With a shift in its strategy, Reliance Retail will exit direct sale of packaged food, grocery and FMCG goods on its e-commerce platform JioMart as it will tie-up with Kirana stores as franchise partners that will sell these products to consumers. However, Reliance will continue with the sale of perishables such as fruits and vegetables from its stores or fulfilment centres.
Reliance has also decided to shelve its B2B cash-and-carry store format and Reliance Markets will be turned into fulfilment centres for B2B delivery of products to Kiranas. The neighbourhood stores can place their orders online and get deliveries at their stores.
JioMart will pilot this system of direct sale to consumers from Kiranas in the June quarter in 30 cities, with more than 56,000 Kiranas having been signed up. It will be implemented wherever JioMart has operations. A drive to enrol Kiranas in over 100 cities by April is currently underway. The pilot for the supply of products from Reliance to Kiranas is already operational.
Since roping in Kiranas is a long-drawn process, for next few months JioMart will have a hybrid model of sales through Kiranas, and in pin codes where there is no such partnership, the Reliance Retail stores will fulfil till the time Kiranas are roped in. But Reliance will eventually exit from direct fulfilment of FMCG and grocery in JioMart.