After opening its first store in May last year in Amritsar, Bharti Wal-Mart Private Limited – JV between Bharti Enterprises and Wal-Mart Stores Inc for wholesale, business-to-business, cash-and-carry and back-end supply chain management operations in India – today rolled-out its second Best Price Modern Wholesale cash-and-carry store at Zirakpur, Punjab.
Spread over 50,000 square feet, the Best Price Modern Wholesale store offers best fixed and fair prices with unmatched convenience, choice, quality and hygiene. The store is a one-stop business-to-business store that meets the day-to-day needs of restaurant owners, hoteliers, caterers, fruit and vegetable resellers, kiranas, retail store owners, offices and institutions. The assortment, service and store layout of the store is customised to specific needs of members who can walk into the store and source high quality products in the quantities they need and at the time they require.
“Best Price Modern Wholesale brings immense benefits to kirana stores and local businesses by offering great quality of products at the best prices. Through our unique initiatives such as the ‘Mera Kirana’ program, we are also helping small retailers in managing their inventory and capital better and learn from some of our best practices, thus creating a win-win partnership. During 2010, we plan to extend the best price modern wholesale footprint to seven stores across India with sizes up to 100,000 square feet. We believe that besides benefiting the kirana stores and local businesses, this roll out will also create employment opportunities,” said Rajan Bharti Mittal, chairman, Bharti Wal-Mart Pvt Ltd.
“Our first best price modern wholesale store in Amritsar received overwhelming support from our members due to the benefits of price, convenience, choice, quality and hygiene. We are pleased to bring these benefits through our second store at Zirakpur in Punjab. The opening of this store within one year of our first best price modern wholesale store in Amritsar, reflects the positive response we have received and our commitment to the Indian market. We hope that kirana stores, institutions and business owners will take advantage of this new best price modern wholesale store backed by our sturdy and efficient supply chain which provides products at competitive wholesale rates, thereby bringing down retail prices that enable people to save money to help them live better,” said Raj Jain, managing director and CEO, Bharti Walmart Pvt Ltd.
The store stocks about 6,000 items, including a wide range of fresh, frozen and chilled foods, fruits and vegetables, dry groceries, personal and home care, hotel and restaurant supplies, clothing, office supplies and other general merchandise items, which are available at competitive wholesale prices, allowing retailers and business owners to lower their cost of operations. Over 90 per cent of these goods and services are sourced locally, thereby helping keep costs to a minimum, adding to the growth of the local economy and creating job opportunities.
The ‘Mera Kirana’ program shares best practices with members, who are small and medium retailers, on various aspects of using low cost modern techniques and processes such as assortment planning, layout and fixtures, displays, backroom, licenses, safe food handling, customer retention and value added services.
— Indiretailing Bureau
