Reliance Digital, the Largest Seller of Technology Products

Reliance Industries has emerged as the largest seller of durable and technology products in the consumer electronics and mobile phones retailing business. The Mukesh Ambani-led company has used a different strategy from its rivals to establish itself in the market.

Sales of Reliance Digital

Reliance Digital is the consumer electronics arm of Reliance Industries’ retail venture, Reliance Retail. In the Financial Year (FY) 2014 – 2015, Reliance Digital accounted for sales as high as INR 4,233 crores. Reliance Industries revealed this information in its annual report. In the previous year, sales of Reliance Digital wereINR 3,044 crores. Tata-owned Infiniti Retail’s white goods and mobile phone retailing chain, Croma was the leading name at the time, with sales of INR 3,198 crores. Industry experts said that Croma has shifted its focus towards profits and hence its growth rate decreased.

Reliance Retail’s Expansion

In FY 2014 – 2015, Reliance Retail boosted its presence by opening many new stores. It added a number of small size retail outlets as well, known as Digital Express Mini. Overall, the company set up 912 new outlets in one year. At the end of FY 2015, Reliance Digital had a total of 1,196 stores.

Not surprisingly, Reliance Digital also leads as the biggest consumer electronics retailer in FY 2014 – 2015, purely on the basis of number of stores. It raced ahead of Next Retail-Planet M of Videocon Group that had around 800 outlets and franchise stores.

Adding of the retail outlets resulted in a 39% growth of sales for Reliance Digital. Around 25% of Reliance Retail’s revenue is obtained from Reliance Digital. Its value retailing business including hypermarkets, convenience stores, and supermarkets, among others, contributes to the biggest share of its revenue, which is nearly 54%.

As per an analyst presentation prepared after Reliance Industries’ September 2015 results, Reliance Digital is constantly expanding. It has expanded its total number of stores to include 1,380 outlets, spread across 225 cities of India.

Reliance Digital’s Digital Express Mini format has also made itself the largest cell phone retail chain in the country. It is widely establishing itself as a distribution platform for a number of national and international brands. Digital Express Mini stores have made their presence in more than 150 cities of the country. The company is planning to extend the chain of stores to 800 cities.

Reliance Retail’s Role in 4G Launch

According to industry experts, Reliance Retail will play a major role in the telecom venture of Reliance Jio Infocomm’s 4G services. It will focus on the distribution of mobile phones and aftermarket services to enhance the popularity and usage of 4G.

Reliance Jio has partnered with a number of 4G handset vendors. Reliance Retail will sell their Voice over Long-Term Evolution (VoLTE) phones, ranging from INR 4,000 to INR 40,000. It has come up with an initiative known as Reliance Retail 2.0, which will establish the distribution ecosystem for Reliance Jio handsets. Additionally, Reliance Retail has also strengthened its retail network with 1,200 distributors and 1.5 lakh retail stores.

Summary

Reliance Digital has become the largest seller of durable and technology products in the country.

Reliance Retail to drive Reliance Jio’s Success

Reliance Jio Infocomm, the telecom venture of Reliance Industries, is gearing up for the launch of its most-awaited 4G services. Industry experts predict that the success of its services will be dependent on parameters like network quality, bouquet of services, price of services, and handset distribution.

Reliance Jio is working on bouquet and price of 4G services and network quality, while the distribution job will be handled by Reliance Retail.

Reliance Jio is in talks to partner with a number of Multi-National Corporations (MNCs) and Indian 4G mobile phone vendors. This will offer customers a range of 4G mobile phones with Voice over Long-Term Evolution (VoLTE) and Voice over Wi-Fi (VoWiFi) capabilities. The company will sell mobile phones from INR 4,000 to INR 40,000. It aims to offer a new digital life experience to customers.

Preparations of Reliance Retail

Reliance Retail has 2,857 outlets across the country and its retail footprint extends over 12.8 million square feet in more than 250 cities. In July-September 2014 results, Reliance Retail recorded a quarterly turnover of INR 5,000 crores for the first time. The company has been showing a constant growth in physical retailing.

Reliance Retail has also developed an initiative known as Reliance Retail 2.0. Through this, the company will set up a distribution ecosystem for Reliance Jio devices. It will also make preparations for the launch in phases.

The company has entered into a partnership agreement with YU Televentures, recently. Reliance Retail outlets will introduce YU devices such as YUREKA Plus, YUPHORIA, and YUNIQUE VoLTE phones. This will enhance Reliance Retail’s robust sales and distribution network across the country.

Reliance Retail has recently worked on leveraging its sales and distribution arm. It has set up a large retail network consisting of 1,200 distributors and 1.5 lakh retail stores to support the developing VoLTE and VoWiFi device ecosystem in the country. The company ensures that it will keep expanding its distribution network and upgrading its product range over time. Additionally, Reliance Jio will also be selling its own LYF branded phones in its stores.

Reliance Digital

The electronics retail store of Reliance Retail, Reliance Digital operates 1,379 retail outlets in more than 225 cities of the country. It is one of the leaders in the market. It gives a differentiated value proposition, extensive product assortments, and a superior experience to customers while in the store. It is establishing a national brand, Reconnect, with a focus on strengthening sourcing and product development competencies. Reconnect will be a unique brand that will offer innovative products, great value, and superior quality.

Reliance Digital stores has a number of facility stores like Reliance Digitalxpress, Reliance Digitalxpress mini, and Reliance Digital iStore for varied kinds of products. It also has a digital service center known as Reliance ResQ.

About Mukesh Ambani

Chairman of Reliance Industries, Mukesh Ambani is one of the contenders for ‘Time Person of the Year’ 2015. The results will be announced in December. Other competitors with Ambani are Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Executive Officer of Google, Sundar Pichai. On Ambani, Time Magazine said that he is the richest person of the country while his company owns “virtually everything.”

Summary

Reliance Retail will play a significant role in driving the growth of Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited’s 4G success.

Reliance Jio to Test its 4G Service in Kerala

The telecom arm of Reliance Industries, Reliance Jio Infocomm will now be testing its network in the state of Kerala in cities like Thrissur. The company will soon complete its setting up of infrastructure in the state.

Reliance Jio’s Service in Kerala

Reliance Jio will give handsets to its employees in the state to conduct field tests. One of the employees said that the high-speed 4G network worked well on his handset. The company may provide handsets to other members of the local populace as well for further testing. Users may utilize the initial 150 GB of data free of charge, as company’s ‘test quota.’

Reliance Jio is ready to test its network in most major towns and cities. In smaller towns, the company has reached the final phase of connecting the towers with the main fiber optic network.

Industry experts suggest that Reliance Jio may roll out its official 4G service in Kerala by 25^th December, which is also the birthday of its parent company, Reliance Industries’ founder, late Dhirubhai Ambani.

However, some media reports predict that the company will push the launch date to the next financial year. It may roll out services in April 2016.

Other Operators in Kerala

Six telecom operators are working to launch their 4G services in Kerala. Bharti Airtel has launched its services in around 6 cities. Vodafone and Idea Cellular are establishing their networks. Both are expected to launch the services between December 2015 and February 2016.

Reliance Communications will roll out its services on 800 MHz spectrum band around June 2016. State-owned operator, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited will be the last one to launch its service and will roll out services on 2500 MHz band.

Reliance Jio’s Service in Meerut

Reliance Jio will also be offering its free 4G Wi-Fi service at Meerut in Uttar Pradesh. The office of the District Magistrate (DM) will soon be equipped with Wi-Fi connectivity. Reliance Jio will provide its 4G wireless broadband service through the recently installed Wi-Fi equipment.

Reliance Jio has sent a proposal to the administration for the facilitation of the broadband service. The company will be providing equipment worth INR 30 lakhs free of cost for setting up the Wi-Fi facility.

Company officials have revealed that authorities have sanctioned the installation of a small cell that will offer 4G broadband wireless access at the collector’s office.

Corporate Relationship Manager of Reliance Jio, Amit Chauhan said that the company placed this proposal in front of the DM, while discussing the difficulties it faces when building 4G towers in the city. He is hopeful that the DM will give his nod in a couple of days.

The DM agreed that high-speed 4G services will play a vital role in achieving overall development for the city. He said that his office will offer all necessary help to Reliance Jio so that the company may launch its service seamlessly.

Summary

Reliance JioInfocomm Limited is nearing the completion of its infrastructural work and will soon test its 4G network in the state of Kerala. Besides, the company will also be offering Wi-Fi service in collector’s office at Meerut.

Wankhede’s ODI Match saw the Highest Jionet Data Consumption

Reliance Jio Infocomm, the telecom venture of Reliance Industries is gearing up to launch its next-generation high-speed internet services. It is offering its free Jionet service at varied locations to test its performance. The Mukesh Ambani-led company has set up Wi-Fi hotspots in a number of cities across India.

Reliance Jio’s Service at Wankhede

In Mumbai, Reliance Jio offers its 4G services at the Wankhede Stadium. Wankhede Stadium is the home ground of the Indian Premier League (IPL) team, Mumbai Indians, owned by Reliance Industries’ Chairman, Mukesh Ambani.

Reliance Jio offers a speed of 13.55 Mbps at the stadium. Wankhede Stadium covers an area of15,000 sq. meters. The stadium has the capacity to accommodate 30,000 people at a time.

During the National Football League (NFL),a speed of 4.68 Mbps had been offered at the Levis Stadium, while at Barclays Centre, a speed of 5.09 Mbps was offered during the matches of National Basketball Association (NBA).

On October 25^th, a One-Day International (ODI) match was held between India and South Africa at the Wankhede Stadium. The day saw the highest data consumption at the stadium. Reliance Jio set a record of offering 2.2 TB data to spectators, during the match.

A spokesperson of Reliance Jio said, “Spectators lapped up the Jionet services, breaking all records of fastest average speed delivered per person and adoption rate (percentage of spectators who used the service in a stadium).”

During the match, 53% viewers liberally used the complimentary Wi-Fi service. 27,500 people were present at the stadium. Out of these 14,500 users connected to the Wi-Fi service. The 4G internet was primarilyused for streaming videos. Each user consumed 156 MB of data, on an average. Previously, at the NFL and NBA match, average data consumptionper user was 46 MB and 61 MB respectively. The Superbowl series of NFL has seen a higher data consumption rate.

All around the world, many stadiums offer high-speed internet services to keep the enthusiasm and entertainment levels high for spectators. This enables thousands of spectators to get connected, even when they are enjoying a live sporting match. However, data consumption by Indian audiences is much higher than the consumption by global audiences. A Jio Spokesperson informed that at the 25^th October ODI match, data consumption was at an all-time high. It surpassed the records set by NBA and NFL matches.

Reliance Jio’s TV Service

Recently, Reliance Jio announced that it will be providing anytime, anywhere TV content on any device, along with its broadband services. Through this service, subscribers will be able to enjoy their favorite shows without the fear of missing them. Reliance Jio’s subsidiary, Reliance Jio Media Pvt. Ltd. had acquired a provisional pan-India Multi-System Operator (MSO) license in June, this year. The company is in talks with a number of local cable operators to ensure last mile connectivity. Reliance Jio is set to bring a transformation in the television viewing experience.

Summary

The recent ODI held at Wankhede Stadium recorded the highest data consumption offered by Reliance Jio Infocomm