Bharti-Wal-Mart to train small retailers
Bharti-Wal-Mart plans to set up training centres in its cash & carry outlets to educate small retailers and kirana stores about product display, inventory management and working capital management.
By Joji Thomas Philip, TNN |
NEW DELHI: Bharti-Wal-Mart plans to set up training centres in its cash & carry outlets to educate small retailers and kirana stores about product display, inventory management and working capital management. This is part of the company’s strategy to reach out to small retailers who are feeling jittery about the entry of big retail corporations in the country.
Bharti-Wal-Mart is of the view that better sourcing of materials, display of products to suit customer interests, use of technology and IT and improved waste management amongst others are important to ensure that small outlets and karana stores don’t lose customers to large retail chains. If retailers adopt these, they will improve their revenues and also get better returns, said a company executive.
“We will set up training centres across the country. Plans for this are already underway. They will be taught the basics, largely to do with better management,” said the executive. He also added that the Bharti-Wal-Mart cash & carry operations would provide equal opportunity to all, including the kirana stores, to buy from them.
Bharti-Wal-Mart’s move comes at a time when there are protests against Western-type retail stores in a few states. Reliance Retail had to down shutters in UP and issue pink slips to about 1,000 staff in the state. The state government has ordered closure of Reliance Retail’s outlets in the state owing to law and order problem.
Without providing sufficient data to back their claims, protesters allege that the entry of large retail chains will result in the loss of 40 million jobs across the country, against the 2 million that modern retail will create. Organised retail accounts for 3% of India’s $350-billion retail market.
Wal-Mart had earlier told ET that the company aimed at establishing a relationship with the Indian small business community by partnering them and helping them lower costs and increase profits. The company had also said that JV for wholesale cash & carry business would sell quality goods to retailers, including small store owners, while adding that venture’s wholesale supply chain would link farmers and small manufacturers, thus minimising wastage of fresh foods and vegetables and helping control inflation.
Bharti-Wal-Mart is of the view that better sourcing of materials, display of products to suit customer interests, use of technology and IT and improved waste management amongst others are important to ensure that small outlets and karana stores don’t lose customers to large retail chains. If retailers adopt these, they will improve their revenues and also get better returns, said a company executive.
“We will set up training centres across the country. Plans for this are already underway. They will be taught the basics, largely to do with better management,” said the executive. He also added that the Bharti-Wal-Mart cash & carry operations would provide equal opportunity to all, including the kirana stores, to buy from them.
Bharti-Wal-Mart’s move comes at a time when there are protests against Western-type retail stores in a few states. Reliance Retail had to down shutters in UP and issue pink slips to about 1,000 staff in the state. The state government has ordered closure of Reliance Retail’s outlets in the state owing to law and order problem.
Without providing sufficient data to back their claims, protesters allege that the entry of large retail chains will result in the loss of 40 million jobs across the country, against the 2 million that modern retail will create. Organised retail accounts for 3% of India’s $350-billion retail market.
Wal-Mart had earlier told ET that the company aimed at establishing a relationship with the Indian small business community by partnering them and helping them lower costs and increase profits. The company had also said that JV for wholesale cash & carry business would sell quality goods to retailers, including small store owners, while adding that venture’s wholesale supply chain would link farmers and small manufacturers, thus minimising wastage of fresh foods and vegetables and helping control inflation.
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