Domestic retailers in talks for common back-end ops

Spencer’s, Next Retail and Future Group are looking at a tie-up to amortise costs, gain scale and share margins. Shrugging off the stonewalled foreign direct investment (FDI) proposal, several domestic retailers are in talks to collaborate for a consolidated back-end, which, when established, will help them reduce costs and improve margins. Three retailers — Spencer’s, Next Retail and Future Group — said they were in talks with various players for a merger of back-end operations. “We are in talks with several domestic players for a tie-up at the back-end,” Sanjiv Goenka, chairman of the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group that controls Spencer’s, said. “In fact, before the FDI rollback, talks had progressed with a foreign partner as well. The current move will help us amortise costs, gain scale and share margins,” he added.