Here’s a little-known secret: Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Retail push had actually kicked off much before the official launch on October 30, 2006, in Hyderabad — with the Ranger Farm.
HYDERABAD: Here’s a little-known secret: Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Retail push had actually kicked off much before the official launch on October 30, 2006, in Hyderabad — with the Ranger Farm.
The cash & carry format, which pitches it in direct competition with German major Metro AG, had started operations, with no fanfaronade, at least a month before the launch of its first official format Reliance Fresh.
Ranger Farm wholesells fresh fruits and vegetables to push-cart vendors and other bulk customers. These outlets open at an unearthly 2 a.m. and shut shop at 11 a.m. everyday.
The Ranger Farm in Hyderabad was soon followed by another in Jaipur. Many more are in the pipeline.
At least three more will open later this month in Vijayawada, Guntur and Visakhapatnam where at least a dozen Reliance Fresh stores are slated to kick off early February, a company source said.
“Ranger Farm will be the precursor to Reliance Fresh in every city,” the source said. “Neither will we brand the format nor will we publicise it much.”
The initial response to the format in Hyderabad has been very encouraging with upwards of 4,000 push cart vendors and small shopkeepers picking up food and vegetables in bulk.
While the group is gearing up to launch specialty stores and hypermarkets over the next two months, Ranger Farm, which is in the same mould as ITC’s Choupal Sagar, is already being seen as a success.
Meanwhile, Reliance Fresh which has been in operation for almost three months in Hyderabad now has been witnessing average footfalls of 1,500 per day with a 70% conversion rate, according to K S Venugopal, chief executive, customer operations, Andhra Pradesh.
The chain opened up three more outlets on Friday taking the total to 21 in the city where it is looking to set up a total of 50 Reliance Fresh stores.
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