Le Marche to expand dark stores and online verticals: CEO Amit Dutta

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High-end grocery store chain Le Marche Retail is developing organic expansion avenues such as dark stores and cloud kitchens, its chief executive said. “Organically, we are growing through different avenues, including dark stores to speed up deliveries for digital customers and a central kitchen to double as a cloud kitchen,” said Amit Dutta, CEO of Le Marche Retail.

The supermarket chain is also looking for inorganic growth in the grocery retail space to expand its business in markets outside of Delhi-NCR, he said. “All potential acquisitions will be made in the retail space of the grocery store under the umbrella of Le Marche; our strong point will continue to be the grocery store. ”

The Walk only started ramping up online deliveries last year after the pandemic-induced closures and in response to the growing adoption of online shopping by consumers. Dutta said that after the start of the pandemic, the retailer saw an increase in sales of convenience-oriented categories such as frozen, ready-to-cook or baked goods. The retailer’s ready-to-eat bakery products, cool snacks, drinks, dips and marinades are clubbed under the private label La Fraiche and listed on food delivery platforms such as Zomato.

While the outlook for festive sales is expected to improve compared to last year thanks to the easing of Covid restrictions, improved mobility and increased vaccine coverage, brands have reserved “Hot spots” in retail stores and expanded their products and offerings well over the past year. “We are increasing the inventory but in accordance with our estimates for the holiday season; we’re not going too far because there is still some consumer skepticism about discretionary spending, ”said Dutta.

According to a report by consumer data intelligence consultancy Axis My India, more than 42% of households said they would spend more or as much this holiday season as they did last year, with discretionary spending up by 21%. % year-on-year for the month of August.


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