Future Group's Big Bazaar brings new recipe to boost sales

Sarah Jacob


BANGALORE: Future Group's Big Bazaar is making its biggest move into Indian households yet. The value retail chain is not just retailing grain, but grinding it, kneading the dough and even making chappatis for its consumers-at no extra cost.

Such services, including de-seeding pomegranate, grating coconut as well as cutting pineapple and jackfruit on the spot, are presently offered only at its prototype Rajaji Nagar store in Bangalore, but will soon be rolled out in all the 12 family Big Bazaar outlets across the country.

"The idea is to take care of all the pains of cooking, to reduce the negative labour that families do not typically reward the women for," says Ashni Biyani, director of Future Ideas, the innovation and incubation cell of Future Group.

"The consumer is familiar with modern retail and is willing to move to the next level," adds Future Group Founder and Group CEO Kishore Biyani's only child.

Industry watchers say the move will help Future Group, which launched value retailing a decade ago, win the loyalties of working women, students and singles with the new services.

"This will help the company not just be relevant to consumers as international competition increases, but also in smaller cities such as Aurangabad, where the consumer may expect such services," says Raghav Gupta, principal at management consulting firm Booz & Co.

Big Bazaar has a team of 'sevaks' at the Rajaji Nagar store, which opened doors on Wednesday, to offer different kinds of additional services.

If it's vegetables, they can be diamond cut, in cubes, for salad or sambar as per choice and zipped into a bag or chutneys can be whipped up.

The store also has a tailor to stitch curtains and a vendor to dry clean carpets and provide after sales services for electronics.

Future Group has also opened an office for citizen service centre Bangalore One, which allows consumers to pay utility bills within the store.

With grain, the store allows the consumer to buy, for instance, a kg of multi-grain such as wheat, jowar and bajra. Once billed, the consumer has the option of getting it ground, kneaded into dough and even made into chappatis either for the full weight or in parts.