Kishore Biyani’s Future Group has tied-up with omni-commerce technology solutions provider hybris software, a SAP company, to converge its digital and physical channels, reports Business Standard. Following this tie-up all Future Group brands are expected to be available online from March 2015. Future Retail joint managing director Rakesh Biyani told the publication that Future Group will invest Rs 100 crore over the next 18 months on the omni-commerce platform. Last month Future Group had launched a B2C e-commerce portal for its direct selling service Big Bazaar Direct. The BS report claims that the portal hasn’t performed as well as expected and will be integrated into the omni-channel strategy. Once omni-channel retail operations are fully functional consumers will, apparently, be able to view the inventory and order products online and pick-up the ordered products from the nearest Future Group store or get it home delivered. In case the products ordered are out of stock at the store it will be delivered to the consumer’s home when new stocks arrive. The company claims that consumers will be able to pick from over 250,000 items available across its stores or website on this new platform. In comparison a Big Bazaar outlet has a capacity of storing 40,000-60,000 items. What happened to earlier e-commerce plans? Earlier this year, in July Kishore Biyani had said that Future Group plans to launch an e-commerce platform in October. He had also said that they were currently running an e-commerce pilot in Akola, Amravati and Bhilwara and would…
