Wal-Mart launches B2B platform

Wal-Mart is an American multinational retail corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouses stores. It has over 27000 stores in 27 countries, under a total 55 different names. In November 2006, Wal-Mart entered India in a joint venture with Bharti Enterprises to open retail stores. Bharti manages front-end work and Wal-Mart manages back end work. However, the venture broke down last year in September. In June 2014, Wal-Mart announced its plan to adopt a more aggressive strategy to grow its India business, which will focus on the 50 billion dollar cash and carry market.

In recent news, Wal-Mart has launched its business-to-business e-commerce platform in Indian cities of Lucknow and Hyderabad. Wal-Mart has 20 wholesale outlets in India. Wal-Mart will open 50 more wholesale outlets in India over four to five years and start online operations to sell to small shopkeepers. The company does not have plans to sell directly to consumers through its e-commerce service. Wal-Mart currently caters to consumers within a 20-km radius and the e-commerce business will help the company serve consumers within a 40-km radius of its stores. They also see a jump of 30k consumers through online retailing.

According to a report, online retail in India is worth $3.1 billion and is expected to grow to $22 billion in five years. India does not allow FDI in both online and offline retail that sells directly to individuals. Recently, BJP had also opposed FDI in multi-brand retail. Wal-Mart is currently facing competition from e-commerce giant Amazon in online retailing.

Wal-Mart India cash and carry business is a B2B format and hence only registered members of its wholesale stores in these respective cities will be eligible to transact online. Company will also face competition from Reliance, which is set to open 100 retail stores in India and is planning to buy assets of Carrefour, which is exiting from India. Presently, Wal-Mart has 20 stores in India followed by German wholesaler Metro cash and carry has 16 stores.