Aditya Birla Retail (ABRL) may plan to shut down some of its loss making and non productive stores towards ensuring better profitability of the company. It is learnt that the company has initiated the process of closure of some of its outlets and there is more to come. The process is also expected to lead to job losses, and would primarily be focused on its Supermarket format stores. The company may also align its structure at the top level thereby eliminating some senior level positions.
ABRL happens to be the third largest supermarket chain in the country after Future Group and Reliance Retail. Aditya Birla had formally kicked off its retail venture in 2007 with the acquisition of Trinethra, a south based retail company with an established chain of stores, grocery supermarkets called – Fabmall, FabCity etc. These were subsequently rebranded as More.
ABRL stores are in Hypermarket & Supermarket format, and the company operates about 575 supermarkets under the – “more” brand and 11 hypermarkets under the name – “more megastore”. The hypermarkets are operational in in Mysore, Vadodara, Indore, Mahadevpura & Old Madras Road (Old Chetan Talkies) in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Vashi, Rohini & Kirti Nagar in New Delhi & Nashik.
The company would be looking at loss making stores, which may not have been profitable considering choice of location, high rentals etc. While the company may focus on shutting down some stores that are not doing well, the business would also look at expansion with new outlets coming up.
Retail business has seen huge investments in last few years, and the market in most areas may be reaching saturation points. This can specially be said for the super market formats, which often sees competition from other organized players as well as traditional neighborhood stores.