IndiaRetailBiz

“The partnership reflects a powerful combination of category leading expertise and global sourcing capabilities of Office Depot with the immense distribution reach and customer understanding of Reliance Retail.” — Bijou Kurien, President and CEO, Reliance Retail (Lifestyle).

“There is tremendous opportunity for growth in India’s office supply market to support a fast-growing economy of entrepreneurs, small businesses and multinational corporations,” said Mr Nagappa. He said there was no immediate plans for retail foray.”– Sreenivas Nagappa, Country Manager, Office Depot India.

Reliance Retail is busy stitching alliances for its retail business in India. Close on the heels of inking joint venture agreements with Netherlands-based optical major Pearle Europe B V (50:50) and the UK-based iconic retailer Marks & Spencer (49:51), the Mukesh Ambani group company signed another 49:51 joint venture agreement with the US-based Office Depot, among the leading global supplier of office products and services. According to a news agency report, the new jv will have investment of Rs. 120 crore from the promoters.

The two joint venture partners have also acquired Mumbai-based eOfficePlanet, a leading B2B supplier of branded and private label office products and services to corporate customers in India. eOfficePlanet has its operations spread over nine cities across the country.

Office Depot, an S&P 500 US$15.5 billion (2007 sales) company, employing over 52,000 employees worldwide, supplies its products in 43 countries through multiple distribution channels. Of the 1,608 Home Depot stores located across the world, 1195 stores in the US and 164 stores in Canada, France, Japan, Hungary, and Israel are owned by the company. It also operates 157 joint venture stores in Latin America, and 92 licensee stores in the South East Asia.

The Joint Venture, according to a Reliance release, while combining the global resources of Office Depot with the local market knowledge and resources of Reliance Retail, will establish a “sophisticated supply chain network and enhance eOfficePlanet’s merchandising and sourcing capabilities.”

India, being the second fastest growing economy in the world, offers great potential for office products. Believed to be among the top 15 office products markets in the world, corporate retailers have begun taking interest in this segment of the business.

In January, 2007, Kishore Biyani owned Pantaloon Retail (India), a Future group company, also entered into joint venture agreement with the Boston (US)-based $ 16.1 billion “Staples”– a major supplier of office products and services, with a worldwide retail network of over 1,800 stores in 21 countries and employee strength of over 21,000 persons.