INDIA – Walmart India has unveiled plans to invest US$500 million to open another 47 stores by 2022 to take the total number of outlets to 70, according to an ET Retail report.
At the same time, the company is also planning to increase the number of fulfilment centres across the country.
Krish Iyer, President and CEO Walmart India, said that out of the 23 B2B Cash and Carry stores, 19 have achieved break even with over a million members.
“A typical store needs anywhere between US$ 9-10 million in terms of investment. We are planning to take the total number of stores to 70 by 2022.
That is the plan and we will also have e-commerce space in all the stores. So you can do the math. Yes, it needs US$ 500 million,” Iyer told PTI.
Iyer said the current contribution of private labels to overall sales was in single digits and he expected it to grow to about 20 percent in the next two to three years.
The company launched its 23rd wholesale store in Visakhapatnam last month and reports say the retail giant is in talks to set up a second store in Visakhapatnam while discussions are underway for land.
In August, Walmart announced it completed the US$16 billion acquisition of Indian ecommerce giant Flipkart for a 77% stake.
Speaking on Flipkart deal, the CEO said: “Walmart India’s Best Price e-commerce is about B2B.
Flipkart is the marketplace and has a lot of sellers who will sell to end consumers. In our e-commerce we don’t sell to end consumers and our customers will sell to other business members.
So there is a difference.
There won’t be any cannibalisation of sales because our members are very loyal to us. We have one million members with ours.”
While Flipkart focuses on individual customers, Walmart provides B2B service, he said.
Walmart is reportedly looking for ways to channelise its expertise in technology and analytics to help Flipkart with grocery retailing while identifying synergies for growth.
