India's Reliance Retail should make big move into USA to build on quick commerce market push

India’s largest retailer, Reliance Retail, should put Stateside success on its radar, according to Brittain Ladd, a supply chain consultant and former Amazon executive.

The company operates multiple brands including JioMart, Freshpik, Reliance Smart, and AJIO.com. These sell products across food, groceries, apparel, footwear, toys, home improvement, electronics, and farming.

Ladd was speaking as Reliance Retail announced plans to open a large number of dark stores to expand into quick commerce with a focus on making deliveries within 30 minutes.

In a LinkedIn post, he said: “I’m amazed this wasn’t done sooner. I agree with the strategy being utilised by Reliance in India. However, I believe that Chairman Mukesh Ambani should consider making a big move in the USA. Specifically, I believe that he should acquire BJ's Wholesale Club, which has a market cap of $14 billion. An acquisition can easily be financed by Reliance Industries. BJ’s has an excellent team of executives led by Bob Eddy. Bob has done an excellent job as CEO.”

American consumers are gravitating to warehouse clubs for their groceries, Ladd observed. Costco Wholesale has experienced significant growth due to a focus on adding more brands. The most intelligent move made by Costco is embracing the population of consumers from Asia and South Asia (India especially) and stocking products to meet their needs, Ladd argued.

He added: “Ambani has an opportunity to acquire BJ’s Wholesale, and create a customer experience to convert many of Costco’s consumers to BJ’s. In addition, he and his team can add more groceries and create more private label brands. Ambani has the potential of significantly growing BJ’s, as the company is primarily focused on the Eastern US. It only operates 250 warehouse clubs and 186 gas stations. The company can be scaled.”

Albertsons Companies and Kroger are also potential acquisition targets.

And robotics is another area of interest. Ladd believes that Reliance should own a majority stake in the company Addverb. It should acquire Pando and integrate it with WhatsApp and Jio. (Meta and Reliance have a partnership, and Meta has invested over $10 billion in Jio and Reliance business opportunities).

2025 RTIH INNOVATION AWARDS

Robotics will be a key focus area at the 2025 RTIH Innovation Awards.

The awards, which are now open for entries, celebrate global tech innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.

Our 2024 hall of fame entrants were revealed during an event which took place at RIBA’s 66 Portland Place HQ in Central London on 21st November, and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by comedian Lucy Porter.

In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “The event is now into its sixth year and what a journey it has been. The awards started life as an online only affair during the Covid outbreak, before launching as a small scale in real life event and growing year on year to the point where we’re now selling out this fine, historic venue.”

He added: “Congratulations to all of our finalists. Many submissions did not make it through to the final stage, and getting to this point is no mean feat. Checkout-free stores, automated supply chains, immersive experiences, on-demand delivery, next generation loyalty offerings, inclusive retail, green technology. We’ve got all the cool stuff covered this evening.”

“But just importantly we’ve got lots of great examples of companies taking innovative tech and making it usable in everyday operations - resulting in more efficiency and profitability in all areas.”

Congratulations to our 2024 winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Lucy Porter, and all those who attended November's gathering. 

For further information on the 2025 RTIH Innovation Awards, please fill in the below form and we will get back to you asap.