A few months ago, Dhananjay Jain, a grocery owner at Vidisha Road in Bhopal, decided to stock two alien brands - Right Buy and Members Mark - because they offered much higher margins than national brands and had lower price tags. Today, these floor cleaners, tea and cornflakes brands contribute nearly 20 per cent to his monthly sales.
Many of his consumers may still have no idea where these brands priced 10-30 per cent less than those of Hindustan Unilever, Dabur and PepsiCo are sourced from. Well, they come from the world's largest retailer, Walmart. Jain gets these brands from a Best Price Modern Wholesale outlet - run by Walmart's joint venture with Bharti Enterprises - just two kilometres from his store.
Walmart is not allowed to sell directly to Indian consumers yet, but its brands across some three dozen categories have started sliding into Indian homes, as its cash-and-carry venture becomes a hit among grocery shop owners.
"The idea is that the reseller should make more profits by selling our brands than he does by selling national brands," said Arvind Mediratta, chief operating officer of Bharti Walmart. He said the firm's private labels adhere to all the quality norms despite their lower price tags.
Bharti Walmart has 17 Shops
Bharti Walmart operates 17 cashand-carry format Best Price Wholesale outlets, selling products to licensed neighbourhood stores, schools, offices and large enterprises. It has more than 3 lakh members, who own grocery stores.
The firm launched Right Buy and Members Mark after phasing out its earlier brand Great Value, which is now restricted to Bharti's Easy Day supermarket chain.
So far, Walmart has developed a network of 100 suppliers to make private label products ranging from groceries, home care and personal care products to apparel and stationery. And it may soon get into categories such as soaps, shampoos and detergent. "We are planning to add several more categories in coming months and open over 10 outlets by next year," Mediratta said.
Source-: economictimes.indiatimes.com