More Retail IPO Hints at Amazon’s India Omnichannel Plans

In the continued parade of new stock market listings, especially for initial public offerings (IPOs), there’s particular appeal for groceries in an omnichannel world.

As noted by PYMNTS through recent research, in the United States, 72% of grocery shoppers now order groceries online for curbside pickup or home delivery.

Read also: Restaurants, Grocers Embrace Voice, Contextual Commerce to Thrive in an Omnichannel World

We’re about to see just how much that enthusiasm — for cross-channel conduits and ways and means to get your meat and greens — translates onto the global stage.

To that end, More Retail, based in India and backed in part by Amazon, as reported by Bloomberg on Monday (Dec. 13), may go public on India’s exchanges as early as the middle of next year.

Bloomberg notes that the initial public offering, should it come to fruition, would value the grocery firm at as much as $5 billion, as More Retail raises $500 million through an offering of new shares. And the firm, itself, has changed hands a bit through the years. Witzig Advisory Services Pvt. acquired More Retail in 2019 from Aditya Birla Group, according to the retail chain’s website. Witzig, in turn, is 49% owned by Amazon, in a deal that was struck two years ago.

On its website, the company bills itself as “India’s leading food and grocery omni retailer.” The company’s physical footprint spans 600 retail stores across the country, a roster that includes supermarkets and hypermarkets, which are a form of big box stores.

As for the eCommerce part of the equation: More Retail’s past releases detail that Aditya Birla Group’s food and grocery retail arm — that would be More Retail — and Paytm struck a deal to offer the latter’s  prepaid wallet to make payments for their grocery transactions.

There seems to be at least some ongoing scrutiny of Amazon’s More Retail stake. Moneycontrol.com reported last month that the U.S. eCommerce giants’ Future Group deal followed the “same strategy as its More Retail stake buy to skirt Indian laws.” The site noted that the 49% stake in Witzig gave Amazon indirect ownership of More Retail. A similar structure is apparent in Amazon’s acquisition of a stake in Future Coupons.

But as noted in this space last month,  the independent directors of Future Retail have asked the Competition Commission of India (CCI), the country’s antitrust body, to revoke its approval of the 2019 deal in which Amazon purchased 49% of one of Future Retail’s group companies, Future Coupons.

Amazon, of course, has a few efforts underway in the country (including Amazon Pay); backing More Retail is a way to have particular presence within a specific vertical, both onsite and through eCommerce/delivery channels.

Read more: India’s Future Retail Urges Antitrust Regulator to Revoke Amazon Deal

Paytm’s own most recent business update, dated Dec 13, shows the continued momentum for digital payments. In the update, the company noted that the Paytm platform’s GMV for the first two months of the quarter was approximately $22.4 billion U.S. dollar equivalents, growing 129% year over year. The company also said its  monthly transacting users (MTU) “has consistently grown through FY21 and in the first two quarters of FY22.” Paytm’s stats in the third quarter of FY 2022 with 63.2 million average MTUs in the first two months of the quarter, growth of 36% year over year over the 46.6 million average MTUs in the first two months of Q3 FY 2021.

We’ll get more detail in subsequent filings should More Retail’s march toward a public listing continue — including the data surrounding various channels, online/offline, for transacting and delivery, but for now the trends seem in place for “omni retail’s” growth to continue.