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23-11-2021, 11:12 AM
22 Nov 2021 10:04AM
(Updated: 22 Nov 2021 11:42AM)
SANGLI, India: For eight straight days, household goods salesman Vipresh Shah has failed to sell a single pack of Dettol soap to the storekeepers who have been buying from him ever since he took over his family business as a teenager, 14 years ago.
Shah is an official distributor for Britain's Reckitt Benckiser in Vita, near Sangli city, about 300km south of Mumbai. But he said once-loyal customers now point to an app - JioMart Partner - on their smartphones showing prices up to 15 per cent lower, instead of placing orders.
......
Up and down India in places like small town Vita, the mom-and-pop stores that account for four-fifths of a near-US$900 billion retail market - more than US$700 billion - are increasingly turning to JioMart to stock up on foreign and domestic brands.
Just as Ambani, India's richest man, has disrupted the country's telecoms industry, the tycoon is intent on shaking up retail distribution, taking on US e-commerce giants like Amazon and Walmart Inc, expanding fast in India.
......
The country has around 450,000 traditional distributors, who have legions of salespeople to service every corner of the vast nation, including 600,000 villages. They typically earn a margin of 3 per cent to 5 per cent on product prices and mostly take orders physically once a week, making deliveries to retailers within a couple of days.
But Reliance's model throws a wrench in that supply chain: the mom-and-pop stores, known as "kiranas", can order goods on JioMart Partner with deliveries promised within 24 hours. Reliance also offers training on ordering, credit facilities and free product samples for affiliated kiranas' customers.
That means hundreds of thousands of salesmen representing consumer giants like Reckitt, Unilever and Colgate-Palmolive, face an existential threat to their business
Much more at: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/business...re-2329741
(Updated: 22 Nov 2021 11:42AM)
SANGLI, India: For eight straight days, household goods salesman Vipresh Shah has failed to sell a single pack of Dettol soap to the storekeepers who have been buying from him ever since he took over his family business as a teenager, 14 years ago.
Shah is an official distributor for Britain's Reckitt Benckiser in Vita, near Sangli city, about 300km south of Mumbai. But he said once-loyal customers now point to an app - JioMart Partner - on their smartphones showing prices up to 15 per cent lower, instead of placing orders.
......
Up and down India in places like small town Vita, the mom-and-pop stores that account for four-fifths of a near-US$900 billion retail market - more than US$700 billion - are increasingly turning to JioMart to stock up on foreign and domestic brands.
Just as Ambani, India's richest man, has disrupted the country's telecoms industry, the tycoon is intent on shaking up retail distribution, taking on US e-commerce giants like Amazon and Walmart Inc, expanding fast in India.
......
The country has around 450,000 traditional distributors, who have legions of salespeople to service every corner of the vast nation, including 600,000 villages. They typically earn a margin of 3 per cent to 5 per cent on product prices and mostly take orders physically once a week, making deliveries to retailers within a couple of days.
But Reliance's model throws a wrench in that supply chain: the mom-and-pop stores, known as "kiranas", can order goods on JioMart Partner with deliveries promised within 24 hours. Reliance also offers training on ordering, credit facilities and free product samples for affiliated kiranas' customers.
That means hundreds of thousands of salesmen representing consumer giants like Reckitt, Unilever and Colgate-Palmolive, face an existential threat to their business
Much more at: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/business...re-2329741
