Comments
Big Bazaar Direct, the assisted e-commerce business of the Future Group, is expanding its distribution reach by tying up with payment solutions company, Oxigen. With 2 lakh retailers across categories such as money transfer and DTH recharges, Oxigen is expected to enhance the distribution of Big Bazaar Direct at a time when Internet penetration in the country is still low.
“Currently Big Bazaar Direct has 1,000 franchises but with this partnership with Oxigen, we expect to take it up to 10,000 franchises. Each franchise makes about ₹20 lakh a year,’’ said Kishore Biyani, Group CEO, Future Group.
Big Bazaar Direct connects with consumers through its franchises to sell products from the retail format of Big Bazaar with the help of a tablet or a Web ite without keeping any real stock and encourages entrepreneurship with its business model. Pramod Saxena, CMD, Oxigen Services, said, “With this partnership, our retailers do not need to invest in stock or shelf-space as the products will be delivered by Big Bazaar Direct to the customers’ homes or at retail points. Oxigen customers will now be able to shop online and yet pay cash over-the-counter for booking orders and get delivery done according to their convenience.’’ Serving as an additional distribution route for Future Group, its partnership will Oxigen is a pre-cursor to its future omni channel strategy.
Rajan Malhotra, President- Retail Strategy, Future Group, said, “Oxigen will serve as a distribution arm for all our brands and enhance our omni channel reach to our next level of customers.’’
Considering the omni channel strategy of Future Group is still being developed, the retailer expects to compete with the e-commerce players by enhancing its reach across the country to far greater pin codes. “Internet does not work across all pin codes and is limited to about 6,000 pin codes. With our franchises this reach can be resolved and we can access more pin codes across the country. Besides, we do not have to struggle with the cost of acquiring franchises as the 2 lakh franchises of Oxigen will be a goldmine for us and we will be building synergies together,’’ Biyani said.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.