Global Giants Need India's Tiny Stores

Amazon, Walmart, and Reliance’s Jio want mom and pop shops to order goods online and help with delivery

- Saritha Rai, with Suvashree Ghosh, Dhwani Pandya, and P R Sanjai

Measuring barely 200 square feet, Nagaraju Bhoganatham’s tiny store in Bengaluru is packed to the rafters: Bulging burlap sacks of rice and lentils are heaped against overflowing tubs of peanuts, dried red chiles, and clumps of jaggery. Fragrant spice-mix masalas, bottles of honey, tiny jars of pungent asafoetida spice, detergents, shaving cream, hair conditioner, and instant coffee compete for room on crowded wooden shelves. There’s even a rack in the corner for mops, brooms, and other cleaning gear.

The grocery in the heart of the city’s dense Chunchugatta Gate neighborhood is one of India’s 20 million mom and pop stores, called kiranas, which have been fixtures in the country’s retail landscape for decades. In much of the world, small merchants have been driven out of business by huge retailers such as Walmart Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.

But kiranas remain an integral part of retailing in India—accounting for 90% of the country’s consumer purchases, they helped the nation’s 1.3 billion people stock up on essentials during a devastating coronavirus wave in April and May. And the tiny stores are emerging as key partners for Amazon, Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries, and Walmart’s Flipkart online unit as they seek to dominate the lucrative $1 trillion Indian retail market.