Walmart is set to take its wholesale business forward with the opening of its second fulfilment centre in Lucknow. Its first fulfilment centre was opened last year in India’s financial capital Mumbai.
“We will open one more such fulfilment centre and study it before expanding them,” Krish Iyer, CEO of Walmart India, said in Lucknow.
This will speed up its operations by directly delivering grocery and other merchandise to its customers through its wholesale B2B business to kirana stores, and hotels using the online channel or other mediums.
These fulfilment centres are a new model of Walmart’s best price cash-and-carry store model, it will be focusing on FMCG products and staples, excluding the fresh stock food or electronic products.
As Krish Iyer, CEO of Walmart India explained in an earlier media interaction, “While a full-fledged cash-and-carry store will take us about two-and-a-half years to open, the fulfilment centre in Mumbai came up within 60 days of us signing the agreement for the land.”
At the moment Walmart has 21 best-price cash-and-carry stores in the country and the company is looking to double these stores by 2020, as told by Iyer.
Walmart started its business in India when it partnered with Bharti Enterprises in 2007. It had planned to open up cash-and-carry stores, catering to the kirana stores and other small store owners. It had opened 21 cash-and-carry stores before things went downhill for Walmart.
After being caught in an alleged bribery scandal in Mexico in 2012, it eventually led to the suspension of company’s operations in India.
So this is an opportunity for Walmart to make its comeback and capture the lost ground. It has finally entered the Indian market and has made India its focus by ramping up investments.
Walmart has amped up its game in India since its earlier high-value acquisition of the country’s leading e-commerce player Flipkart for $16 billion. It is set to take on another e-commerce giant Amazon, in the battle to dominate the e-commerce market in the country.