July 23, 2018
A membership-based cash and carry business, Walmart’s wholesale outlets offer an assortment of about 5,000 items; The business in India currently has over 1 million members
The expansion includes several new stores in the agriculture-heavy state of Uttar Pradesh, and follows the inauguration of Walmart’s second Indian fulfillment centre at Lucknow
The company operates 21 wholesale stores in nine states across India as well as a fulfillment centre in Mumbai and two Walmart Labs in Bengaluru and Gurugram, respectively
Walmart has focused on setting up a strong business-to-business (B2B) customer base and plans to add around 50 new stores by 2025, along with a robust B2B ecommerce operation
Walmart Inc, a US-based retailer, is looking to open up to 20 new wholesale outlets across India by 2021, according to media reports on July 23, citing an official statement. The expansion includes several new stores in the agriculture-heavy state of Uttar Pradesh, and follows the inauguration of Walmart’s second Indian fulfillment centre at Lucknow. The company currently owns and operates 21 wholesale stores in nine states across India as well as a fulfillment centre in Mumbai. Fulfillment centres supply to smaller retailers, famers, bulk buyers and such. Walmart has focused on setting up a strong business-to-business (B2B) customer base and plans to add around 50 new stores by 2025. To this effect, Walmart has entered a preliminary agreement in the state of Uttar Pradesh, among others, to open up to 15 new outlets.
A membership-based cash and carry business, Walmart’s wholesale outlets offer an assortment of about 5,000 items. A typical store spans about 50,000 sq ft and sells a wide range of fresh, frozen and chilled food, fruits and vegetables, dry groceries, personal and home care, hotel and restaurant supplies, clothing, office supplies and other general merchandise items. Besides bringing in foreign investment, driving technology development and improving supply-chain infrastructure, the wholesale stores will create thousands of direct and indirect jobs. Walmart is also preparing to introduce its B2B ecommerce operations. The move follows the company’s US$16 billion acquisition of Flipkart, an Indian ecommerce firm, in May 2018, which will help it in effectively competing in the fast-growing Indian retail space.
India’s food and beverage industry is expected to rise to US$1.1 trillion by 2025. Walmart entered India through a joint venture with Bharti Enterprises in 2007 and opened its first store in Punjab in 2009. In 2013, Walmart India became a wholly owned subsidiary of Walmart Stores. The unit in India currently has more than 1 million members, majority of whom are small resellers, apart from hospitality chains, offices and institutions. Apart from the fulfillment centre in Mumbai, the company operates a Global Sourcing Centre in Bengaluru, which procures non-food products from Indian manufacturers for 13 of its global markets. Walmart has set up Walmart Labs at Bengaluru and Gurugram (two out of the three outside USA), where over 1200 and 600 engineers, respectively, support global operations for the firm.