To start with stores in Hyderabad, Lucknow.
By The American Bazaar Staff
NEW DELHI: Walmart, the omnipresent international retail chain, will launch its first-ever online business-to-business (B2B) operation in India in just a few weeks’ time, through two of its wholesale branches.
The Walmart wholesale stores in Hyderabad and Lucknow will be ground zero for the new B2B experiment, which is set to take off on July 1. The company’s Indian division announced that the remaining 18 Walmart wholesale branches in other major cities around the country will also become part of the B2B venture, but this rollout will occur over the next six months.
The B2B site will only be accessible for members of the wholesale retailer, with a focus being on a cash-and-carry method of shopping. A cash-and-carry store is one that does business with other supplies, restaurants, and offices, rather than customers who come in and buy products. Because of that, Walmart is hoping to expand its partnerships with other businesses and companies within India.
Regular customers who are members of Walmart’s wholesale program can order what they wish to buy online, and have it delivered to their doorstep. The only stipulation is that the customer must live within 40 kilometers of a Walmart wholesale outlet.
Walmart’s new B2B program is further evidence of the company’s commitment to the Indian marketplace, and is yet another in a growing list of ventures that the company is undertaking in India.
Walmart has committed to opening 50 more wholesale outlets in India over the next five years, estimating that the marketplace will be worth somewhere around $50 billion by 2020. The chain also launched a brand-new domestic remittance service in the US in April, offering substantially lower fees for transferring money around the world.