Reliance Retail to focus on Digital Stores

Bangalore, May 30: Spurred by the success of Reliance Fresh, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Retail would open more Reliance Digital stores across the country.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the retail conference on South India here, Lifestyle Reliance Retail President and Chief Executive officer Baiju Kurien said, ''The response to our first electronic store in Delhi is fantastic. This is a pilot project and we want to gauge the response and then proceed. It has received very good response in Delhi so far. We are planning a store in Bangalore during August.'' On Reliance Fresh, which had taken the vegetable and fruit retail market by storm, he said the company was rolling out three stores every day and so far it had established 169 stores across the country.

Mr Kurien said the first unit of the Reliance Retail's next foray the 'Reliance Hyper Market', a multi-layered multi-product super bazaar under one roof, would start functioning in Ahmedabad in two months. ''The size of these markets would range from 40,000 to two lakh sq ft. However, our immediate focus is on Reliance Fresh and Reliance Digital Stores,'' he said.

According to sources, Reliance Retail planned to open 150 stores across 70 cities in the next four years. Apart from selling consumer durables, the digital stores would also offer attractive finance options and provide other facilities such as best assortment service, customer service and royalties like extended warranties.

Reliance Retail also had ambitious plans of foraying into its own brand of consumer electronic goods.

UNI