India's second largest physical retailer enters the market, and the $200 billion Indian market is making waves again

Indian retail company Future Retail said on Thursday it will offer two-hour delivery of groceries and clothing from its main retail stores as it expands in e-commerce, a market dominated by companies such as Amazon.com Inc.

Future will allow customers to order from popular hypermarkets called Big Bazaar in Mumbai, Bengaluru and New Delhi before expanding the service to 150 cities, the company said in a statement. There are 285 hypermarkets in India.

Future , India's second-largest brick-and-mortar retailer, currently has a small presence in e-commerce, so it plans to use faster delivery to expand into the fast-growing e-commerce market.

Indian retail companies and consumer goods makers are focusing on building their e-commerce prowess as more consumers start ordering everything from clothing to groceries online. India’s e-commerce market is expected to grow 30% a year to $200 billion by 2026.

Popular online grocery service BigBasket and Amazon are both offering fast online delivery services in India. India's Tata Group is also looking to acquire a majority stake in BigBasket, and even Reliance Industries is rapidly expanding into e-commerce through its online platform JioMart.

Asked about the competitive landscape, Future Group executive Kamaldeep Singh told a media briefing that the company will have an edge over others as it aims to deliver a wider range of goods — including food, fashion and kitchen equipment — from its stores within two hours.

The company’s business has struggled in recent months due to the coronavirus pandemic, forcing it to sell its retail assets to Reliance Industries for $3.4 billion. To make matters worse, Amazon has accused Future of breaching some contracts, which is currently being reviewed by India’s Supreme Court.

India

consumer goods

E-commerce