Walmart bullish on omnichannel retail format to beat competition in India

Opens its first Fulfilment Centre in Lucknow

Global retail giant Walmart is looking to fortify its omnichannel cash-and-carry retail format to stay ahead of competition in India, which is among the fastest growing economies in the world.

While Walmart India plans to more than double its standard Best Price Modern Wholesale stores from 21 to 45 in three years, it sounds bullish on the new business-to-business (B2B) format of Fulfilment Centre (FC), which are being rolled out in some cities in partnership with logistics companies.

Walmart on Monday inaugurated its first Fulfilment Centre in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, the only second in India. The first FC was launched in Mumbai in November 2017. Another FC is planned to be opened in Hyderabad. As opposed to Best Price formats, FC caters to small kirana stores, retailers and institutional customers at their doorsteps, while merchandises could be ordered over internet, mobile app or with company representatives.

Walmart India President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Krish Iyer said omnichannel was the way forward for domestic retail to offer ‘anytime and anywhere shopping experience’ to customers. He said e-commerce and digital selling complemented each other with the latter, offering opportunity to customers to compare prices and models online before visiting a store for buying.

“We are trying to create a B2B ecosystem with fulfilment centres,” he said, adding these are currently in the pilot stage and will be ramped up depending upon the feedback from the market. Besides, the company plans to source more farm produce to engage with farmers and facilitate lucrative prices. Currently, agri produces account for 20 per cent of Walmart’s total procurement in India with almost 100,000 farmers linked in the back-end value chain.

“We are bullish on farm produce segment and remain committed to give decent prices to farmers, prompt payments, transparent weighing mechanism and procuring even at the end of the marketing season,” Iyer said.

Meanwhile, Walmart will launch 12 stores over the next few years across different parts of India, especially in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra.

In UP, it targets to open 15 stores over the next 5-7 years in all the major cities, including Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Moradabad, Kanpur, Ghaziabad, Saharanpur. 

On buying 77 per cent stake in Indian e-commerce major Flipkart, which is pending for approval with the Competition Commission of India (CCI), Iyer said CCI had its own mechanism and due diligence to vet such transactions and Walmart was awaiting its nod. 

However, he said Flipkart would remain an independent entity but could access the global best practices of Walmart.