Abstract

Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (Reliance Retail), a subsidiary of leading Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), has been on an acquisition spree with the objective of gaining a significant market share in the Indian retail segment, including both the online and offline segments. In November 2020, Reliance Retail acquired a stake in a leading online furniture start-up Urban Ladder Home Decor Solutions Private Limited (Urban Ladder) for Rs. 1,821.20 million. This was the fourth acquisition by Reliance Retail during the financial year 2020-21. The present case study provides scope to discuss the different acquisitions made by Reliance Retail and discusses how these acquisitions could help the company in gaining significant market share in the Indian retail market competing against Amazon.com Inc, Flipkart India Private Limited, and other retail players. The case study can be discussed in terms of business strategy and the diversification strategy followed by the company. It can also be used to discuss brand recall value from the perspective of Urban Ladder.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Understand Business Strategy
• Understand the Levels of Business Strategy
• Understand Diversification Strategy

Keywords

Reliance Retail; Reliance Industries Limited; Urban Ladder; Future Group; Netmeds; Zivame; Retail Distribution Channel; Kannan Departmental Store; Business Strategy; Levels of Business Strategy; Diversification Strategy; Online Retail Furniture Market; Pepperfry; IKEA