Walmart's Indian Unit Expands E-Commerce Footprint In Challenge To Amazon

Retail giant Walmart Inc.’s WMT Indian e-commerce unit Flipkart has expanded its online grocery sales to more than 50 cities in India.

The move is part of the company’s efforts to gain a bigger market share and compete better with market leaders Amazon.com Inc. AMZN as well as Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries in the country's fast-growing e-commerce market.

What Happened: The expansion will provide users of seven metro cities and more than 40 neighboring cities access to its grocery products and delivery services, Flipkart said Tuesday. The company plans to expand the service to over 70 cities in the next six months.  

Over the past year, Flipkart has invested in the rapid expansion of its grocery services and managed to scale up exponentially. Flipkart Grocery has witnessed three times growth in the last one year, the company said.

Flipkart’s growth has been helped by millions of people turning to online purchase of grocery and daily essentials as well as their increasing preference for contactless shopping amid the pandemic.

See Also: Walmart Announces $14B In Investments, Plans To Boost E-commerce

Why It Matters: India’s rapidly growing e-grocery market is dominated by Amazon as well as BigBasket, which is backed by Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd. BABA. JioMart, owned by Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries, made its foray into the segment last year.

Flipkart quoted a recent Redseer Consulting report as highlighting that more than 50% of grocery retail space in India, or nearly $570 billion, is addressable by e-grocery platforms.

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In the broader retail segment, Reliance Industries is engaged in a tussle with Amazon over local retailer Future Group’s $3.4 billion sale of its retail assets to Reliance. Future Group’s partner Amazon is contesting the transaction.

Price Movement: Walmart closed 1.1% higher on Monday at $131.37.

Photo by Mike Mozart on Flickr