Richest Indian Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries’ entry into online retailing will help expand the current 15,000 digitised retail stores to over 5 million by 2023, a study of Bank of America Merrill Lynch said.
New Delhi:
As much as 90 per cent of India’s $700 billion retail market is unorganised, made up mostly of neighbourhood kirana stores selling groceries and other sundries. These kirana stores are keen to upgrade their tech and this is driving a wave of modernisation, the study said.
“This is on the back of growing competition from modern trade and e-commerce,” it said. “GST implementation has also acted as a catalyst, creating further modernisation pressure as GST compliant bills have to be generated.”
Reliance, with a deep footprint in over 10,000 Reliance Retail outlets pan-India, is working to create the world’s largest online-to-offline e-commerce platform in the country.
Reliance is looking at installing its Jio MPoS (mobile point-of-sale) device at kirana stores to connect neighbourhood suppliers to its high-speed 4G network that can be used by its customers to order supplies.
It will take on SnapBizz (working with Israeli start-up Stamp.ee to design targeted couponing/ promotions for customers), Nukkad Shops and GoFrugal in this fragmented MPoS space.
While Jio MPoS is available at a one-time investment of Rs 3,000, SnapBiz offers the same machine at a one-time cost of Rs 50,000, the report said.
One-time charge on Nukkad Shops is Rs 30,000 to Rs 55,000 while GoFrugal offers POS software at a one-time investment of Rs 15,000 to Rs 1 lakh.
Jio MPoS has no merchant discount rate (MDR) on any charge and offers a loyalty programme, it said, adding its monetization strategy include merchandise delivery, advertising and supply-side aggregation.