Reliance Retail is set to significantly expand its online business during FY27 by scaling its dark store network, strengthening omnichannel operations and accelerating the growth of JioMart, while maintaining a disciplined approach to profitability and capital allocation.
Speaking during the company’s earnings call, Reliance Retail CFO & Head of Corporate Development Dinesh Taluja said the retailer’s digital commerce strategy would focus on rapid expansion backed by strong unit economics rather than pursuing growth at any cost.
Scaling online business with profitability in focus
Taluja said Reliance Retail plans to aggressively expand its network of dark stores and omnichannel platforms while improving key operational metrics such as product availability, delivery speed and service reliability.
“We are looking at growing our online businesses pretty rapidly during this year. So we will expand dark stores, we will grow our omni-channel platforms, we will grow JioMart, while focusing on improving operational metrics around availability, speed and reliability,” he said.
He added that investments would be evaluated on a market-by-market basis, with expansion taking place only where there is a clear path to positive unit economics.
Scale expected to improve margins
According to Taluja, FY27 will focus on building scale with financial discipline, laying the foundation for stronger profitability over the next two years.
He said increasing customer acquisition, higher repeat purchases and rising basket sizes are expected to translate into improved margins and stronger cash generation as the business matures.
Reliance Retail also plans to improve profitability by increasing the share of private labels, enhancing product mix, expanding monetisation opportunities and growing market-based income streams.
“We will use all these levers to improve economics, which will start reflecting meaningfully in the numbers over the next two years,” he said.
Four pillars to drive online growth
Taluja outlined four strategic pillars that will guide the company’s online growth strategy during FY27.
Customer quality
The company will focus on attracting high-quality customers by improving customer experience, repeat purchase rates, order frequency, Net Promoter Score (NPS) and customer trust.
Commercial performance
Reliance Retail aims to increase basket sizes, expand the contribution of its own brands and improve delivered gross margins through a better product mix.
Operational excellence
The retailer will prioritise best-in-class execution across product availability, on-time deliveries, fulfilment costs, returns, cancellations and cost per order.
Financial discipline
The company will closely monitor contribution margins, working capital efficiency and EBITDA while ensuring online expansion is funded through existing profits.
Market-by-market expansion
Taluja reiterated that online growth would be measured rather than indiscriminate, with investments concentrated in micro-markets demonstrating favourable economics.
“The growth will be funded from existing profits. We will scale this business aggressively, but with the right unit economics. Wherever it does not make sense, we will pull back,” he said.
B2B business maintains momentum
Reliance Retail’s business-to-business (B2B) segment also continued to record healthy growth during the quarter.
The company reported a 15% increase in average bill value, driven by strong demand across staples, daily essentials and beverages.
Taluja said both the number of active transacting customers and average bill values continue to trend positively.
Reliance Retail currently has around 4 million registered B2B customers, with the company closely tracking active customers and engagement levels every quarter as it expands its merchant ecosystem.