Spencer’s Retail, the retail arm of the RP Sanjiv Goenka group, entered the quick commerce sector with JIFFY, its new online platform, on Thursday, starting with Kolkata. The operation will eventually be rolled out to other parts of West Bengal, followed by Uttar Pradesh (UP). The retailer currently has a total of 89 stores in West Bengal and UP.
Shashwat Goenka, chairman of Spencer’s Retail, said the company aimed to fulfill orders within 20-30 minutes by leveraging its existing stores. It would not invest in a separate dark store network for now, with delivery operations managed by a third-party fleet operator.
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“Convenience is where the market is moving, at least in urban centres. While q-commerce will continue to be a subset of e-commerce, but it will still be the fastest growing channel of delivery. It is a channel therefore that cannot be ignored,” Goenka, 34, said of the shift in consumer retail preferences over the last few years.
Modern trade, he noted, had been impacted by the growth of q-commerce, as consumers sought convenience as lifestyles evolve. A recent CLSA report said that the gross order value of q-commerce players in India would triple to $18 billion by FY27 from $6 billion now, touching $78 billion by FY34.
Goenka said that the company was looking to double its daily online orders in three quarters with its q-commerce operation. The online segment currently contributes 10-11% to the retailer’s overall revenue.
In the December 2024 quarter (Q3 FY25), the company narrowed its consolidated net loss to Rs 47.34 crore from Rs 51.20 crore a year ago, in part because of its store rationalisation initiative undertaken over the last few months. But Q3 revenue took a hit as a result of store closures as well as a “soft festive quarter”, down nearly 21% year-on-year to Rs 516.97 crore.
In the September 2024 quarter, the retailer had shut around 43-44 stores in the south including Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana as well as the National Capital Region including Gurgaon.
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The move to enter the q-commerce space, said Goenka, was timed with its broader objective to focus on select markets in the country.
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