India has key role in Walmart’s supply chain: Mckenna

“WALMART HAS A 20-YEAR HISTORY OF SOURCING FROM INDIA AND ALREADY EXPORTS MORE THAN $3 BILLION WORTH OF MADE-IN-INDIA GOODS EACH YEAR TO 14 MARKETS WORLDWIDE,”

JUDITH MCKENNA,

President & CEO of

Walmart International

The Covid-19 pandemic has once again highlighted the importance of Walmart’s flexible and diversified global supply chain and India is playing a key role in this, Judith Mckenna, president, and chief executive officer of Walmart International, said on Thursday.

She said innovations from India are helping Walmart improve its retail around the world.

“People in India have a relentless passion to innovate and solve problems... (by) putting the customer at the centre of everything,” she said.

For instance, an Indiadeveloped sales forecasting solution is helping Walmart stores in Mexico and China improve the availability of fresh food and reduce waste, she said. A Flip kart developed advertising platform is helping our Chilean business tailor ads gain insights. Also, Phonepe, which has more than 300 million users and is digitising 25 million kiranas, is helping Walmart think differently about financial access in Mexico, said Mckenna. Phonepe on Thursday said it was processing almost 1.5 billion transactions a month, and about 80 per cent of its users are from tier-ii cities and beyond.

“We are very excited about Flipkart’s new Shopsy. It is a worldfirst foray into social commerce for us,” said Mckenna. “It provides a very low entry barrier for people to start a business and is also a fun and easy way to introduce people to online shopping.”

Mckenna said Walmart is tripling its sourcing from India to about $10 billion a year by 2027. “To achieve this, we are growing our sourcing team in India,” said Mckenna, during a chat with Yourstory founder Shradha Sharma at Converge @ Walmart, the flagship event of Walmart Global Tech India.

“Walmart has a 20-year history of sourcing from India and already exports more than $3 billion worth of Made-in-india goods each year to 14 markets worldwide,” she said.

“MSMES (micro, small and medium enterprises) are a big focus for us,” Mckenna said, adding that entrepreneurs with big dreams can get export-ready by learning business skills, embracing world-class processes and technologies, and building a network of business contacts. The company’s ‘Vriddhi’ programme is playing a part in this, she said.

As part of the programme, entrepreneurs can learn how to lead teams, do responsible sourcing, put a business plan together, get financing, and manage the health and impact on the business during the pandemic.

“Technology is not just about ecommerce. It also helps people to be more efficient and competitive,” said Mckenna. “When MSMES on the Flipkart platform were hit with labour shortages and supply chain challenges because of the pandemic, Flipkart helped them use technology to anticipate consumer demand and find solutions,” she added.