Walmart may soon enter India's e-commerce market via partnerships
American retailing multinational Walmart has been trying to dip its toe into the online market for some time now. Its dream may soon come true in India, owing to its current plan of acquiring and partnering up with existing e-grocers. Reportedly, it has already opened up dialogues with several Indian firms on the possibility of partnerships and acquisitions. Here's all about it.
What's the game plan?
Before it makes any definitive move, Walmart is investing time to understand the marketplace. Sources told FactorDaily that for the past few months, Walmart's Global Strategy Team has been conducting meetings with firms like Grofers, BigBasket, and Satvacart. If things come to fruition, the e-commerce rivalry brewing between Alibaba and Amazon will see the entry of another player with deep pockets and lofty ambitions.
Its cash-and-carry business is also being boosted
Walmart currently has 21 cash-and-carry (wholesale) stores in India and plans to open 10 more in upcoming months. Founder and CEO of Grofers, Albinder Dhindsa told FactorDaily that Walmart has contacted them but the topic of discussion was cash-and-carry business. Without divulging details, he said that Walmart wanted to see if they could partner better in the Indian wholesale grocery space.
Taking the roundabout policy
Since the Indian law does not allow multinational companies to sell directly to consumers online, enterprises like Amazon operate via a marketplace model. Inventory-led model is only allowed if multinationals sell their goods to other retailers and distributors. Founder of one of the approached firms said that Walmart was indeed interested in investing in an existing player and giving backend support for scaling up.
The best of both the worlds
A senior Walmart official said to FactorDaily that "Without FDI, everything is a speculation…" and the firm is currently growing its cash-and-carry business. Although late to the online party, reports suggest, Walmart is actively targeting online players. The end goal is to make a model where e-commerce and offline retail will coexist. In Q1 of 2017-18, Walmart's global online revenue was up by 63%.
