To combat COVID-19, Reliance Retail wants to expand its JioMart segment

Reliance Retail is trying to accelerate its digital commerce by horizontally expanding across major categories on JioMart as the impact of the COVID-19 second wave fades in the country. Growing new commerce merchant partnerships across enterprises and locations is the goal of the horizontal play. To boost JioMart, the business is also trying to develop its own brand portfolio across categories.

The firm revealed on its most recent earnings conference that it is in the process of establishing new private label brands and wants to grow up the ones it already has. The new brands will have a significant impact in the fashion and leisure, electronics, and grocery industries. The recent acquisitions of Urban Ladder and Zivame are intended to boost the company’s retail operation in their respective areas.

Reliance Retail, India’s largest retailer with 12,711 locations nationwide, has previously merged its groceries and Trends shops with JioMart. As of last quarter, over 400 Trends stores had been merged, while the grocery store network of over 800 stores had been merged since the debut of the e-commerce platform last year. JioMart recently launched an electronics pilot in Navi Mumbai, with a limited selection of audio accessories and small appliances.

Through the recently purchased online pharmacy Netmeds, digital commerce plans to expand into a new area in the near future. In the March quarter, it launched 114 physical pharmacies within Reliance Retail locations, and it’s also expanding its product portfolio by bringing on third-party merchants to broaden its online reach. In Bangalore, Netmeds’ hyperlocal delivery is being tested.

While the second wave of COVID-19 is expected to slow the retail sector’s recovery, experts anticipate Reliance Retail’s omnichannel/new commerce expansion to help the company simplify its operations.

RIL is expected to have a 50% market share in the online grocery business by FY25, with a 30% market share in overall e-commerce, according to forecasts. By FY25, it will have generated $35 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV) and $15 billion in revenue.

According to another JP Morgan Research research, JioMart’s activities is increasing. The note went on to say that on its visit to Mumbai in the latter week of March, it discovered robust online activity in all of the stores and formats it visited.

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