Brooklands New Media Presents
Celebrating
20 Years of Reliance Retail
2025
Foreword
Reliance Retail is India’s leading retail corporation, with an extensive portfolio of distinct brands offering an array of products and services, including groceries, clothing, jewellery, consumer electronics, pharmacy items and cosmetics.
The company operates more than 19,000 outlets in total, including convenience stores, supermarkets and specialty stores, and its guiding philosophy relies on the principles of ‘enabling inclusion, growth and building sustainable societal value for millions of Indians’.
Reliance Retail was launched in 2006 as the retail arm of Reliance Industries Limited, with the first Reliance Fresh store opening in Hyderabad. It soon diversified, commencing operations in the consumer electronics, fashion and lifestyle, and wholesale food segments over the following decade.
Additionally, it established partnerships with other leading retailers, launched several e-commerce platforms and expanded internationally, with the acquisition of British toy retailer Hamleys.
The company has won awards for numerous aspects of its operations and is now India’s largest consumer electronics retailer and fashion and lifestyle retailer, with more than 8000 and 5000 stores, respectively, across the two segments.
It is also the country’s leading grocery retailer, with brands including Reliance Smart Superstore, Smart Bazaar and Freshpik, while its JioMart e-commerce platform offers a broad selection of goods across multiple categories to customers in over 200 locations nationwide.
Reliance Retail posted revenue of INR306,786 crore (US$36.7 billion) in the financial year ending March 2024. The company plans to continue focusing on product development, sourcing, network expansion, digital commerce, data and analytics, and strategic acquisitions and partnerships to ensure further growth.
This independently produced commemorative publication celebrates 20 years of Reliance Retail by providing an impartial and objective overview of its achievements, current operations and future plans, as it continues to cement its position at the forefront of India’s retail sector in the coming years.
Reliance Retail is India’s leading retail corporation, with an extensive portfolio of distinct brands offering an array of products and services, including groceries, clothing, jewellery, consumer electronics, pharmacy items and cosmetics. The company operates more than 19,000 outlets in total, including convenience stores, supermarkets and specialty stores, and its guiding philosophy relies on the principles of ‘enabling inclusion, growth and building sustainable societal value for millions of Indians’.
Reliance Retail was launched in 2006 as the retail arm of Reliance Industries Limited, with the first Reliance Fresh store opening in Hyderabad. It soon diversified, commencing operations in the consumer electronics, fashion and lifestyle, and wholesale food segments over the following decade. Additionally, it established partnerships with other leading retailers, launched several e-commerce platforms and expanded internationally, with the acquisition of British toy retailer Hamleys.
The company has won awards for numerous aspects of its operations and is now India’s largest consumer electronics retailer and fashion and lifestyle retailer, with more than 8000 and 5000 stores, respectively, across the two segments. It is also the country’s leading grocery retailer, with brands including Reliance Smart Superstore, Smart Bazaar and Freshpik, while its JioMart e-commerce platform offers a broad selection of goods across multiple categories to customers in over 200 locations nationwide.
Reliance Retail posted revenue of INR306,786 crore (US$36.7 billion) in the financial year ending March 2024. The company plans to continue focusing on product development, sourcing, network expansion, digital commerce, data and analytics, and strategic acquisitions and partnerships to ensure further growth.
This independently produced commemorative publication celebrates 20 years of Reliance Retail by providing an impartial and objective overview of its achievements, current operations and future plans, as it continues to cement its position at the forefront of India’s retail sector in the coming years.
In the early 2000s, Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries, a prominent force in the country’s textiles, petrochemicals and telecoms sectors, decided to diversify into the retail market, beginning with groceries. Since then, the company it created, Reliance Retail, has become a leader in multiple retail streams, as India’s dominant retailer.
Reliance Retail launched in 2006 with its Reliance Fresh store in Hyderabad, established by parent company Reliance Industries.
Soon afterwards, the company established its consumer electronics chain Reliance Digital in 2007, followed by Reliance Trends for fashion and lifestyle in 2008.
Reliance Trends Goes Online in 2017
In 2017, Reliance Retail launched a multi-channel e-commerce platform for Reliance Trends, while earning more than US$5 billion in annual revenue.
Major Acquisitions (2019–2021)
In 2019, the company acquired British toy retailer Hamleys, then launched multi-category online shopping platform JioMart in 2020 and entered the pharmaceuticals market in 2021.
India’s Largest Retail Store Network
Reliance Retail now has more than 45 subsidiaries and more than 19,000 stores in over 7000 cities: the largest store network in India.
Congratulations Reliance Retail on 20 Years of Excellence
We extend our deepest gratitude to our sponsors for their generous support. Their partnership makes this project possible and ensures its lasting impact.
Their support helps us celebrate innovation, inspire future generations, and bring this vision to life. We are proud to have them as part of our journey.
Chapter Two
Awards and Recognition
The story of Reliance Retail’s growth has been one of consistent achievement, resulting in multiple awards for the quality of its service and products, the speed of its expansion, its attractiveness as a workplace and the popularity of its many brands, covering groceries, fashion, household goods and electronics.
Award Recognition
Reliance Retail won the Annapoorna Food Retailer of the Year Award 2019 from the Retailers Association of India.
Global Ranking
The company headed the list of the 50 fastest growing global retailers in Deloitte’s Global Powers of Retailing Report for 2020, and has continued to rank highly in subsequent years.
Recent Achievements
In 2023, Reliance Retail won Retail Company of the Year in the ET Retail Awards, while Reliance Jewels won Brand of the Decade at the BARC Asia Awards.
Workplace Excellence
The company is certified as a Great Place to Work, and featured in the top ten list of India’s Best Workplaces in Retail in 2023 and 2024.
Digital Honors
In 2023, Reliance Digital was named India’s Most Admired Retailer of the Year for consumer durables and information technology at MAPIC India, the country’s premier retail annual event.
Celebrating 20 Years of Success at Reliance Retail
Celebrating 20 Years of Success at Reliance Retail
Reliance Retail bases its corporate culture around three concepts: Service, Solution and Consumer Experience.
The company works with a huge network of merchants, manufacturers, vendors, small store owners and global companies, promoting inclusive growth.
Customer Experience
It offers customers excellent choice, value, quality and an attractive shopping experience across its many stores.
Workplace Culture
Reliance Retail is committed to creating ‘one of the world’s most people-friendly, performance-driven, and process-efficient learning organisations’, and to foster a ‘respectful and delightful work environment’ for employees.
Media Presence
Through association with Indian sports and movie stars, Reliance Retail has boosted its media profile across the country, gaining a competitive advantage.
Honoring Reliance Retail’s 20 Years of Outstanding Service
Reliance Retail is among the fastest-growing international retailers and the only Indian retailer in the Global Top 100, recently ranking at number 53.
Reliance Brands Limited, a company subsidiary, is India’s largest retailer of luxury goods, partnering with 85 prestigious global brands including Armani, Balenciaga, Burberry, Versace and Tiffany & Co.
Congratulations Reliance Retail on Two Decades of Achievements
Chapter Five
Brand Portfolio
One of Reliance Retail’s key achievements is nurturing and growing a large number of consumer retail brands, each with its own personality and reputation, and targeted at a specific consumer demographic. Marketing campaigns, leveraging a mix of traditional and digital strategies, ensure that its brands are familiar to Indian consumers.
Grocery Formats
In grocery, Reliance Retail has Fresh Signature, Smart Bazaar, Smart Point, Freshpik, Shree Kannan Departmental, 7-Eleven and Jayasurya stores.
Consumer Brands
In consumer goods, the company owns beverage independence brands including Campa, Raskik and Sosyo, plus Enzo, Glimmer, Puric, Get Real and Dozo for home and personal care products.
Electronics Retail
Reliance Digital and Jio stores offer consumer electronics, home appliances, computing and mobility products, gadgets and accessories.
Fashion & Lifestyle
Its fashion and lifestyle outlets include India’s largest fashion retail chain Trends, with an array of own brands. Other notable brands are Yousta, Azorte and Reliance Jewels.
Pharmacy Channel
Reliance Retail operates the Netmeds digital channel and chain of pharmacies, providing medicines, beauty essentials and wellness products.
Independence Brand
In 2022, the company launched Independence, an indigenous made-for-India consumer packaged goods brand focused on categories including staples, processed foods and other daily essentials.
Reliance Retail: 20 Years of Vision, Leadership & Impact
Store Network
As of June 2024, Reliance Retail operated more than 19,000 stores with 77.4 million square feet of retail space.
Reliance Smart
Reliance Smart stores offer fresh produce, bakery, dairy, home and personal care products, clothing and general merchandise, and are often colocated with Reliance Trends and Digital stores.
Fashion & Electronics
Reliance has more than 5000 fashion stores in India and more than 8000 consumer electronics stores. In both areas, it is the country’s largest retailer.
Digital Branding
Reliance Digital stores offer more than 200 national and international brands across a product portfolio including audio and video, digital cameras, computers, laptops, tablets, mobile phones and household white goods.
Product Portfolio
Through Jio Stores, the company offers Reliance Digital’s range of consumer electronics and technology products in more remote areas of India, expanding access to these goods throughout the country.
Customer Base
Reliance Retail has over 304 million registered customers across all its formats, and in 2024 it achieved footfall of more than 1.06 billion in its stores.
Proudly Saluting Reliance Retail on 20 Years of Progress
Chapter Seven
Digital Channels
The company’s digital channels include AJIO, with fashion and lifestyle brands, along with JioMart, selling goods from across the Reliance Retail network.
Payment Options
To give customers greater options and convenience, JioMart offers payment by debit card, credit card, internet banking, loyalty points and e-wallets.
Revenue Share
New commerce and digital business contributed 18 per cent of Reliance Retail’s revenue in financial year 2024.
Meta Partnership
In August 2022, Reliance Retail formed a partnership with Meta to offer JioMart transactions over WhatsApp. Orders placed via this platform increased nine-fold by the end of that year.
Tira Launch
In 2023, the company launched Tira, an omni-channel platform for beauty products, offering a curated selection of Indian and global brands.
Quick Delivery
In 2024, JioMart piloted a one-hour delivery service in selected areas of Mumbai via a ‘hyperlocal delivery’ option on its app.
Wishing Reliance Retail Continued Success After 20 Remarkable Years
Chapter Eight
Sourcing and Supply Chain
With thousands of suppliers, including businesses of all sizes, both from India and worldwide, Reliance Retail has one of the world’s most sophisticated and extensive supply chain networks. Its fashion operation delivers products from raw materials through to finished products.
Sourcing Network
Reliance Retail’s sourcing ecosystem includes local producers, small and medium-sized businesses, regional, national and global brands across its product categories.
Fibre-to-Wardrobe
The company’s ‘fibre to wardrobe’ model delivers the latest and most up-to-date fashions from around the world to Indian customers in the most cost-efficient way.
Electronics Supply
In consumer electronics, the company leverages its relationships with global brands, original equipment manufacturers, chip makers and contract manufacturers to deliver the widest range of products at the most competitive prices.
Warehouse Network
Reliance Retail operates a warehouse network to facilitate its pan-Indian supply chain.
Neighbourhood Integration
The company has integrated India’s small neighbourhood stores into its supply chain as delivery centres for its JioMart online shopping platform, and encourages them to sell on the platform.
Reliance Retail at 20: A Legacy of Excellence
Reliance Retail has nurtured a powerful in-house product design and development competence in food, FMCG, fashion, general merchandise and consumer electronics.
Across numerous sectors, the company has developed a highly successful portfolio of own brands, many of which have outperformed competing national brands in their respective categories.
Through Trends stores for men, women, juniors and Trends Footwear, Reliance Retail is India’s leading value fashion chain, with an extensive range of own-brand products.
The company announced plans in 2024 to expand its presence in the jewellery market, with curated design-led products and those tailored for specific occasions and regional tastes.
In September 2024, Reliance Retail formed a partnership with underwear and sportswear manufacturer Delta Galil, enabling it to tap into the Israeli company’s design and innovation expertise.
Celebrating Reliance Retail’s Journey – 20 Years and Beyond
Chapter Ten
Merchant Network
Reliance Retail operates a business model based upon thousands of relationships with merchants, helping them to modernise and prosper.
4 Million Partners
In 2022–2023, Reliance Retail passed the milestone of 4 million merchant partners, as its network grew across multiple geographies.
ASOS Partnership
In 2024, Reliance Retail signed an exclusive country-wide partnership with British online fast-fashion retailer ASOS, which will introduce ASOS’s own-brand labels to Indian consumers via multiple retail formats.
Shein Relaunch
Reliance Retail has agreed a major deal to relaunch Chinese fashion retailer Shein in India via its stores and online channels.
SBI Card Launch
The company partnered with Indian credit card company SBI Card in 2023 to launch the Reliance SBI Card, offering a wide range of rewards and benefits for Reliance Retail customers.
Addverb Acquisition
In 2022, Reliance Retail acquired a 54 per cent stake in Indian robotics company Addverb, and is now utilising its technology to expand and optimise its business operations.
Reliance Retail | Honoring Two Decades of Success
Reliance Retail ‘remains steadfast to innovation across formats and products to improve customer experience and serve evolving consumer needs’, it states in its 2023–2024 annual report.
In 2024, Reliance Retail introduced the Swadesh store format, promoting traditional art forms and artisans in a new context, attracting high demand.
The JioMart online shopping platform leverages data analytics and artificial intelligence to personalise recommendations for customers, optimise inventory management and enable efficient logistics operations.
Reliance Retail is investing in state-of-the-art supply chain infrastructure across India to develop an automated warehousing and logistics system connecting all its major sourcing and consumption locations.
20 Years. Endless Achievements. Reliance Retail
Chapter Twelve
Corporate Responsibility
Reliance Retail bases its approach to corporate responsibility on a series of environmental, social and workplace commitments. These include a target of net-zero carbon by 2035 and initiatives promoting health, education, sport and community development, together with a dedication to the well-being of its thousands of employees and partners.
Work Environment
Reliance Retail offers a ‘nurturing, inclusive and high-growth work environment’ which enables its employees to deliver the best results to customers and communities.
CSR Initiatives
Through its corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme, the company aims to improve the lives of Indian citizens through initiatives in health, education, sports for development and rural transformation.
CSR Mandate
The company is mandated to spend a minimum of 2 per cent of its average net profits for the previous three years on CSR programmes and activities.
CSR Focus Areas
In 2023–2024, it directed around 41 per cent of its CSR investments into education and skills development, and 33 per cent to healthcare initiatives.
Net-Zero Goal
In 2020, company chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani announced plans to make Reliance Industries net-zero carbon by 2035.
Reliance Retail: Two
Decades of Impact
Chapter Thirteen
Market Leadership
Reliance Retail leads the Indian market in grocery, electronics and fashion, outselling all competitors.
Multi-Channel Growth
Since the 2015 launch of its 2.0 multi-channel initiatives, the company has grown extremely fast, now recording more than 1 billion transactions per year.
Category Growth
In its most recent annual report, Reliance Retail states that all its product categories witnessed growth in 2023–2024, from consumer electronics to grocery to apparel and footwear.
Customer Expansion
Its customer base grew to over 300 million in 2023–2024, up by 22 per cent from the previous year, while transactions grew by 19 per cent to 1.23 billion.
Small-Town Focus
In grocery, the company has grown 2.5 times faster than its competitors, thanks largely to its focus on smaller towns, where over two-thirds of its new stores have been established.
Qatar Investment
Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund invested US$1 billion in Reliance Retail in August 2023, saying that it supports ‘innovative companies with high growth potential’.
Reliance Retail - 20 Years Strong
We extend our deepest gratitude to our sponsors for their generous support. Their partnership makes this project possible and ensures its lasting impact.
Their support helps us celebrate innovation, inspire future generations, and bring this vision to life. We are proud to have them as part of our journey.
Photography Credits:
Getty Images; Adobe Stock Images
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