Walmart To Open 20 Cash-And-Carry Stores In Next Three Years

U.S. retail major Walmart will open 20 wholesale cash-and-carry stores in India within the next three years, a top company official said today.

The company, which opened its second fulfillment centre, is also in the process of opening some more in India to tap its growing business-to-business e-commerce business.

“We would launch two stores this year, eight stores next year and 10 stores a year after that,” said Walmart India President and CEO Krish Iyer. Walmart has plans to add 50 stores in next five to seven years, Iyer added.

The company has also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Uttar Pradesh government to have 15 stores in the next few years in the state, lyer added.

Walmart will have its ‘Best Price' stores at Kanpur, Muradabad, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Sharanpur, Lucknow and Ghaziabad.

“We have already finalised three sites and six more are in the pipeline,” the CEO said. The company currently operates 21 cash-and-carry stores under the brand name of 'Best Price' in nine states across the country.

Walmart India, the wholly owned subsidiary of Walmart Inc., opened its second B2B fulfillment centre in Lucknow today. “The fulfillment centre will contribute to the state and local economies by creating over 1,500 direct and indirect local jobs, developing SME suppliers, and empowering local communities. Besides, with this initiative we are taking another definitive step towards building an impactful distribution ecosystem by working with our partners,” Iyer said.

This is the second such centre. Walmart had opened since its first fulfillment centre in November last year in Mumbai.

Walmart India is now getting nearly half of its business through non-store or out-of-store sales channels, which include B2B e-commerce, associates driven sales and call centres, while the rest half of its business still comes through in-store walk-ins, where its members visit its stores and purchase.