Avenue Supermarts' online sales jump 21% to Rs 3,502 Cr in FY25, losses widen amid expansion push

Economic Times

a day ago

Avenue Supermarts, the operator of DMart retail chain, saw sales at its online grocery unit expand 21% in FY25 while losses widened as it expanded into new geographies.
Sales for Avenue E-Commerce (AEL), its online subsidiary started eight years ago, was at Rs 3502 crore while net loss was Rs 247 crore, as per its latest annual report. The subsidiary, which runs DMart ready, had reported sales of Rs 2899 crore and a loss of Rs 185 crore in the previous fiscal year.
"The nature of our industry and our job is to constantly compete, adapt and reinvent, all the time. It is literally war like. DMart Ready as an idea germinated to deliver to that ever-changing customer preference the same value through an alternate channel," said managing director Neville Noronha in its latest annual report. "We exist because we offer choice. We exist precariously as the customer has the choice to go to anyplace else – anytime, immediately, more so now by not even stepping out of their home, or even out of their chair."The company has so far invested about Rs 1138 crore in its online subsidiary to capitalise on the trend of consumers shifting to online buying especially during the pandemic.Earlier this year, Avenue Supermarts, appointed Anshul Asawa to replace Noronha in February 2026, after he chose not to extend his contract more than two decades after he joined the supermarket chain.
"Limited line control, maximum observability and strict governance has defined the DMart Way. I hope these principles are never compromised. What can be done can be fluid, knowing what should not be done is significantly more important. Leaders should not order, they should enable. Leaders know the least. Higher they are lesser they know. If retail is detail and retail is speed then the leader is the student, the subordinate is the teacher," said Noronha, Noronha, who owned around 1.94% stake in the company at the end of the March quarter, and is one of India's richest CEOs with its stake worth about Rs 5100 crore.Organised retail is estimated to have grown at 18% to Rs13 trillion while E-retail grew at 22% to Rs4.4 trillion. Of the total organised retail industry, the food and grocery segment accounts for about 29%.Unlike grocery startups Amazon and BigBasket, which rely on a delivery-based distribution model, DMart's online venture operates a hybrid model with delivery centres in areas where it has small stores from where customers can also pick up products they have ordered online.