Reliance Retail Scales Quick Commerce, Sets Up Dark Stores to Increase Coverage Area
With plans to add dark stores to increase the coverage area, the nation's top retailer, Reliance Retail, is drastically expanding its quick commerce/hyper local delivery service, which experienced a 2.4x increase in orders during the March quarter.
During the earnings call earlier this week, Reliance Retail's CFO Dinesh Taluja stated that the company saw a tremendous scale-up in the March quarter, with orders growing by more than 2.4 times.
With its network of current outlets, Reliance has a significantly greater reach than any other quick commerce participant in the nation, covering hyper-local deliveries, which are delivered in less than 30 minutes, to 4,000 pin codes nationwide.
"And we are seeing very strong traction with a 2.4x quarter-over-quarter growth in daily exit orders. And this number will scale up substantially in the coming year as well. We are also starting to proactively market this proposition, our proposition of no hidden charges, quick delivery, and no delivery fees continues to resonate very well with the customers," said Taluja.
Reliance Retail provides scheduled and expedited delivery services through its JioMart app, which presently offers three different service options.
A rapid service that takes less than 30 minutes is available, followed by scheduled delivery, which offers a considerably larger selection, and subscription service, which allows customers to subscribe and have daily items brought to their doorsteps in the early hours of the morning.
"There are some dark pockets where we will set up dark stores also, wherever there is a genuine requirement, there is enough volume and we cannot service it within 30 minutes, we may set up some dark stores as well. So that is on the quick commerce side of it.
Taluja claims that as part of the plan, Reliance Retail is distributing within a three-kilometer radius by utilizing its network of stores.
Also Read: How Razorpay's Co-Founders Are Running a Fintech Revolution
Reliance Retail has also introduced same-day and next-day delivery in 26 locations for its online clothes brand, Ajio.