Reliance Fresh is the retail chain division of Reliance Industries of India which is headed by Mukesh Ambani. Reliance has entered into this segment by opening new retail stores into almost every metropolitan and regional area of India. Reliance plans to invest Rs 25000 crores in the next 4 years in their retail division and plans to begin retail stores in 784 cities across the country. The Reliance Fresh supermarket chain is RIL’s Rs 25,000 crore venture and it plans to add more stores across different g, and eventually have a pan-India footprint by year 2011. The super marts will sell fresh fruits and vegetables, staples, groceries, fresh juice bars and dairy products and also will sport a separate enclosure and supply-chain for non-vegetarian products. Besides, the stores would provide direct employment to 5 lakh young Indians and indirect job opportunities to a million people, according to the company. The company also has plans to train students and housewives in customer care and quality services for part-time jobs.
Reliance Fresh recently (24th Jan, 2007) opened several "Fresh" outlets in Chennai, New Delhi, Hyderabad,Jaipur, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Ludhiana increasing its total store count to 40. Reliance is still testing its retail concepts by controlled entry beginning in the southern states
According to Deccan Herald, the company is planning on opening new stores with store-size varying from 1,500 sq ft to 3,000 sq ft, which will stock fresh fruits and vegetables, staples, FMCG products and dairy products. Each store is said to be within a radius of 1-2 km of each other, in relation to the concept of a neighbour store. However, this is only the entry roll-out that the company has planned. Bangalore is said to have 40 stores in all by the end of the year.
In a dramatic change due circumstances prevaling in UP, West Bengal and Orissa, It was mentioned recently in News Dailies that, Reliance Retail is moving out stocking. Reliance Retail has decided to minimise its exposure in the fruit and vegetable business and position Reliance Fresh as a pure play super market focusing on categories like food, FMCG, home, consumer durables, IT, wellness and auto accessories, with food accounting for the bulk of the business. The company may not stock fruit and vegetables in some states, Orissa being one of them. Though Reliance Fresh is not exiting the fruit and vegetable business altogether, it has decided not to compete with local vendors partly due to political reasons, and partly due to its inability to create a robust supply chain. This is quite different from what the firm had originally planned. When the first Reliance Fresh store opened in Hyderabad last October, not only did the company said the store’s main focus would be fresh produce like fruits and vegetables at a much lower price, but also spoke at length about its “farm-to-fork’’ theory. The idea the company spoke about was to source from farmers and sell directly to the consumer removing middlemen out of the way. Reliance may exit some businesses If the business does not increases by March 2008.
Reliance Fresh, Reliance Mart, Reliance Digital, Reliance Trendz, Reliance Footprint, Reliance Wellness, Reliance Jewels, Reliance Timeout and Reliance Super are various formats that Reliance has rolled out.
In addition, Reliance Retail has entered into an alliance with Apple for setting up a chain of Apple Specialty Stores branded as iStore, starting with Bangalore.
