Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL), the country's leading retailer, continues to expand its network of dark stores, improve delivery speed, and deepen its presence in smaller towns while maintaining a close focus on unit economics and profitability, a company senior executive reported on Friday.
Reliance Retail's CFO, Dinesh Taluja, stated during a post-earnings call that the company prioritizes sustainable growth by investing in dark stores and customer acquisition, with margins expected to positively impact profitability starting from the next fiscal year according to the roadmap.
The company continues to scale up quick commerce operations and develops capabilities to respond to changing market conditions, focusing particularly on creating a hyperlocal network that covers the supply chain and technology.
Taluja noted: 'We are currently investing to build scale in the online business,' adding that the company 'is investing in capabilities to improve our accessibility, delivery speed, and reliability.'
Nevertheless, he also emphasized that growth in e-commerce and quick commerce will be executed with 'a balanced unit economics.' The company maintains a strict focus on profitability, including closing large underperforming stores while simultaneously expanding its dark store network.
In the grocery retail segment, where online revenue grew by 42% in Q2 of FY2027, there is a note of 'scaling the hyperlocal and revenue-visible online segment.'
Reliance Retail added 303 new stores to its retail network, resulting in a net reduction of 222 stores after accounting for the closure of unproductive locations. The company demonstrates a 'ruthless focus' on profitability by closing large stores that are not delivering results.
He stressed: 'The focus will be on unit economics, not just vanity metrics like order volume or reach. Growth will be disciplined, provided the economics make sense. Where the economics don't make sense, we won't grow, and we will continue to expand our dark store network.'
Unlike several competitors primarily focused on online sales and heavily investing in building autonomous infrastructure, Reliance Retail has an advantage in leveraging its existing physical store network to support online deliveries.
The company operates in over 5,000 stores and more than 1,000 cities, giving it a broader omnichannel reach compared to competitors concentrated mainly in the top 100 cities.
Taluja noted that the company is also rapidly growing in smaller towns where 'there is no competition... There is consumer demand there, and our additional costs are much lower.'
Taluja explained that Reliance Retail is observing rapid growth in small towns where the demand for online food delivery services remains largely untapped, and additional infrastructure costs are lower due to the ability to utilize the existing retail network.
The company also reported improvements in key operational metrics. He stated: 'Our average order values have increased significantly. The percentage of fully fulfilled orders has risen. Average delivery time has substantially decreased over the last four quarters. So everything is moving in the right direction, and investments are also benefiting net profit.'
Reliance Retail, which previously presented a three-year plan, has made significant progress. 'Looking at the growth of our JioMart and Omnichannel vertical, we manage the largest omnichannel network in the country, and this is reflected in the numbers. We achieved 42% growth in online grocery business. The share of online in the B2C retail market grew by 70 basis points.'
Taluja noted that the quick commerce segment remains highly competitive, with six players operating, leading to price pressure and customer acquisition investments. 'Our share has grown by 100 basis points, and we manage the largest store network. Look at our competitors; the next player is somewhere around 2,500 dark stores.'
Reliance Retail makes selective investments in margin, especially in metropolitan areas, to remain competitive and retain customers. 'The good news is that compared to other players who are actually incurring losses, we have a profitable core, and we are using it to fund the growth engines, which is the online growth engine, and we are still making money,' said Taluja.
The company is also focusing on increasing the utilization of its existing assets and leveraging its scale to increase margins, rather than relying on discount-based expansion. Reliance Retail plans to focus on scaling its JioMart platform in FY2027 before concentrating on profitability and value creation in FY2028 and FY2029.
The strategy includes expanding JioMart's reach across various platforms and strengthening its omnichannel presence, as well as improving product availability, delivery speed, and reliability. In FY2028 and FY2029, the focus will shift to monetizing the expanded business by increasing repeat purchases, average basket size, and customer lifetime value.
