Bharti-Walmart Private Limited, the joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and Walmart Stores Inc would add five more ‘easyday markets’ (cash and carry wholesale B2B stores) across India in the next financial year.
According to president of Walmart India and Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of Bharti-Walmart Private Limited, Raj Jain, the company rolled out its B2B model in Amritsar last year and it now planned to add five more stores. The new stores would be opened at Zirakpur (near Chandigarh), Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Patila, Ghaziabad and Jaipur.
The company, he said, had tied up with 110-odd farmers in Malerkotla district of Punjab to source fresh vegetables for its stores. He added that their team had been making efforts to teach the farmers modern practices to get maximum yield with lesser investment.
Jain said the farmers engaged with the company got 7 per cent premium over the mandi rate for their marketable surplus. The company plans to take more farmers into its fold in the same pocket of Punjab to ramp up its supply to support the expansion of stores.
He added that they would unveil the ‘easyday market’ at Zirakpur near Chandigarh in April to offer B2B services. According to him over 10,000 memberships have been received for this outlet. “Due to proximity to Himachal Pradesh that gets large number of tourists and growing number of eateries in Chandigarh, there is a huge demand for good quality vegetables and fruits. The company’s strategy of direct procurement from farmers helps it to offer quality products lower than the market price and get large number of clients,” said Jain.
He apprised that a distribution centre would be opened in New Delhi shortly and the company would have two such centres (one existing centre is at Banur near Chandigarh ).
Jain apprised that the total number of ‘easyday’ stores owned by Bharti Retail should be roughly 100 by the year end. He said that they had 65 stores and over 50 per cent of them were located in Punjab.
Jain said investment was not a constraint in expansion and they planned to consolidate their position in north of India.
