Quick-commerce unicorn Zepto is experimenting with a membership programme called Zepto Pass.

Priced at Rs 99 per month, the membership offers unlimited free deliveries on orders costing over Rs 99, and discounts of up to 20% on certain orders. While discounts are available to some users for orders over Rs 299, for others the threshold is over Rs 699. The firm is currently offering the service to a targeted set of users, with some getting an introductory price of Rs 19.

With Pass, Zepto has become the second quick-commerce firm after Swiggy Instamart to offer subscription benefits. Swiggy’s listed rival Zomato, on the other hand, does not extend benefits from its Gold subscription to its quick-commerce service Blinkit.

“We are constantly running dozens of small experiments to improve customer experience. Only a few of these experiments are brought to market, hence we do not comment on them,” a spokesperson for Zepto said, declining to give further details about the plan.

Subscriptions are an important way for food-delivery and quick-commerce firms to boost usage and improve user loyalty. In its report for the quarter ended June 30, Zomato had said the Gold programme contributed over 30% of the total gross order value (GOV) for its food business, which stood at Rs 7,318 crore that quarter.

Swiggy, on the other hand, has been trying to expand the One subscription by bundling it with telecom subscriptions and banking products such as credit cards.

Swiggy One costs Rs 1,299 for three months without any discounts, whereas Zomato Gold costs Rs 999 for the same duration. However, both firms offer deep targeted discounts to customers; ET found three-month subscriptions of Zomato Gold going for Rs 99 and Rs 249 to different customers, whereas three-month subscriptions of Swiggy One were available for Rs 39 and Rs 149.

Quick-commerce firms have also been finding new ways to increase their revenue through avenues like advertising. On February 8, Blinkit said its ad revenue jumped more than threefold during the December quarter, compared to the same period a year ago.

Zepto’s revenue grew over 14 times to Rs 2,024 crore for the financial year ended March 2023. However, the Mumbai-based company incurred a loss of Rs 1,272 crore in FY23, over three times wider than in the previous year.

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NEW YORK: U.S. retailer Walmart Inc is expected to strike a cautious tone for 2024 when it reports results on Tuesday.

Despite what was likely a bumper holiday season for Walmart, inflation continues to burden many Americans facing a high cost of living. Higher rents pushed U.S. consumer prices up more than expected in January, spooking markets and raising the possibility that interest rates will stay high for months longer than what investors expected.

Walmart is expected to post a roughly $11 billion rise in sales for the quarter spanning Nov. 1 to Jan. 31, or up 4%, according to LSEG estimates.

Walmart, the first major U.S. retailer to report results, had a robust holiday selling period, analysts at Cowen said.

Shopper visits to Walmart’s 5,000 U.S. stores rose 4.5% during the quarter, Cowen said, citing an internal survey. Shoppers also spent more, with credit-card spending rising nearly 4% from November to mid-January, Cowen said.

In contrast, at rival Target, which reports results next month, traffic rose just 0.3% with credit-card spending falling 9%, the brokerage said.

Analysts also expect Walmart to show stronger profitability thanks to lower supply chain costs and the falling price of gas since November, analysts said. Net income is expected to rise 8%.

For most of last year, consumer spending remained healthy buffeted by a strong job market. Consumers defied inflation to ring in a solid holiday shopping season.

With grocery prices still well above pre-pandemic levels, more shoppers are gravitating to Walmart because of its food costs, leading to market-share gains over grocery rivals, analysts at Bank of America said.

Walmart finds itself in a sweet spot in this inflationary environment as it gets about 70% of its sales from grocery, health and essential products, which consumers are focused on. The improved traffic this brings, in turn, improves its ability to sell non-food items such as apparel and furniture, even in a dis-inflationary environment, analysts said.

Due to its heft in grocery, Walmart is expected to report sales of $645 billion for fiscal 2024, more than double its closest competitor.

CAUTIOUS SUPPLIERS

Still, concerns linger about how fast inflation will cool this year. Several major Walmart suppliers are striking cautious tones.

Kraft Heinz, Mondelez, Hershey and PepsiCo flagged softer volume growth in their latest quarterly results as shoppers digested price hikes.

Ahold Delhaize, the operator of Stop and Shop and Food Lion stores in the U.S., reported a decline in sales in the region in part due to the stoppage of pandemic-related hunger relief benefits last year.

Two investors said they expect Walmart executives to shed fresh light on American shoppers’ behavior following inflation data. “Are they more resilient to price hikes than we think?,” said David Klink, senior analyst at Huntington Private Bank which owns more than $50 million in Walmart stock.

Charles Sizemore, chief investment at Sizemore Capital Management, will watch the degree to which shoppers are shifting what and where they buy in order to save money. “If (Walmart) they come in and say they are seeing inflation is sticky and are finding it difficult to pass those on to customers, that would be bad for Walmart and the industry in general,” he said. Sizemore Capital owns about $2 million of Walmart shares.

Arun Sundaram, an analyst at CFRA Research, expects Walmart to issue conservative guidance, forecasting sales growth of 3% for its fiscal year ending Jan 31, 2025. This compares to the about 5% to 5.5% growth it currently expects for fiscal 2024. To be sure, Walmart historically issues a muted outlook at the start of the year and then goes on to raise it later.

Sizemore said he remains bullish on Walmart’s stock despite its high valuation of around 23 times forward earnings.

“It has been a somber retail environment, but Walmart has been doing really well,” he said.

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China’s JD.com said it was evaluating a takeover of Britain’s Currys, sending shares in the electricals retailer soaring, and laying the ground for a bidding war after the group rejected a rival 700 million pound ($883 million) deal.

Chinese e-commerce group JD.com Inc confirmed on Monday that it was looking at Currys, after a report in The Times newspaper said that another bidder, U.S.-based investor Elliot Advisors, was considering a higher offer.

Currys confirmed to the stock market on Monday that it had rejected Elliot’s possible cash offer of 62 pence per share, saying that it believed it significantly undervalued the company.

Shares in Currys, which sells fridges, washing machines, computers and other electricals, jumped as much as 37% at Monday’s market open, the first time they have traded since the news of Elliot’s bid emerged, and were last up 33% at 62.3 pence.

Britain’s Telegraph newspaper, citing sources, reported on Sunday that JD.com representatives had made contact with Currys and held exploratory talks in recent weeks.

JD.com said in its statement that “it is in the very preliminary stages of evaluating a possible transaction that may include a cash offer for the entire issued share capital of Currys”.

Currys, which formerly operated the Dixons and Carphone Warehouse brands in Britain before focusing on the Currys name, has struggled to grow profits in recent years as consumer incomes have been squeezed by high inflation.

Shares in the company, whose main business is in the UK and Ireland and which also has a presence in the Nordics and employs 28,000 people, had lost 54% of their value in the last two years.

Currys said last year it was selling its Greek unit for 156 million pounds.

A takeover of the company would be a boost for Mike Ashley‘s Frasers Group, which has amassed a more than 11% stake in Currys, partly through financial instruments. Currys declined to comment on JD.Com’s statement, while Elliott Advisors, which already owns another British retailer in Waterstones bookshops, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Under UK takeover rules, Elliot has until 1700 GMT on March 16 to make a firm offer for Currys or announce it is walking away.

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Ecommerce companies are making concerted efforts to fix the gender balance in the traditionally male-dominated supply chain roles.

From offering creche facilities, period leave, gender-balanced sourcing and women-only delivery and customer service stations to having partnerships with women’s campuses, companies such Flipkart, Amazon, Meesho and Jumbotail are wooing them with a variety of initiatives, recognising the hurdles in hiring women for supply chain roles.

Flipkart has increased women’s representation in the supply chain by 64% in the last two years, while Meesho is targeting 33% by March next year from 21% now.

“At Flipkart, we believe in the power of diversity as a catalyst for success,” said Prajakta Kanaglekar, vice-president of supply chain and customer experience teams.

Apart from comprehensive hiring initiatives, and hubs exclusively led by women, Flipkart has adopted localised hiring strategies, provided transportation and established creche facilities at 28-odd sites to address the challenges of hiring female employees in remote areas.

Its training initiatives, including Vidhyarthini (maximising awareness regarding supply chain roles for female B-School students), Disha (train-and-hire model for MBA students), Neev (train-and-hire model for engineering students) and Supply Chain Certification Programme (SCCP) are designed to prepare female candidates for diverse roles — from internships to management trainees and roles in supply chain management.

In the B2B food and grocery sector, Jumbotail is capitalising on its formal programme -Project Shakti – to bring more women into supply chain operations. It aspires to have women in 50% of operations roles at supply chain fulfilment centres in the next 12-18 months.

Project Shakti aims to hire, train, and elevate women to key roles in order processing and inventory management for grocery, staples, and FMCG products.

“Our strategy was developed from the insight that women’s natural qualities of discipline, diligence and intuition, critical for enhancing operational efficiency and innovation in the supply chain, when combined with their innate understanding of grocery products, can result in substantial benefits to customers while making a meaningful impact in the women workforce,” said Kamlesh Kumar, vice-president, supply chain, Jumbotail.

Meesho’s approach involves gender-based sourcing, partnerships with women’s campuses and educational institutions as well as internship opportunities for those seeking hands-on experience in the field.

“Despite progress, we acknowledge the unique challenges faced by women in such industries, including a lack of mentorship,” said Ashish Kumar Singh, Meesho’s chief HR officer. To address these, the company has initiatives to support the professional growth of its female employees.

Liju Thomas, director – HR, India operations at Amazon India, said the company has launched multiple initiatives to increase opportunities for women in the logistics sector whilst strengthening its DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) commitment.

Hiring spurt:

Recruitment firms say there’s been a big jump in such mandates.

CIEL HR has seen a 40% surge in demand for female talent, led by a shift towards greater gender diversity and inclusivity within India’s ecommerce industry, chief executive Aditya Narayan Mishra said.

“Ecommerce players like BigBasket, Flipkart, Amazon and Ecom Express are actively looking to hire women. Most ecommerce companies are hiring for roles such as pickers/packers, scanning executives, supervisors, analysts, last-mile delivery personnel, mid-mile delivery personnel, riders and customer service executives within the supply chain,” he added.

Manpower has got at least two times more demand compared to last quarter for diversity hiring, said senior director Alok Kumar, attributing it to lower attrition rates and higher productivity among women compared to their male peers.

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