Nita Ambani is, in fact, expected to play a crucial role in Reliance’s sourcing model, based on rural business hubs (RBHs).
NEW DELHI: The next one week is going to decide a lot of things as far as Reliance Industries’ entry into the retail business is concerned. While it is well known that the retail juggernaut will begin from Hyderabad next month with two kinds of stores, little has been said about the branding, design and the layout of these stores.
This is where Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani’s wife Nita comes into the picture. Reliance insiders say Nita is expected to play a key role in conceptualising these stores. In fact, the entire branding exercise for the retail venture, the layout and design of each store and even the colour scheme to be adopted in the communication strategy for retail is expected to be decided over the next few days by her. And if reports are to be believed, she may also join Reliance Retail formally, to spearhead these activities.
Nita is, in fact, expected to play a crucial role in Reliance’s sourcing model, based on rural business hubs (RBHs). These RBHs will not only act as nodal points for procurement of fresh produce, but also provide a host of services to farmers like education and healthcare. And these activities are expected to be directly under Nita’s supervision.
Not only will Nita look after the branding and layout of retail stores, she is also expected to have a direct interface with the 4.5 lakh people Reliance may recruit to power the retail engine.
She, along with Mukesh, is expected to hold a meeting of all the retail business heads next week for drawing up a comprehensive strategy.
Meanwhile, Reliance is expected to roll out “Feel Fresh” and “Feel Fresh Plus” stores from Hyderabad next month. The Feel Fresh stores will stock fresh fruits, vegetables and staples (such as wheat, atta, rice, etc) and will be spread over 3,000-5,000 square feet.
Feel Fresh Plus stores will, however be spread over 10,000-15,000 sq ft, and stock fruit and vegetables as well as apparel, consumer electronics, FMCG items and even medicines. From Hyderabad, these stores will travel to Mumbai and Delhi where Reliance has identified up to 80 locations each.
But even as the retail debut will kick off with fruits and vegetables, it seems the company is doing a rethink on whether to get into the larger formats such as hypermarkets and supermarkets. These two formats require over 1 lakh square feet of space and may not come up at prime city locations. Instead, Reliance is contemplating tapping alterative sites such as the SEZs for opening hypermarkets.
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