Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations.
Who doesn’t love to buy good products at affordable rates? Undoubtedly, we all love discounts! What if there was only a single store in the city or town providing discounts? It would be very difficult for people to reach their destination and do their shopping before it gets overcrowded. Fortunately, with Big Bazaar’s shopping experience, you don’t have to feel the same way. This is because its online and offline stores are available in different parts of India.
Big Bazaar is an Indian retail chain of hypermarkets, discount departmental stores, and grocery stores. The company provides the best offers on groceries, food items, kitchen appliances, personal care products, and more. Big Bazaar provides a platform to do your shopping with big discounts. In other words, Big Bazaar is another name for big discounts.
The Future Group subsidiary has been in the news regularly for the dire conditions that it was in, which prompted Reliance to acquire the same, almost suddenly, undermining the Amazon 2019 deal, when the Bezos-led company infused around $200 mn in a unit of Future Group. This court fight triangle involving Amazon-Future Group and Reliance has ultimately marked a victory for Amazon.
Read the Big Bazaar success story below to know more about Big Bazaar, Big Bazaar’s history, Big Bazaar’s branches in India, the owner of Big Bazaar, and more.
Big Bazaar Introduction
| Company Name | Big Bazaar |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Mumbai, Maharashtra, India |
| Industry | Retail |
| Founder | Kishore Biyani |
| Founded | 2001 |
| Website | bigbazaar.com |
About Big Bazaar
Big Bazaar – Startup Story
Big Bazaar – Founder and Team
Big Bazaar – Tagline, Slogan and Logo
Big Bazaar – Business Model
Big Bazaar – Revenue Model
Big Bazaar – Growth
Big Bazaar – Financials
Big Bazaar – Challenges
Big Bazaar – Competitors
Big Bazaar – Future Plans
About Big Bazaar
Big Bazaar is a company that operates a chain of departmental and grocery stores offering vegetables, fruits, dairy, personal products, garments, etc. Big Bazaar is also the parent company of Fashion at Big Bazaar, eZone, and Food Bazaar. It is one of the largest and oldest chains of departmental stores in India, which is owned by Future Group.
In 2020, Big Bazaar was acquired by Reliance Retail, the retail arm of Reliance Industries, as part of a ₹24,713 crore ($3.36 billion) deal for the Future Group. However, the acquisition was canceled on 23 April 2022 after creditors of Future Retail (FRL) voted against proceeding. Following this, Reliance Retail introduced its new retail format, Reliance Smart Bazaar, to cater to consumer needs.
Big Bazaar – Startup Story
Kishore Biyani, the owner of Big Bazaar, had big dreams for his business as he was from a business family. Biyani’s grandfather owned a clothing business, which is why Kishore was into the business from a very early age, as was his family, all involved in their clothing business. However, what separated Biyani from the other members of his family was his big dream of doing something unique for himself and others. This is what led him to design a retail store that would have everything under one roof. Big Bazaar resulted from his brainstorming, dedication, and hard work. Biyani had already made Pantaloons a big hit as a fashion and retail store since he founded it in 1997. Now, after Big Bazaar was founded in 2001, he took the retail industry by storm.
He opened his first departmental store in Kolkata after renting and converting the place into a 10,000-square-foot store, which was twice the size of any store in Kolkata back then. Within the next 22 days, he opened more than 2 more stores in the city, and within a year, Biyani successfully opened over 50 stores all across the country. Big Bazaar started spreading across the country, and with the warm reception that the brand has seen, Biyani’s Big Bazaar stores surpassed the 100-mark by 2009.
The idea for Big Bazaar came from ‘Saravana Stores’, which is the largest family-owned retail store in India. Biyani mentioned Saravana stores’ shopping as an “experience”. Thus, this store inspired Kishore Biyani highly, as mentioned by Biyani in his autobiography. Biyani has also been quoted saying that Saravana Stores is “India’s No.1 retail store in one locality.”
Yash Raj Srivastava
Big Bazaar – Founder and Team
Kishore Biyani
Kishore Biyani is an Indian businessman, an organizer, a trader, and also a failed filmmaker. He is better known as the Founder and the CEO of the Future Group, which is one of India’s biggest retail chains. Kishore Biyani is also the founder of companies like Big Bazaar and Pantaloons. He was born on 9th August 1961, in Mumbai, to a family that has been involved in the business since the period of his grandfather. His grandfather had a clothes shop when it used to be known as Bombay.
Biyani graduated from HR College, from where he obtained a B.Com degree. Though he finished his college education, Biyani was not interested in studying and took delight in wandering and devoting his time and efforts to business. He started making trousers when he was 22. Biyani then started his work at Bansi Silk Mills. Biyani started his own business in 1983, in which he used to commission the manufacture of fashionable fabric for sale to garment manufacturers. Kishore Biyani eventually launched his new business called Manz Wear Private Limited, with which he also launched his brand that he called “WBB”, which implied “white, brown, and blue”, the basic colours of fabric for men’s trousers. This led to his launch of “Pantaloons”, which was named from “patloon”, the trousers as they are called in Hindi. Pantaloons went to be a big hit, after which Big Bazaar was launched, under Future Group, which made Kishore Biyani the retail king!
Sakshi Jadhav
Big Bazaar – Tagline, Slogan and Logo
Big Bazaar is currently operating with the tagline “Naye India Ka Bazaar”, which was decided on November 17, 2011, replacing the earlier one that said “isse sasta aur accha kahin nahi!”.
Big Bazaar – Business Model
Big Bazaar operates on a B2C business model. It offers numerous products on a single platform to its consumers. It is considered to be one of the largest departmental stores in India. The company provides awesome discounts and offers to the customers. This is the only factor that attracts all sorts of people to Big Bazaar.
Products like home and furniture, electronics, jewelry, toys, sporting and fitness, grocery, clothing, movie and music, footwear, craft and party supplies, stationery, kitchen appliances, etc., can all be found under one roof. This is the specialty. The principle of the company is low margin and high turnover. This is the only reason behind finding offers every time in the stores.
Big Bazaar – Revenue Model
Founded in 2001 with a single store, it had more than 400 stores in over 200+ tier 1, 2, & 3 cities in India as of 2024. The revenue model of Big Bazaar is very clear – just selling more products at their price by using the following tactics:
- Bulk Purchase: Big Bazaar purchases all the items in bulk from the manufacturer at a low price, then sells them to the consumer after adding its margin price.
- Product Bundling: Big Bazaar bundles the slow-moving products with high-moving products to clear its stock and provide them to customers at a discounted rate. This helps them in stock clearance. Also, product bundling can be witnessed from the manufacturer’s side as well. Sometimes, the manufacturers anticipate the wrong demand and produce the product in large quantities. To maintain the inventory, the manufacturer sells them at a discount. Eventually, companies like Big Bazaar purchase those products at discount rates and sell them at a profit.
- Leveraging the products: The Companies like Big Bazaar leverage a particular brand’s product in order to increase its visibility in the store. The customer may find the product of any brand in a particular section of the store.
Anik Banerjee
Big Bazaar – Growth
Being one of the oldest and largest chains of retail stores, Big Bazaar has been ailed for its wide variety of quality products at affordable prices. Founded in 2001, when Big Bazaar’s popularity started to skyrocket, the retail stores have also claimed to have served over 2 million customers each week. It has also been said that more than 300 million customers visited and revisited Big Bazaar in a year. However, since 2017, Big Bazaar’s struggle against debts became prominent, and by 2019, many of its stores were closed down. The pandemic outbreak happened in 2020, which wiped away even the sales that Big Bazaar was seeing. This led Future Group to sell Big Bazaar to Reliance Industries. It has previously missed lease payments to Reliance also, which was apparent as its website was also down.
All of these led Reliance Retail, the retail division of Reliance Industries, to buy out Big Bazaar as a part of the Rs 24713 crore ($3.36 bn) sale transaction of Future Group. However, this sudden acquisition was disputed by Amazon, and Future Retail Group’s (FRL) secured creditors, and eventually received a “no” from the Singapore Court. However, Reliance fraudulently started acquiring the Big Bazaar stores and has already acquired around 900 of its stores, when the Mukesh Ambani-led company said that they were paying rent for 9 months and couldn’t do anything more. These ended with the Supreme Court’s final verdict on August 6, 2021, when the apex court called off the Reliance-Future Group deal. The Future Group deal sprouted many controversies and facts about Future Group, the Jeff Bezos-led Amazon, which is now led by Andy Jassy, and Reliance.
Big Bazaar – Financials
Big Bazaar saw significant financial distress in FY21, with a sharp decline in revenue and a huge loss of INR 3,189.5 crore compared to previous years. The Future Group generated a total revenue of INR 5,116.76 Crores in FY 2024.
| Particulars | FY21 | FY20 | FY19 | FY18 | FY17 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | INR 6,560.9 crore | INR 20,418.4 crore | INR 20,355.7 crore | INR 18,489.6 crore | INR 17,098.9 crore |
| Expenses | INR 9,729.4 crore | INR 20,400.6 crore | INR 19,628.3 crore | INR 17,874.5 crore | INR 16,730.6 crore |
| Profit/Loss | INR -3,189.5 crore | INR 11.3 crore | INR 727.2 crore | INR 11.3 crore | INR 368.3 crore |
Revenue in FY21 dropped sharply to INR 6,560.9 crore from INR 20,418.4 crore in FY20, while losses widened to INR 3,189.5 crore.
Big Bazaar Revenue Breakdown:
| Particulars | FY21 | FY20 |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue from operations | INR 6,303.9 crore | INR 20,331.7 crore |
| Other income | INR 256.9 crore | INR 86.7 crore |
| Total Revenue | INR 6,560.9 crore | INR 20,418.4 crore |
Revenue from operations fell by over 69% from FY20 to FY21, reflecting a major downturn in business performance.
Big Bazaar Expenses Breakdown:
| Particulars | FY21 | FY20 |
|---|---|---|
| Purchases of stock-in-trade | INR 3,777.8 crore | INR 15,173.3 crore |
| Employee benefit expense | INR 575.6 crore | INR 977.5 crore |
| Finance costs | INR 1,471 crore | INR 1,025.8 crore |
| Depreciation & Amortization | INR 1,382.8 crore | INR 1,098.7 crore |
| Other expenses | INR 1,278.4 crore | INR 2,287.2 crore |
| Total Expenses | INR 9,729.4 crore | INR 20,400.6 crore |
Major cost reductions were seen in inventory and employee expenses, but finance costs increased, reflecting rising debt burdens.
Big Bazaar Profit/Loss:
| Particulars | FY21 | FY20 |
|---|---|---|
| Gross Profit | (INR 3,168.5 crore) | INR 17.8 crore |
| Operating Profit | (INR 3,168.5 crore) | INR 14.1 crore |
| Net Profit/(Loss) | (INR 3,189.5 crore) | INR 11.3 crore |
Big Bazaar shifted from a profit of INR 11.3 crore in FY20 to a massive loss of INR 3,189.5 crore in FY21, indicating severe financial distress.
Quick Summary:
- Revenue declined by 69%, showing a sharp downturn in business performance.
- Expenses were reduced, but finance costs increased, indicating higher debt burdens.
- A net profit of INR 11.3 crore in FY20 turned into a massive loss of INR 3,189.5 crore in FY21, reflecting financial instability.
Pratiksha Bajikar
Big Bazaar – Challenges
Though Kishore Biyani’s Big Bazaar almost seems to have smooth sailing, it has witnessed its own fair share of challenges. Rising debts and the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic were 2 main factors that marred the popularity of the retail chain. Big Bazaar’s rents were paid by Reliance, claimed a Reliance spokesperson when Reliance fraudulently acquired 900 Big Bazaar stores. Though Future Group wanted to sell Big Bazaar to Reliance, thereby getting rid of its debts, that didn’t happen because the Supreme Court decided to call off the Reliance-Future Group deal. The Big Bazaar and FBB stores are closing rapidly. Where more than 260 stores were earlier closed due to non-payment of debts, 300 Big Bazaar stores have been known as operational, as per the latest updates dated May 9, 2022.
Big Bazaar customers are left amused with their vouchers as they see the Big Bazaar stores closed day after day, while in some cases, the Big Bazaar employees also complained about not receiving their salaries.
Varad Kitey
Big Bazaar – Competitors
The top competitors of Big Bazaar are DMart, Bigbasket, Grofers now Blinkit, and Reliance Fresh.
- DMart is the top competitor of Big Bazaar. The company is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, and was founded in 2000. DMart is the counterpart of Big Bazaar.
- Bigbasket is one of the top rivals of Big Bazaar. The company is headquartered in Bangalore, Karnataka, India, and was founded in 2011. The Tata-owned grocery company brings a wide variety of products, including grocery and essentials, poultry, meat, fish, and more.
- Grofers (now Blinkit) is perceived as one of the top competitors of Big Bazaar. The company is headquartered in Gurgaon, India, and was founded in 2014. It operates in the grocery sector.
- Reliance Fresh is a subsidiary of Reliance Retail, which has been designed in a convenience store format that offers a wide selection of products to the customers.
Big Bazaar – Future Plans
Big Bazaar has earlier mentioned its potential expansion in the tier-II cities of India, especially those that are less impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic and have greater aspirations. However, we are here now with most of the Big Bazaar stores closed, overlooking none less than a miracle after the calling off of the Reliance and Future Group deal. Whether Big Bazaar will be concentrating more on the expansion strategy or merging with any other companies is still undisclosed, but the Kishore Biyani-founded company cannot simply sustain the losses they have witnessed.
FAQs
What is Big Bazaar?
Big Bazaar is a departmental store that provides a shopping platform for groceries, food items, kitchen appliances, personal care products, and more at discounted rates. It caters to every need of your family.
Who is Big Bazaar owner?
Kishore Biyani is the founder of Big Bazaar.
When was Big Bazaar founded?
Big Bazaar was founded in 2001.
Who is Big Bazaar CEO?
Sadashiv Nayak was the CEO of Big Bazaar before he resigned, effective from March 31, 2022.
Where is the Big Bazaar head office?
Big Bazaar’s head office is in Mumbai.
What is Big Bazaar tagline?
Naye India ka Bazaar is the latest tagline of Big Bazaar.
