India’s leading private giant, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries will introduce Japan’s MUJI across the country. The Japanese company, Ryohin Keikaku Co. Ltd. entered into a joint venture with Reliance Brands. Through this, they are looking forward to tapping the big Indian consumer market.
Under the MUJI brand, a prominent retailer of self-brand will start independent retail stores in many cities of the country in partnering with Reliance Brands. The retail outlets will stock varied products like men’s and women’s clothing, furniture, beauty products, stationery, kitchen items, etc. The stores will be big in size and may extend up to 6,000-10,000 sq. ft.
MUJI is focusing on expanding overseas. Satoru Matsuzaki, President and Representative Director of Ryohin Keikaku said that the company sees India as a huge growth potential market and one of the vital attractions in Asia. He added, “India’s young, educated and cosmopolitan population gives MUJI a ready cache of prospective customers.” MUJI has a prominent presence all over the world. It has more than 700 retail outlets in Japan, Australia, USA and Europe. Apart from Japan, MUJI has found the largest market in China. MUJI started its operations in China in 2005. By 2014, MUJI established more than 100 stores in China.
Reliance Retail’s e-commerce venture
The retail venture of Reliance Industries, Reliance Retail is preparing itself to launch its e-commerce business this year. Separate portals for selling fashion and lifestyle items, grocery products and business-to-business verticals will be introduced.
Reliance Industries will be joining the e-commerce activities with its forthcoming 4G launch to give a superior experience to the customers. The company will offer anytime, anywhere and quick shopping to the customers. It may also announce special offers, discounts, reward points and packaged schemes. The retailer is expanding its presence by increasing the number of cities, in which the stores are located from 200 to 900. Reliance Retail, at present, has more than 2,600 stores in 20 states operated by 50,000 associates. The retailer will give services, delivery and payment offers both online and offline.
According to Ambani, the lifestyle store will transform the fashion world and offer latest trends to the youth of the country. Reliance Industries has already entered the e-commerce market with its online grocery portal, www.reliancefreshdirect.com. The portal is still in its pilot phase and has received a good response.
The company is also launching Reliance Digital Market place platform to provide millions of small retailers with efficient supplier base and product range, better supply chain productivity, digital payment capability, connectivity to customers and credit capability.
In the previous fiscal year, Reliance Industries was termed as the most profitable company in India. It left behind the State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), too. The company recorded a consolidated net profit of around Rs. 23,500 crores.
Reliance Retail set a record by building 930 new stores, last year. It earned revenue of Rs. 17,000 crores, last year and recorded profits of Rs. 784 crores at an EBITDA level.
Summary
Reliance Retail has partnered with a Japanese company and will introduce MUJI stores across the country.