RIL forays into retail with 11 stores in Hyderabad

Hyderabad, Nov 3: Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) today made its foray into the 300-billion-dollar booming retail business in India with the formal launching of its first set of 11 pilot stores 'Reliance Fresh', in Hyderabad, offering fresh fruits, vegetables and groceries at cheaper prices.

Reliance Fresh at Banjara Hills was inaugurated by the first customer who came to the store for shopping.

The opening up of these pilot stores is a precursor to a planned investment of Rs 25,000 crore by RIL in similar outlets all over the country over a period of five years, under its newly-formed entity Reliance Retail Ltd (RRL).

RIL, India's largest private sector and global Fortune 500 company, has set an ambitious target to achieve annual sales turnover of more than Rs 100,000 crore by 2011.

These stores spread over an area of 2,000 square feet to more than 4,000 square feet including the one in the posh Banjara Hills have been conceptualised and designed by Ms Nita Ambani, wife of RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani, and has matching red and green colours in the logo to go well with the products on display.

With this, Reliance will come close to the hearth and heart of Indian women.

The 11 pilot Reliance Fresh strores were opened at Banjara Hills, Balkampet, Tolichowki, Ramanthpur, Yousufguda, RK Puram, Anand Bagh, Vivekananda Nagar, Chirag Ali Lane, Malkajgiri and S R Nagar and will have an average area of about 2300 square feet.

The stores will have an average of about 20 sales associates attending to the customers in each store.

In the next five years, Reliance Retail will have a pan-India presence and would rapidly be opening its stores in 784 towns in urban areas and 6,000 rural mandi town covering over 70 cities during the next 18 to 24 months, said Mr Raghu Pillai, CEO, Operations, RRL.

In parallel, Reliance Retail is building a robust and state-of-the-art supply chain infrastructure spanning the entire country, besides setting up its own cold storage chain.

RRL initiative is expected to generate direct employment for half-a-million people and indirect employment to 1.5 million people.

''These stores will help the company assess consumer choice-- his needs, preferences and likes and will use this experience while opening new stores in other parts of the country,'' Mr Gunender Kapur, President and Chief Executive (Food and Business), RRL, told newspersons.

'Fresh' in the retail brand connotes what the word means relating to the sale of fruits and vegetables. The green in the logo indicates nature, health, crispness and fullness of life.

In a message, Mr Ambani said: ''This is the first small step in our attempt to build and forge strong and enduring bonds with millions of farmers and transform our relations with our customers to a new level. We are starting our pilot journey of listening to customers and learning from them. We will strive continuously to delight our customers.'' He described it as a small step in his initiative that would create a virtuous circle of prosperity by bringing the farmers and consumers in a win-win partnership.

''The retail offering will deliver unmatched affordability, quality and choice of products and services to the consumer, and help us fine tune offering by listening to the consumers and learning from them,'' Mr Ambani added.

The company would make huge investments in building a supply chain by procuring produce from various crop belts in the country and accessing the best produce from each region. RRL also has plans to build a warehouse capacity to maintain supply to each city outlet.

Alongwith the launch of stores, Reliance today unveiled Ñ'RelianceOneÒ' a membership and loyalty programme designed to deliver customized benefits to frequent shoppers.

Customers can become members instantly in the store why they shop and can earn 1 RelianceOnce Point for every Rs 100 spent.

RRL also launched its private brand label 'Reliance Select' spread across grocery, dairy products, water, tea, natural foods, biscuits and cosmetics.

Mr Kapur said the company's strategy was to eliminate distributors and other intermediaries enabling the company to sell items at cheaper rates than its competitors. ''Competitive pricing will form an important part of the startegy of Reliance Retail, but the company also focus on value for money.'' He said in the high-end retail segment, RRL is in consultation with renowned international brands. Besides, it plans to get into the sales of apparels, lifestyle products and home furnishings later.

''Reliance Retail offerings would be affordable to the price-sensitive consumers,'' Mr Kapur said.

After Hyderabad, the immediate plans are to open such stores in Ahmedabad, New Delhi and Mumbai.

RIL had unveiled its 'Reliance Fresh' pilot store on Sunday last for a preview for the media.

UNI