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Walmart extends Indian ecommerce business with 50 new wholesale outlets

Wednesday 9 April 2014 00:31 CET | News

Walmart has announced that it will open 50 more wholesale outlets in India and start online operations to sell to small shopkeepers, several months after it decided against opening its own retail stores there, Reuters reports.

Walmart presently has 20 Indian wholesale outlets which sell goods to small shopkeepers rather than directly to consumers. Globally, the company operates 359 wholesale stores, as compared with 5,633 retail outlets, according to its most recent annual report. Walmart has no retail stores in India.

The retailer’s growth in India has suffered from an internal bribery probe, uncertainty over regulations on foreign investment in the country, and, in 2013, from the severing of a partnership with New Delhi-based Bharti Enterprises aimed at opening retail stores.

Walmart named a new India head in December 2013, announcing that its focus in the country would be on opening wholesale stores and building its supply chain. The company’s agenda to enter India with supermarkets has been met with fierce opposition from small shopkeepers and political parties.

In recent news Walmart has revealed plans to build a new marketplace for tapping into India’s ecommerce industry.
 


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Keywords: India, Walmart, ecommerce, wholesale, small shopkeepers, retail store, outlet store
Categories: Payments & Commerce
Companies:
Countries: World
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Payments & Commerce