Flipkart acquires Walmart India’s wholesale business, war is ON for Reliance jiomart

Flipkart Wholesale vs Reliance JioMart – The battle lines are drawn to win India’s kiranas

Flipkart acquires Walmart India’s wholesale business | Kalyan Krishnamurthy

E-commerce major Flipkart Group has acquired 100% stake in Walmart India Pvt Ltd, which operates the Best Price cash-and-carry business, and has launched Flipkart Wholesale, a new digital marketplace.

Flipkart Wholesale will launch its operations in August and will pilot services for the grocery and fashion segment. The new business vertical will be headed by Adarsh Menon, Flipkart veteran. Sameer Aggarwal, Walmart India CEO, will remain with the company to ensure a smooth transition, after which time he will move to another role within Walmart.

This reverse acquisition of the business-to-business segment of Walmart in India will help Flipkart to expand its footprint in the food and grocery segment and strengthen its supply chain. Walmart India operates 28 Best Price stores and has two fulfilment centres.

Bengaluru-based Flipkart said this will enable the transformation of the kirana retail ecosystem in the country by leveraging locally developed technology and help growth for kiranas and MSMEs.

Flipkart’s new B2B or wholesale online business can cater to the largely unorganised kirana segment and smaller shops can order goods directly through this platform.

[amazon box=”B07SDFC9QT” “small”]

Flipkart Wholesale will utilise the e-commerce firm’s supply chain infrastructure to reach kiranas and MSMEs across the country and draw on the merchandising experience of the Walmart India team and over twelve years of operating the Best Price stores.

Best Price currently supports more than 1.5 million members, including kiranas, horecas and other MSMEs.

Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO, Flipkart Group, said, “…With the launch of Flipkart Wholesale, we will now extend our capabilities across technology, logistics and finance to small businesses across the country. The acquisition of Walmart India adds a strong talent pool with deep expertise in the wholesale business that will strengthen our position to address the needs of kiranas and MSMEs uniquely.”

Last week, Flipkart Group said it is set to receive a fund infusion of $1.2 billion led by majority owner Walmart, along with a group of existing shareholders, for its e-commerce business.

The investment values the Flipkart Group at $24.9 billion in post-money valuation, with funds expected to come across in two tranches over the remainder of the fiscal.

In 2018, Walmart Inc. invested $16 billion for a majority stake in Flipkart.

“For over a decade, we’ve been committed to India’s prosperity by serving kiranas and MSMEs, supporting smallholder farmers and building global sourcing and technology hubs throughout the country. Today marks the next big step as Walmart India’s pioneering cash-and-carry legacy meets Flipkart’s culture of innovation in the launch of Flipkart Wholesale,” said Judith McKenna, President and CEO, Walmart International.

Adarsh Menon, Senior Vice President and Head – Flipkart Wholesale, said, “Flipkart Wholesale will further deepen and build on Walmart India and the Flipkart Group’s commitment to kiranas and MSMEs over the last several years. Thousands of kiranas have already partnered with Flipkart to enhance their business and income streams. We will leverage the synergies between Flipkart and Walmart India as we stay focused on transforming the wholesale experience for kiranas and MSMEs.”

Flipkart Wholesale vs Reliance JioMart – The battle lines are drawn to win India’s kiranas

Flipkart has acquired 100 per cent stake in Walmart India, which operates Best Price cash-and-carry business, to strengthen capabilities and B2B service offering

Flipkart group  today announced the acquisition of Walmart India and the launch of Flipkart Wholesale, a whole new digital marketplace to help “transform the kirana retail ecosystem” in India.

The move will consolidate retail behemoth Walmart Inc’s entire India business under the Flipkart Group. The launch of Flipkart Wholesale also comes a couple of months after Reliance Industries Ltd launched  Reliance JioMart, an online avatar of Reliance Retail, which plans to leverage its telecom outreach and ties with Facebook to tap into kirana retail ecosystem in India. Other competitors of Flipkart Wholesale are Udaan, Metro Cash & Carry and Amazon’s B2B division.

 [amazon box=”B01GDWNV68″ “small”]      

Flipkart Group has acquired a 100 per cent stake in Walmart India, which operates the Best Price cash-and-carry business to strengthen capabilities and business-to-business service offering, the company said.

US-based retail major Walmart owns a majority stake in Flipkart. Flipkart Wholesale will be headed by Adarsh Menon, Flipkart veteran. Walmart India CEO Sameer Aggarwal will move to another role in Walmart after ensuring a smooth transition.

Walmart India has around 28 Best Price stores in India besides two fulfilment centres and supports around 1.5 million members.

The launch of Flipkart Wholesale will leverage talent, strong technology backbone, deep merchandising expertise and logistics infrastructure to accelerate growth and prosperity for kiranas and MSMEs, the company said. It added that kiranas and MSMEs are central to India’s retail ecosystem and Flipkart Wholesale will focus on meeting their needs by providing small businesses with a wide selection at a significant value.

“With the launch of Flipkart Wholesale, we will now extend our capabilities across technology, logistics and finance to small businesses across the country. The acquisition of Walmart India adds a strong talent pool with deep expertise in the wholesale business that will strengthen our position to address the needs of kiranas and MSMEs uniquely,” Kalyan Krishnamurthy, Chief Executive Officer, Flipkart Group, said.

Judith McKenna, President and Chief Executive Officer, Walmart International said it’s a big step as Walmart India’s cash-and-carry legacy meets Flipkart’s culture of innovation. By leveraging each other’s strengths and expertise, this combined team will break new ground, McKenna added.

Recently, Flipkart said it would raise $1.2 billion funding from investors led by Walmart and the company would be valued at $24.9 billion. Flipkart was valued at $21 billion in May 2018 when Walmart acquired a 77 per cent stake for $16 billion.

JioMart Strategy

Jio has already announced its grocery delivery service through WhatsApp across 200 cities of India. Customers need to add JioMart’s Whatsapp number, following which they get a link from JioMart to order through chat. Fill in details and your order is placed to a local kirana store, which then fulfils the order. The company is working aggressively to on-board kirana stores and to encourage them to manage inventory by using its point of sales machines (PoS). It is also relying heavily on WhatsApp’s huge user base, which could significantly accelerate JioMart adoption.