Reliance Trends has extended its footprint to more than 1,000 cities and towns, making Reliance Retail the retailer with the largest own stores footprint in India and surpassing Bata – that is present in around 650 towns with standalone Bata outlets – by a huge margin, according to two people familiar with the development.
Over the last few months, Reliance Trends have rolled out about two hundred outlets, crossing the total number of stores to above 2,200 in around 1,100 cities and towns in India, one of them said.
Even though Bata is also present in more than 1,000 Indian towns but it only operates about 650 standalone Bata stores and its products are also sold through other multi-brand outlets. Bata is followed by Domino’s Pizza that has outlets in about 350 Indian cities and towns.
Reliance Trends sells mass market fashion apparels and accessories and it operates various formats of stores including its flagship chain as well as separate outlets for men, women and kids. Reliance Trends sells various Indian and global brands but the chunk of the merchandizes are its own private brands including Rio, Fig, Avaasa, Fusion, Hushh, Frendz among other brands.
Reliance has a separate unit that is internally called Trent Small Town (TST) that opens outlets in smaller towns, mostly with about 50,000 to 1 lakh populations.
“They are going to even smaller towns in the interiors now,” said one of the persons. “For example, they are going to Jammu and Kashmir and even Ladakh. In J&K, they are opening in towns like Baramulla, Kishtwar, Kathua, Poonch, Rajouri among other towns or Leh and Kargil in Ladakh.”
IndiaRetailing has approached Reliance Retail for comment on Trends’ expansion into small time India and will include whenever it comes.
Over the months, Reliance Retail has been opening new formats of fashion stores to expand its fashion portfolio.
Late last month, Reliance Retail launched a mid-premium fashion and lifestyle store Azorte that will sell fast-fashion international and Indian fashion and lifestyle products that is primarily targeted at India’s large base millennials and Gen-Z customers.
Prior to that in September, the country’s largest retailer by sales and by the number of stores announced its entry into the department store format with a new chain named Reliance Centro and that will take on existing players of Shoppers Stop and Lifestyle International.
The first Reliance Centro outlet in Delhi’s Vasant Kunj neighborhood is spread over 75,000 sq. ft. offering over 300 brands and more than 20,000 style options for the entire family.
