Team Blitz India
NEW DELHI: Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance is the best-positioned player in the USD 150-billion Indian e-commerce market ahead of Amazon and Walmart by owning the potent combination of largest retail store network, dominant telecom operations and strong digital media, an analyst said.
In a new report, Bernstein Research said India is evolving into a three-player market with Amazon, Walmart and Reliance. The conventional retail business model starts out either offline (Walmart) or online (Amazon).
“Given distribution challenges and India’s propensity to ‘skip a generation’ in most technologies, we believe the Indian e-commerce market will be different. An integrated model (offline plus online plus prime), strong distribution capability and superior cost advantage (against online players) are required from the start,” it said on May 25.
Reliance Industries is building the largest digital ecosystem in India. Its telecom arm Jio has 430 million mobile subscribers, its retail arm has 18,300 retail stores in India (USD 30 billion in sales), and its digital mix is scaling up 17-18 per cent (USD 6 billion, e-commerce).
