Easyday

History

In 2006, Walmart initiated talks with India-based Bharti Enterprises to enter the Indian market as India's restrictive commercial laws prohibited most foreign companies from setting up stores to compete with domestic retailers. Subsequently, they set up an equal joint venture to float a company called Bharti Walmart Private Limited in 2007, with the intention of doing wholesale business, through Best Price Modern Wholesale stores. It was decided that while Walmart would work towards back-end cash & carry supply chain for the wholesale operations of Bharti Walmart; it would also provide expertise including technology, supply chain, logistics and management support to the retail stores, Easyday, which will be run a wholly owned subsidiary of Bharti Enterprises named Bharti Retail Private Limited. Bharti Retail was set up in April 2007 with the target an annual turnover of about $3.65 billion by 2015. The major challenge for Easyday stores was the competition from small scale retailers who controlled about 97% of the Indian retail business. They organized protests against Easyday, which was supported by a section of politicians. Amid a stiff resistance from the opposition political parties, the Indian government allowed 51% Foreign Direct Investment in multi-brand retail in September 2012, which could enable Walmart to do direct retail business in India.

Brand name

While deciding on naming the stores, Bharti Enterprises chose not to use the name Walmart in the brand name, even though the operations of the store largely depended on Walmart's collaboration. It was done to avoid any repercussions by the usage of a foreign brand name, keeping in view the stiff opposition against potential job and business losses caused by a foreign brand. Also, Asipac Projects, a retail consultancy commented, "Walmart prefers to be not known by its brand name until it's not in 100% control in a country. In India, till the Easyday stores do not look and feel exactly like a Walmart store in the US, they would not give it the brand name."

First store

On April 25, 2008, Bharti Retail made their first official entry in the retail business with the inauguration of three Easyday stores in Ludhiana, Punjab, which is the hometown of Sunil Bharti Mittal, the chairman of Bharti Enterprises. Those stores measured 2,500 to 4,500 sq. ft. The first batch of the employees at the stores were local residents, who were given training at Bharti Retail's training facility. Bharti Retail stressed that it would employ local residents at their stores, and would also generate new employment options to vendors of fruits, vegetables and meat, as well as to housewives and retired people. "These initiatives will help facilitate inclusive growth in communities in which its stores operate," it said.

Expansion

The company made plans to expand zone-wise, starting with the northern part of India. By November 2008, the company had 12 stores operational and in the next month, Easyday opened its first medium-sized retail store, labelled Easyday Market, in Ludhiana, Punjab.

In May 2009, Easyday opened its first store in Delhi NCR. Easyday had its retail operations running in 70 stores by May 2010 in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, among others.

Presence

Easyday currently operates in 13 states - Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh in over 110 towns and cities. The number of stores functional is 228 across three different formats catering to about 76,000 customers every day. Easyday has aggressive plans for expansion and is aiming to have 332 stores by December 2013 and later 638 stores by December 2018.

Format

There are three kinds of format stores operated by Bharti Retail, all of those have the word Easyday in their tag name. The standard neighborhood stores are called Easyday and have their presence in over 190 locations; the compact hypermarkets are termed Easyday Market, which are mid-sized stores and function in 22 marts; and large hypermarket style stores are named Easyday Hyper, with just one store so far. The general term used for all these stores, irrespective of the store format, is Easyday.

In addition to the merchandise sold at the regular Easyday stores, the Easyday Market stores stock a wider range of brand and product selection. The Easyday Hyper stores follow a format of a very large store spread over 60,000 sq. ft. and offer a further advanced, extensive range of merchandise and goods in a capacious setup. The first and the only Easyday Hyper was launched in Mumbai in September 2011

Merchandise

Easyday sells items and products of various brands keeping in mind the requirements of the local and regional needs. A typical Easyday store sells groceries including fresh produce inclusive of fruits, vegetables & milk; cereals, meat, poultry, dairy and baked products, canned goods, soups, grains, snacks, cookies, chips, condiments, beverages, sauces, spices, and candy; beauty products like toiletries, fragrances, makeup, shaving and skincare items; health care items; apparel, hosiery, shoes & accessories; books and stationary; toys; gifts; kitchen ware; home improvement products including tools, lighting, & electronic accessories; and items related to religion. Easyday has also partnered with Moneygram International that provides customers the facility of money transfer at their stores. This facility was initially launched at 121 stores in May 2011.

Private Brands

Though Easyday sells merchandise manufactured by several different companies, it also strategically sells Bharti Walmart's own private brands. Bharti Walmart said in an interview, "Customers have begun to like private labels due to better quality, high food safety standards, international look and feel of products, customized packaging created after customer feedback and the credibility of the retailer."

Corruption allegations

Controversies

In January 2013, a fifteen-year-old girl was forced to strip naked at an Easyday store location at Mallhar Mega Mall, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, as she was accused of shop-lifting and the security team wanted to search her. The girl, who is a junior national level table tennis player, was found innocent, though the store staff allegedly misbehaved with her and she had to undergo mental torture. Her mother, Chapla Kumar Bhargawa, who got extremely outraged at this incident, filed a complaint with the police. The authorities registered a case against three store employees, including the woman who strip-searched her in a private room. Her mother said, "How can you force someone to undress? The act cannot be justified." The victim's mother later also registered a complaint against the uncooperative behavior of Indore Police officer - Inspector-general of police, Anuradha Shankar, who reportedly asked inappropriate questions like "Are your intentions of blackmailing the store owner?" Easyday, meanwhile, expressed its concern and said, "We deeply regret the inconvenience caused to our customer at our Indore store. We are investigating the case for appropriate action." The Madhya Pradesh Table Tennis Association condemned the incident and called it "very unfortunate.", the particular store is closed now.