Schneider Electric’s business-to-customer (B2C) division, the Home and Distribution channel, will expand its presence to 2,000 retail stores by the end of FY23 to gain access to rural markets and tier two and three cities through partnerships with retailers across the country.
The business-to-business (B2B) major recently launched a new project–the Schneider Electric (SE) Retail Pavilion— which is focused on building a network of retailers as partners and providing digital transformation for them. Under the retail project, it has partnered with more than 500 retail stores as SE Retail Pavilions to date.
“We will work towards digital inclusion of retail partners by creating their digital identity, upskilling customer services and digitally optimising their market presence,” Srinivas Shanbhogue, Vice President, Home and Distribution, Schneider Electric India told BusinessLine.
To explore retail routes
He added that partnering with retailers “will strengthen our Omni channel retail presence and we will explore new retail routes to penetrate deeper into each market.”
The company believes technological innovation to be its core strategy. Schneider Electric manufactures all its products available in India. The Vice President said that one such example is a wireless home automation solution, Wiser, which is manufactured in India and for India. “At this point, Wiser is targeted for India but we are open to launching it in neighboring countries Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and others,” he added.
The smart home solutions market represents a significant market opportunity for the company. “Today, about one per cent of Indian homes are smart, leaving us with a huge market to work in this category,” said Shanbhogue.
Schneider Electric India, part of Schneider Electric SE company, employs 32,000 people with 30 manufacturing plants and has a market presence in 160 cities. India is one of the four global hubs for innovation and manufacturing for Schneider Electric. Schneider Electric SE is a French multinational company that specialises in digital automation and energy management.