Walmart India looks to strengthen its local supplier base

Offers opportunity to exporters/SME to serve members of Best Price Modern Wholesale Stores

Chandigarh, May 13, 2015: Walmart India, the wholly-owned subsidiary of world’s largest retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc, in co-operation with The Federation of Indian Export Organizations (FIEO), organized a business meet here to engage with suppliers and exporters across India. The business meet was attended by around 50 exporters/SMEs including women owned businesses in the `General Merchandise’ category. The primary focus was to provide an opportunity for an interaction between Walmart India’s buying team and the exporters to explore potential and possibility of business collaboration, including being suppliers under Walmart India’s private label program.

Flagging off the event, Ashwani Sharma, Chief Merchandising Officer, Walmart India said, “At Walmart, we provide our business members – kirana shops, resellers, hotels, restaurants, offices and institutions - with high quality domestic and international products at low prices so that their business prospers. In fact, almost 95 percent of our products are sourced locally within India. Even as we have establisheda strong supplier baseand an efficient supply chain, we continuously scout for opportunities to source from new domestic suppliers with innovative and high quality product offerings. This forum was an excellent opportunity for the exporters looking to expand their economies of scale and for us to expand our reach and cater to our members across India with merchandise that are locally made. We therefore consider such footprint in domestic and the international market to achieve an interaction a mutually beneficial one.”

The event was aimed at beginning potential partnerships with exporters/SMEsprimarily across the General Merchandise category which includes house-ware, tableware, apparel, home textiles, footwear, luggage and bags, stationery, home décor and home appliances.

Sunil Agnihotri, Jt. Deputy Director General, Federation of IndianExport Organisations, said,``We are delighted to have partnered with Walmart India for this initiative and pleased with the participation we received. It is a win-win for both Walmart India and the Exporters as it provided an opportunity for both to explore business partnerships. He added that while suppliers provide the company the right assortment, Walmart India works in partnership with suppliers across all categories to make them compliant, build their brand, enhance distribution channel and also introduce them further to Walmart Global Sourcing. Besides, Walmart   provides a platform to launch their new products through its Best Price stores in India.”