Reliance Retail Sees 53% Rise In Daily Orders Of Digital, New Commerce Businesses In Q2

The digital and new commerce verticals of Reliance Industries Limited’s (RIL’s) subsidiary Reliance Retail saw their daily orders surge 53% year-on-year (YoY) in the second quarter of the financial year 2022-23 (FY23). 

“Digital commerce and new commerce growth momentum remained strong as the business capitalised on festive and big online days and expanded partner merchant networks,” the conglomerate said in a statement after releasing its financial results for the September quarter. 

Overall, Reliance Retail reported a record net profit of INR 2,305 Cr in Q2 FY23, up 36% compared to the same period last year. Gross revenue for the quarter ended September 2022 stood at an all-time high of INR 64,920 Cr, up 42.9% higher than Q2 FY22. 

The positive numbers largely came as business activity resumed to the pre-pandemic levels along with the early onset of the festive season. The growth was also witnessed on account of  broad-based growth across all consumer baskets.

“I am pleased with the record performance of our consumer businesses which continue to scale new milestones every quarter…Our Retail business delivered record performance with strong revival in footfalls, store additions and digital integration. Reliance Retail continues to provide a compelling proposition of great shopping experience and superior value across consumption baskets and price points,” said RIL chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani.

Reliance Retail also recorded an all-time high of quarterly EBITDA at INR 4,404 Cr, rising 51.2% compared to the Q2 FY22.

A Glance At Reliance Retail’s Numbers: 

• The retail subsidiary’s cash profit for Q2 FY23 stood at INR 3,324 Cr, up 45% YoY
• Reliance Retail opened 795 new stores during the quarter, total store count stands at 16,617 
• It claimed to have become the first Indian retailer with more than 50 Mn sq ft of retail space. Total area of operation at the end of Q2 FY23 stood at 54.5 Mn sq. ft, compared to 37.3 Mn sq. ft in Q2 FY22
• Reliance Retail stores witnessed a cumulative footfall of 180 Mn across formats and geographies in Q2 FY23

Meanwhile, Reliance Retail continued to grow at a breakneck speed as registered customer base grew 28% YoY to reach 221 Mn in the quarter under review. Besides, the subsidiary also processed more than 250 Mn transactions in the quarter even as daily orders surged 53% on a yearly basis in Q2 FY23. 

Festive Season Cheer For Digital Commerce

The ‘Tyohar Ready’ festive sale saw its ecommerce platform JioMart register around 2.5X higher than usual traffic and 3X more app installations. 

The consumer electronics business purportedly witnessed a double-digit growth during the quarter, driven by higher bill values as footfall rose at its physical stores. The numbers were largely driven by segments such as mobile phones, TVs, washing machines, registering a 30% YoY growth in Q2 FY23. 

Offline apparel sales registered their ‘strongest quarter ever’ with high double-digit like-for-like growth in the period under review. 

According to the conglomerate, AJIO witnessed another all-time high quarterly performance in the Q2 FY23. The lingerie business more than doubled on a yearly basis, driven largely by brands such as Zivame, Amanté and Clovia 

In its quarterly report for the three month period between July and September 2022, Retail Retail said that its grocery business delivered its best ever quarter as business more than doubled compared to last year. 

Compared to Q2 FY22, JioMart Kirana’s merchant base addition more than quadrupled on a yearly basis in Q2 FY23. The grocery business also added 57 new fulfilment facilities in a bid to increase business reach and reduce merchant response time.

Reliance Retail’s pharma business also more than doubled YoY during the quarter as it expanded its operations to 2,500+ cities.

In the past few years, RIL has made a couple of bets in the healthtech space. Beginning with the acquisition of a majority stake in Netmeds in 2020 for INR 620 Cr, the conglomerate also invested in oncology-focused healthtech platform Karkinos last year.

The conglomerate’s digital subsidiary Jio Platforms clinched a net profit of INR 4,729 Cr in Q2 FY23, higher 26.9% YoY from INR 3,728 Cr.

The profits were largely the result of higher average revenue per user (ARPU) in the connectivity business, even as inflationary pressure partly raked up the operating costs.

Jio Platforms also logged a gross revenue of INR 28,506 Cr in the quarter ended September 2022, growing 22.8% YoY. The average revenue per user (ARPU) soared more than 23.5% in Q2 FY23 to INR 177.2 per subscriber per month.

Overall, the oil-to-telecom conglomerate recorded a consolidated net profit of INR 15,512 Cr, up 0.2% compared to the corresponding quarter last year. Consolidated gross revenue for Q2 FY23 stood at INR 2.53 Lakh Cr, registering a growth of 32.4% on a yearly basis.