More Big Bazaar stores to open in Eastern India

Future Retail the force behind Big Bazaar retail chain is looking to add around 25 new Big Bazaar stores in the eastern region. These will come up in West Bengal, Bihar, the Northeast, and Orissa. About seven or eight stores will open in Kolkata alone. The east contributes 25 per cent to the company’s national sales.

Future Retail, the retail entity of the Future Group, has around 286 Big Bazaar stores, 89 FBB stores and 1,050 small format stores spread across the country. It operates multiple retail formats in both the hypermarket, supermarket and home segments of the Indian consumer market. For fiscal ’19 Future Retail has a target to grow by 18 to 25 per cent.

The company is also working on plans to improve its supply chain network. The retailer has a multi-pronged strategy to boost profitability by expanding its small store network, increasing margins in the food and fast-moving consumer goods portfolio, increasing stock velocity and leveraging its customer data across group companies to increase sales per customer. Future Retail will deliver products from the nearest outlet/store. This cost-effective mechanism will help in speeding the process of delivery. In addition, the company is also trying to create some segments that will be exclusively available on the online platform.