According to Walmart’s CEO and President, Iyer, this year Walmart will open 5 stores in India and then pick up pace and eventually start opening 12-15 stores a year.
PTI
Updated:May 10, 2018, 5:13 PM IST
File Photo (Image: REUTERS/John Gress/Files)
“We currently have 21 stores and plan to open 50 stores in 4 to 5 years. Plans are on track,” Walmart India President and CEO Krish Iyer said at a select media roundtable called to explain the Flipkart deal.
Walmart Chief Executive Doug McMillon said Flipkart group, in which the US retailer is acquiring 77 per cent stake, would continue to operate as a separate board-managed company with co-founder Binny Bansal as the CEO.
Flipkart gives Walmart an online presence. So far it had been handicapped by India’s retail policy that does not allow overseas companies to sell directly to consumers (except in wholesale cash-and-carry segment). Companies like Flipkart and Amazon operate as e-commerce marketplaces,a segment where 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) is allowed.
“As we speak, we have a pipeline of 20 stores and we expect to open 5 stores in the current year and then pick up pace and eventually start opening 12-15 stores a year,” Iyer said.
For the cash-and-carry business, Walmart currently operates in 9 states and 19 cities and the future expansion is focused on more or less the same geographies.
“We are not spreading thin. We are continuing in same geographies but primarily focus is on Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana,” he said.
At its 21 Best Price wholesale stores, Walmart sells everything from fast-moving consumer goods to furniture to other retailers and institutions. It could potentially use these Best Price stores as pickup and delivery points to service online sales made on Flipkart.
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Source: News18