Reliance bets big on apparels, electronics and consumer food products that will be sold through its own stores directly to customers at a cheaper rate

News Topical,Digital Desk : Reliance will soon make and directly sell products such as garments and electronics items through its own stores, thus making it a tough rival to garment and electronic product outlets. Reliance’s aim is to sell these goods to customers at lower costs, and will also be exporting these commodities abroad.

To facilitate this venture, the company is planning to build two separate platforms, one each for manufacturing and export, according to an announcement made during Reliance’s Annual General Meeting on Friday.

The manufacturing plans would mostly encompass consumer items like clothing, TV sets and refrigerators. These products would be available exclusively at Reliance’s stores. According to sources within the company, efforts are underway to build 21 garment-manufacturing clusters in various locations across the country. Reliance is also in touch with those groups already engaged in the garment production business. Similar initiatives are being taken for manufactured food products and consumer electronics such as refrigerators and televisions, with existing clusters also being approached.

By selling manufactured products through its stores, Reliance expects that these items will cost customers considerably less than those sold at regular retail stores.

Typically, products from manufacturers are bought by huge distributors, after which it passes on to wholesalers, followed by retailers, before eventually reaching the consumer, thus increasing the price. However, this method will be circumvented in Reliance's strategy, leading to cheaper products being made available. In addition, Reliance will also be venturing into agriculture-based products.

Presently, it's estimated that around 25-30 percent of the country's food supply goes to waste owing to a lack of infrastructure, including storage and cold chain facilities. Reliance will establish the required backward infrastructure to address this challenge in manufacturing agriculture-related products. Reliance Retail operates over 20,000 stores throughout the country, and electronic gadgets, garments and food products have become extremely popular commodities at the retail level.