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Reliance Retail has reported a 17-per cent decline in its revenues to ₹31, 633 crore in the first quarter, compared to ₹38,216 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. The company said the business was severely impacted due to the lockdown and related restrictions. EBITDA was down 47.4 per cent during the period.

Consumer Electronics and Fashion and Lifestyle businesses were hit particularly hard by the cessation of activity during the lockdown period, as stores were closed for the most part of the quarter.

“Despite gross margin expansion and cost savings, EBITDA margin was impacted by fixed costs and adverse mix (with the most profitable Fashion & Lifestyle categories being hit the hardest), coming in at 3.8 per cent during the quarter against 6 per cent during the corresponding period of the previous year,” the company said in a statement.

Consumer Electronics saw a strong recovery in the month of May and June across the stores that were allowed to open. While footfalls remained much lower than normal, the business witnessed higher bill values and better realizations

Work from home and changing lifestyle of customers saw sales of laptops, tablets and productivity devices grow more than twice and that of dishwashers, appliances, gaming and tech accessories double during this period

Within Fashion and Lifestyle, AJIO (ajio.com) was leveraged to drive revenues in apparel and footwear. AJIO doubled business and delivered a range of record highs

Grocery witnessed strong customer traction as stores remained open, though with restrictions on operations and portfolio to be sold. Apart from continued momentum in staples, categories such as hygiene products and packaged foods did particularly well leading to higher bill values, the company said.

The JioMart grocery consumer platform beta version (jiomart.com) was launched across 200 cities. Within a few weeks of launch, JioMart has already delivered over 400,000 orders on a single day, which is significantly higher than any other grocery home delivery company,the company claimed.

“Decisive actions are being taken across the breadth of the business to adapt and strengthen operating models/capabilities for a post Covid world,” it added.

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