Wadhawan Food Retail launches 50th Smart supermarket

Wadhawan Food Retail Private Limited (WFRL) launched its 50th Smart supermarket in Koramangala, Bangalore. With the opening of the 50th Smart Store, WFRL has touched  over 200 F&G retail outlets in the convenience store format across 15 cities.

WFRL operates multiple food and grocery brands including Spinach in Maharashtra and Kolkata, Sabka Bazaar in Delhi NCR and Smart in Karnataka.

WFRL also has a management contract with the Maratha chain of co-operative stores to operate its stores in Maharashtra. In addition the company has a home décor and utility lifestyle store called ' The Home Store' in Delhi NCR, Jaipur and Bangalore.

Ashok Bhasin, managing director, WFRL stated ''We continuously endeavour to understand our customer needs and aspirations and offer products and services that will enhance customer loyalty as well as attract new customers. With a mission of ''Customer Centricity'', our focus remains creating a truly differentiated and relevant 'Brand Proposition' and 'Brand Identity' for our expanding retail operations across all existing and new formats.

"Our business is modeled on best international practices effectively customized to the Indian landscape. With a clear focus on our consumers, efficiency and profitability, we will continue to successfully build our retail operations''

Smart stores are based on the concept of friendly neighbourhood F&G stores that are conveniently located in residential areas. In Karnataka, Smart Retail, a subsidiary of WFRL operates its 50 stores across six cities/towns like Bangalore, Mysore, Mandya, Hubli, Belgaum and Gokak. WFRL plans to double the number of Smart stores in the next 12-18 months across existing and new formats.

''Smart has a wide range of quality products covering the whole spectrum of food and grocery consumption in a household. It offers fresh vegetables, fruits, bakery items, processed food, dairy, non-vegetarian products, home and personal care and household use items. A large portion of the fruits and vegetables at Smart supermarkets are sourced directly from the farmers, delivering better quality of produce at affordable prices.

"We are celebrating the 50th store opening with an exciting consumer promotion on 5th, 6th and 7th December supported with both ATL & BTL activation'' said  Bhaskar Rao, CEO, Smart Retail.''

In driving the concept of consumer led brand creation, the company is focusing on offering consumers a broader product range, fresher fruits and vegetables, high quality private labels, convenient neighbourhood locations, friendly service and free home delivery.

The company's people focus is in keping with its long term plan of opening over 1000 stores under the WFRL umbrella in the next five years. WFRL plans to invest approximately Rs1500 crore in this venture.

WFRL has been creating a strong talent pool by attracting and developing best-in-class talent from within India and across the globe. The company currently employs over 4000 personnel across its brands.

''Talented and passionate people are critical to our strategic pursuit. We will continue to acquire as well as nurture talent at all levels of the organisation as we believe that investing in human capital results in better performance hence better customer satisfaction and overall productivity.'' added Bhasin.

WFRL has created 'Collection Centres' to facilitate faster supply of farm products to stores and has put great emphasis on 'manpower training' for better services at all levels. ERP (SAP) applications are also under different phases of implementation across WFRL formats.

The company has introduced private labels across its brands in grocery and plans to expand the private label range in more categories over the next 8-12 months.