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"This partnership will help kiranas survive the
onslaught of organised retail as it will enhance their competitiveness.
Kirana stores can avail of the benefits on account of the economies of
scale, a key advantage for big retailers," says Vishal Retail CMD
RC Agarwal. He feels that their initiative will also tone down the debate
of traditional kirana versus organised modern retail.
According to the disclosed plan, Vishal Retail will completely take over
the supply chain of kirana stores and provide them with technology, new
practices, visual merchandising skill and special promotional schemes
on offer in the company's hypermarket, Vishal Megamart.
Vishal will also offer a minimum guarantee to all kirana stores, which
will ensure that the latter don’t lose out on revenue after having
joined hands with Vishal. Kirana stores that choose to take the franchise
route, will also sport the Vishal brand.
The partnership will naturally help Vishal too. "We can expand very
fast under the franchisee model,"says Agarwal. A relatively small
Vishal Retail plans to leverage this army of kirana stores to take on
the might of the likes of Reliance, Future, Wal-Mart and Subhiksha.
Future growth of wine sales is linked a lot with the retail stores and
supermarkets. As the local laws for wine distribution become more liberal
and less archaic, retail channels like Vishal Megamart will offer a wide
platform for distribution of wines, resulting in higher growth during
the coming years.
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