Future Group CEO Kishore Biyani may have strong views — widely quoted — against the viability of e-commerce, but his group company does see big business in catering to the supply chain and logistics needs of online retailers.

Future Supply Chain Solutions Ltd (FSC) has created an e-commerce vertical and is scaling up operations to cater to e-commerce biggies like Snapdeal and Pepperfry. It is currently in talks with Flipkart to offer its supply chain solutions and warehousing facilities.

“Flipkart has been doing its own supply chain and logistics all this time but now it looking at partners and we are in talks with them,” said Anshuman Singh, MD & CEO, FSC. “There is hardly any difference between us and e-commerce players when it comes to giving supply chain solutions. In our case we supply to retail shops, while the e-commerce companies supply goods directly to the customer’s home. However, e-commerce players give us very little business today,” he observed.

Most e-commerce players have their own logistics and supply chain channels but when they scale up, they do require the services of larger players — these could be domestic players like FSC, or international majors like DHL.

Forging ties

“E-commerce companies are still developing their skills and capabilities in last mile deliveries and this is where exclusive supply chain companies like FSC are looking forward to forging partnerships. This would be more applicable when such companies want to scale up significantly,” he added.

Hong Kong-based FSC, in which Li& Fung has a 26 per cent stake, is a subsidiary of listed company Future Retail. Almost 50 per cent of its ₹600-crore turnover is from companies outside the Future Group, such as FMCG giants HUL and P&G.

FSC also caters to the logistics needs of the group’s integrated food and FMCG company, Future Consumer Enterprise.

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