Reliance Retail’s digital and new commerce businesses accounted for 19% of the total revenue for the retail giant in Q3 FY24 (December 2023 quarter), with the contribution remaining flat on a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis.
Digital and new commerce business contributed 19% in the previous quarter as well, but Reliance Retail’s operating revenue rose 23.8% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 74,373 Cr in Q3 FY23. Reliance Retail reported a 31.87% rise in its net profits in Q3 to INR 3,165 Cr.
On a sequential basis, Reliance Retail’s operating revenue grew just 7.9% from INR 68,937 Cr in Q2 FY24. Reliance Retail reported EBITDA of INR 6,258 Cr in Q3, an increase of 31.1% YoY.
The company said gross revenue was boosted by a surge in categories such as grocery, fashion & lifestyle and consumer electronics businesses.
However, Reliance Industries Ltd’s (RIL’s) massive entertainment business saw a 12% decline in operating revenue (YoY) due to movie and sports segments, where key events were part of the reporting period in FY23.
Let’s look at the key categories in the digital and new commerce business verticals for Reliance Retail.
Reliance JioMart & Omnichannel Retail In Q3
Reliance Retail’s ecommerce platform JioMart saw steady growth, led by increase in traffic and average order value led by fashion and lifestyle and consumer durables and IT products. However, the company did not reveal individual performance of JioMart within its sprawling retail empire.
The fashion and lifestyle business delivered 28% YoY growth, RIL said, while the consumer electronics business saw 19% YoY increase in gross revenue. Further, JioMart Digital’s merchant partner base grew 34% compared to the year-ago period.
The conglomerate claimed that measures such as improved product search and quality check for fashion with doorstep returns resulted in an enhanced customer experience in the quarter.
JioMart’s catalogue option count grew 84% YoY and seller base expanded by more than 3X compared to the December quarter last year, Reliance claimed.
Among the vertical ecommerce platforms, Urban Ladder focussed on omnichannel expansion in the past year, with its store network and exclusive brand outlets now present in 29 cities.
Beauty ecommerce platform Tira, launched in 2023, is also expanding its store network. Reliance said it “delivered strong performance across various operating metrics including sales productivity, average bill value, repeats”. However, Tira’s financial growth and operating performance were not disclosed separately.
Overall, Reliance Retail’s net profit rose 31.9% YoY to INR 3,165 Cr in Q3 FY24. Profit stood at INR 2,790 Cr in the preceding quarter.
Digital Media, JioCinema & More
In the previous quarter, JioCinema led the growth in the media business of Reliance. But this quarter, operating revenue of the entertainment business declined by 12%. The company said sports revenue was lower due to sports and movie segments.
“Digital ad revenue saw a strong growth driven by impact properties like Bigg Boss and Temptation Island,” it said.
The company said JioCinema was the home of multiple sporting events during the quarter, while the entertainment on the OTT platform was powered by a mix of TV network content and JioCinema Originals.
“The first season of digital-exclusive reality show, Temptation Island, was complemented by long-running TV impact properties like Bigg Boss Hindi, Bigg Boss Kannada, Khatron Ke Khiladi, and Roadies. All these shows were unequivocally successful, delivering record consumption and engagement. Watch-time of some of the TV shows was more than twice of the previous seasons with Roadies recording a 4x increase,” it added.
Among RIL’s other business verticals, Jio Platforms reported an 11.6% rise in net profit to INR 5,445 Cr in the December quarter from INR 4,881 Cr in the year-ago period. Sequentially, the company saw a mere 2.7% growth in net profit from INR 5,297 Cr.
Overall, RIL reported a 10.9% YoY rise in net profit to INR 19,641 Cr in Q3 FY24.
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