) Gunender Kapur said last week after unveiling the Reliance Fresh brand.

Reliance Fresh, the retail brand for selling farm fresh products like vegetables and fruits, besides frozen foods, groceries and cutlery, completes the farm-to-fork project cycle initiated by RIL as part of its agriculture initiative.

The farm initiative involves procuring agri products through hubs in various states, establishing a supply chain and providing logistics and finally retailing the products.

The Reliance Fresh brand would have another variant — Fresh Plus — which in addition to vegetables and other edibles, sell apparels too.

The whole exercise of creating a separate identity was initiated by Nita Ambani, wife of RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani, as she felt that the business needed an independent brand rather than piggy back off RIL’s image.

Reliance’s retail blueprint envisages a nation-wide chain of hypermarkets, supermarkets, discount stores, department stores, convenience stores and specialty stores at an investment of over Rs 25,000 crore (Rs 250 billion) in the next five years, with an initial investment of around Rs 3,375 crore (Rs 33.75 billion).

Chennai city will have a mega Reliance Digital store, with a 20,000 sq ft area, in the next five to six months.

Reliance Digital President and Chief Executive Ajay Baijal told reporters here today at the launch of its ninth iStore, its first outlet in Tamil Nadu featuing exclusive Apple’s innovative products that the company had been looking around the arterial Mount road area for setting up of its first Digital store.

It would be the eighth store, including its Digital Store in Gurgaon which was India’s largest with a 45,000 sq ft space and would house a wide range of products be it consumer goods, electronics, audio, home theatres, MP3 players, digital cams, laptops, branded computers of various makes among others.

”There will be about 5,000 products under one roof that will provide a new shopping experience for the people of Chennai,” Mr Ajay said.

About the iStore, which was launched today, he said it was set up by Reliance Digital’s IT arm the Reliance Retail.

It would house the entire range of apple products for the professionals and consumer segements like the new MacBook family that features powerful graphics processoers, iMac consumer desktop computers, iPhone, Mac Pro and the new iPod fmaily as well as the entire suite of Mac software, along with over 500 accessories and peripherals complementing Apple products.

”This is the ninth store in India after its launch in Hyderabad, Mumbai, Jaipur, Ludhiana, Ahmedabad, Vadodara and two in Bangalore. We are planning to increase it to 55 iStores in the next two years, of which Chennai will get one more store,” Mr Ajay added.

Reliance Retail Ltd., a unit of India’s most valuable company, is targeting sales of 1 trillion rupees ($22.3 billion) by 2011 through a nationwide chain that will sell goods ranging from groceries to electronics.

The company plans to have 100 million square feet of retail space by 2011, Raghu Pillai, Reliance Retail’s chief executive officer for operations and strategy, said in Hyderabad today.

Reliance Retail plans to open stores in 784 cities and towns and 6,000 smaller towns in the country by March 31, 2011, Pillai said.

The retail unit’s parent, Mumbai-based Reliance Industries Ltd., is betting the rapid rollout of stores will help it gain an edge over local rivals such as Pantaloon Retail India Ltd. and overseas retailers Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Carrefour SA, when India permits them to open store chains. Reliance hopes to tap the organized, or store-chain, retail market that Morgan Stanley estimates will surge 15-fold to $60 billion by 2015.

“It’s going to be difficult even for Reliance to grow at such a mind-blowing pace in such a short period of time,’ said Jayesh Shroff of SBI Asset Management. SBI has $3.3 billion in assets. “Reliance will suddenly have a large share of the organized retailing market, but it’s difficult for me to guess how much it’s going to be.’

The company can’t comment now about an initial public offer, Pillai said. Reliance Retail may sell shares to fund expansion as it seeks to become the biggest retailer in the world’s second-most populous nation.

Hypermarkets by March

The company opened 11 stores today in the southern city of Hyderabad as part of a $5.5 billion plan that will next see Reliance Retail stores opening in Mumbai, New Delhi and Bangalore. Hypermarkets and stores that will sell electronics and books will open by March, Pillai said.

Indian retailers are gearing up for competition from overseas and local rivals by acquiring retail space in India’s capital New Delhi, financial center Mumbai, technology hub Bangalore and the next set of big cities Kolkata, Chennai, Pune and Chandigarh. That’s pushing up retail rents in India’s nine largest cities, which account for 13 percent of the overall $300 billion retail market, according to Technopak Advisors Pte.

Other Indian business groups, including Bharti and Aditya Birla plan to start retail chains soon, which may fuel higher rents and employee costs.

Rising Salaries

Rapid expansion is pushing up salaries as demand for trained store assistants and managers exceeds supply. Pantaloon, India’s biggest publicly traded retailer with more than 140 stores, said salary costs more than doubled in the three months ended Sept. 30 as it hired more people.

“Training people is the biggest challenge,’ K. Radhakrishna, chief executive officer of Reliance Retail’s hypermarket division, said on Oct. 30. “It’s important to provide a uniform level of service across stores.’

Consumer preference for multibrand stores and higher incomes are pushing local businesses to the retail industry, which Technopak expects will more than double to generate $637 billion in revenue in 2015.

The Tata Group, which runs the Westside chain of lifestyle stores and Star India Bazaar, opened its first electronic goods shop in Mumbai on Oct. 9 and expects the chain to generate revenue of 80 billion rupees in two years. The group plans to open 30 stores by March 2008 and double outlets by end 2009.

Reliance stores will stock goods ranging from food and grocery to consumer durables and will also provide financial and travel-related services. The chain aims to house luxury brands to cater to the growing number of rich Indians.

Competitive Pricing

“We will be very, very competitive in prices, but that’s not the only proposition we’re putting on the table,’ Pillai said. Reliance Retail is seeking to streamline its sourcing of goods by setting up consolidation and processing centers apart from 68 “world-class’ distribution centers across the nation.

The company expects convenient store locations and the quality of products on offer in its stores to boost its “competitive edge,’ Pillai said.

India’s economy is forecast to expand 8 percent for the fourth year, giving the burgeoning middle class more to spend in modern malls and supermarkets, which typically offer wider choice and higher quality than small neighborhood stores.

AT Kearney Inc. named India as the most attractive emerging market in 2006, according to the consulting firm’s Global Retail Development Index. The study ranks Russia second and China fifth among 30 nations. That’s attracting overseas chains.

Wal-Mart, Tesco

Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said on Sept. 18 India is consulting Wal-Mart, Carrefour and Tesco Plc to develop a foreign investment policy for the retail business.

Wal-Mart, the world’s biggest retailer, wants to buy stores and start chains in China and India, the world’s two fastest growing major economies, to revive a stuttering overseas expansion plan and negate slowing sales at home.

Wal-Mart wants to generate a third of its revenue and profit overseas from a fifth now. The Chinese acquisition comes after the company’s sale of its German stores in July at a loss of $1 billion and its May exit from South Korea.

Wal-Mart said in July it would open an office to study the Indian retail market. European rivals Carrefour and Tesco are also studying a possible entry into India. Wal-Mart and Tesco have sourcing units in the country.

“Reliance Retail has clinched an exclusive marketing and distribution deal with the… iconic maker of iPods and Mac computers, Apple, for standalone iStores. This is Reliance Retail’s first exclusive alliance with an international brand. The partnership was sealed on Monday. The first store, to be called iStore by Reliance Digital, will come up by October-end in Bangalore,” Deepshikha Monga and Chaitali Chakravarty report for The Economic Times.

“This is the first time Apple is tying up with a big corporate house for distribution anywhere in the world. The iStores would be standalone stores selling Apple products ranging from Macintosh computers to iPods and later, once it’s launched in India, the latest cult offering from Apple, the iPhone,” Monga and Chakravarty report.

“The standalone store, which will be opened just ahead of Diwali, will be spread over 2,000 sq ft and is currently under construction. Globally, Apple stores are not mere retail stores, they feature a theatre for presentations and workshops, a studio for training with Apple products, and a Genius Bar for technical support and repairs, and also offer free workshops to the public,” Monga and Chakravarty report. “The Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Retail will open 10 iStores by the end of the calendar year.”

Reliance Retail through is consumer electronic chain Reliance Digital would be opening exclusive standalone iStores selling iPods, Macintosh computers and iPhone (once it is launched in India).

Reliance has made an exclusive marketing and distribution deal with Apple for these stores. The first one would be coming up in Bangalore while 9 more would be opened by 2007 end in India.

This alliance is first of its kind for both companies as it is Reliance Retail’s first exclusive alliance with an international brand and Apple is also tying up with a corporate for distribution for the first time in the world.

The iStores apart from retailing products would also offer facilities such as a theatre for presentations, workshops, training studio, technical support, repairs and free workshops to the public.

Reliance would be able to cater to upper class mobile segment through the tie-up while Apple would get immediate presence and scale.

Currently, Apple products are sold in India through resellers which include department stores, large retail chains and specialty retail stores