Indian Supermarket That Made It Big Selling Cheap Commodities

By Staff Writer

Feb 18, 2016 04:25 AM EST

India is a great place for retailers to invest their capital. This made Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to venture with high hopes of building a supermarket empire but has to cut some of its operation due to sales decline over the past seven years. Carrefour SA stepped in 2010, and left in 2014 after operating five stores. Metro AG of Germany came also into the picture with losses that persisted for 13 years after its first opening.

India's D-Mart chains of supermarkets have managed to get handsome profit for the last 15 years which could be a good example on how to do business right.  The chains only offer its consumers less choices of products and commodities that are most important and allow them to negotiate with vendors to get better prices.  Customers need not to spend on loyalty programs, social media, or any fancy promotions. They just sell inexpensive things and that's it, reports BloombergBusiness.

It has added stores to a more quiet and steady step. Last March, the sales increased 38% to 64.5 billion rupees or equivalent to $943 million. This positively shows that there will be a 29% growth increase if the current year's figures are to be calculated.

"We've been doing just one thing. No distractions," said Neville Noronha, chief executive officer of D-Mart parent Avenue Supermarts Ltd. "On Sunday evenings our stores are so crowded, it's worse than a local train during peak hours, and I don't know why people are shopping. It's so uncomfortable."

According to Wikipedia, D-Mart was founded by R K Damani and has 91 stores since 2015 with headquarters situated in Mumbai, India.  Its chain of hypermarket and supermarkets are scattered in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh.  Recently, it has purchased a property in Rajkot, evidence that D-Mart is expanding throughout India.

The Indian retail market has been growing. Companies like Bharti, Adani Enterprise, Tata, and Reliance are considerably investing in the expanding Indian retail sector. Furthermore, there are transitional corporations that operate retail chains that partner with large Indian firms, as cited by D&B.

Since retailing has evolved and is a key factor in the global economy, it is the most well-known industry.  Margins have put D-Mart ahead of its competitors. Wal-Mart and other supermarkets should follow D-Mart's ways if they want to regain their losses and stay in the business for a long time.

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