Dive Brief:
- The first India-made bicycles are reaching Walmart store shelves amid the final weeks of the holiday shopping season, according to a company press release.
- The retailer described the bicycle maker, Hero Ecotech, as “among many Indian manufacturers who are building supplier relationships with Walmart, helping the company accelerate their goal to triple exports of goods from India to $10 billion annually by 2027.”
- The company also recently announced an invitation-only “Walmart Growth Summit” in New Delhi in February. The event will host small and medium-sized suppliers and exporters, among others, giving them the opportunity to pitch to the retailer.
Dive Insight:
Walmart first announced plans to ramp up sourcing and spending in India three years ago. At the time, the country represented about $3 billion in exports for Walmart, which said it endorsed India’s “continuing rise as a global hub of manufacturing.”
The initiative was meant to stand up new suppliers for the retailer in food, pharmaceuticals, consumables, health products, apparel, homeware and other key India export categories. It followed Walmart’s closely watched 2018 investment in the Indian e-commerce company Flipkart, as well as India-based supplier initiatives such as its Walmart Vriddhi program.
Walmart CEO and President Doug McMillon said at a supplier event in India in May that the company was on pace to meet its 2027 goal of $10 billion in annual exports from the country, according to media reports from the country.
The supplier Hero Ecotech, which Walmart noted is India’s largest exporter of bicycles, designed a cruiser-style bike for the retailer as it expands its offering in the category. The raw materials making up the product are also 90% sourced from India.
“This collaboration furthers our work to strengthen resiliency in our global supply while contributing to economic growth worldwide,” Andrea Albright, executive vice president of sourcing, said in the release.
Walmart is just one of several retailers and manufacturers striking new sourcing ties in India as companies de-risk and diversify their supply chains away from reliance on China. Among others, telecommunications company Cisco this year said it would start manufacturing in India in a effort to diversify its supply chain; electronics company Foxconn — a major supplier to Apple — has also invested in the country; and the discount retailer Five Below recently opened a sourcing office in India to connect with suppliers.
