The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group could launch a multi-product retailing business via its mobile phone network under the brand name Mobi-Retail around the first quarter of 2008 with a sales target of Rs 4,000 crore in the first year itself, reports Business Standard. The company has already started talks with suppliers to create a nationwide vendor base.
The service will be offered to the 35 million subscribers of Reliance Communications, who will be able to use their handsets to buy over 100,000 products ranging from fresh vegetables to groceries, readymade garments, toys and electronics with the option of home delivery or picking up products from a delivery point. The group plans to piggyback on its 300,000 outlets in 10,000 towns in formats like Reliance World, Reliance World Express, Reliance Money, Reliance Insurance, Big Flicks, and Adlabs as the delivery points.

Reliance Communications is working on creating an easy menu on the phone (for both CDMA and GSM customers) and has already started initial testing of formats like Mobi-HyperMall (in this menu, all the products can be assessed), Mobi-Mall (smaller than a hyper market), Mobi-Store (for products that can be bought in neighbourhood stores), Mobi-Fresh (vegetables), Mobi-Groc (groceries) and Mobi-Express (products that are needed regularly).