Reliance expands trading area by 50% for non-food & general merchandise

Reliance Retail, the country's largest retailer, has increased the trading area for non-food and general merchandise by almost 50 per cent in its grocery stores in a bid to improve margins.

The move is also likely to bolster the retailer's hyper-local aspirations through its e-commerce platform Jiomart, through which it is connecting its Smart and Smart Bazaar stores providing a wider variety to consumers, according to an industry insider.

As part of that Reliance Retail is now going for space revision at its stores, allocating higher trading areas for non-food and general merchandise items, a segment which offers higher margins than other segments such as grocery and apparel.

The extended retail space would not only allow Reliance Retail to offer a complete range of products for a segment but also fill in the gaps in its offerings, the source said.

In the latest June quarter, Reliance Retail's EBITDA margin from operations was 8.2 per cent, which was up 30 basis points on a Y-o-Y