Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) may be looking to expand its expertise beyond the merchandising of everyday, low-priced goods as it enters the Indian market full-force with partner Bharti. As such, the world's largest retailer is soliciting possible business from other large retailers in that country in order to lend a hand to the complicated front-end operational logistics that has allowed Wal-Mart to become the inventory-handling behemoth it is.Basically, Wal-Mart wants to handle the technical operations and expertise needed to firmly establish and grow a retail operation in India that can scale as needed with the expected continuing blockbuster growth many industrialized centers are seeing in India. Why Wal-Mart would want to assist the competition in this way is puzzling, although I am sure the company is charging a decent amount for its services.
Still, the first reported technical support collaboration will be given to Bharti Retail, Wal-Mart's exclusive sales partner for the Indian market. Wal-Mart, which has seen its own withdrawal from countries like South Korea and Germany in the last year, wants to go for the jugular with entry into India and China, two retail markets on a tear as the middle class develops more steadily in those two billion-plus populated countries.
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