Can Walmart-Flipkart look beyond a “dark” future in India?

With the acquisition of Flipkart, Walmart finally has the missing piece it needs to solve the Indian retail puzzle

Walmart’s acquisition of Flipkart didn’t impress global analysts, but it is set to change the face of Indian retail

Through Flipkart, Walmart wants to conquer India’s retail market by combining dark stores and online shopping

Dark stores will allow Walmart to get into the online groceries game, something Flipkart was wary of

The capital Flipkart now has allows for a “farm to fork” play, helping it control costs in a market where low prices are key

Last week, we wrote about the imperatives driving Walmart’s mega-acquisition of Flipkart. Today, we look to the future. To paint a picture of what happens next at Walmart-Flipkart in India.

If you go by what the pundits are saying, the future can be described by only one word.

Dark.

Immediately after the acquisition, Walmart’s share price has taken a sharp fall. Analysts all over the world are unanimous that the deal makes “zero sense” and have predicted dark days ahead for the company.

AUTHOR

Sumanth Raghavendra

Sumanth is a serial entrepreneur with more than eighteen years experience in running startups. He is currently the founder of Deck App Technologies, a Bangalore-based startup attempting to re-imagine productivity software for the Post-PC era. Sumanth’s columns appear regularly in leading publications. He holds MBA degrees from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore and Thunderbird, The American Graduate School of International Management, USA.

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