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Informist, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026

 

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--Vishal Mega Mart: Expect to end FY26 with 100 new stores 
--CONTEXT: Vishal Mega Mart mgmt's comments in post-earnings analyst concall 
--Vishal Mega Mart: Expect around 10% same-store sales growth in near term 
--Vishal Mega Mart: Same-store sales growth boosted most by higher volumes 
--Vishal Mega Mart: Not seeing any siginificant pressure on rentals 
--Vishal Mega Mart: 19 stores operational, 20 in pipeline across Kerala 
--Vishal Mega Mart: Quick commerce revenue continues to grow 
--Vishal Mega Mart: Growth uniform across tier-I, tier-II geographies 
--Vishal Mega Mart: Seeing uniform growth across states 
--Vishal Mega Mart: Will have to open more stores than planned in Kerala 
--Vishal Mega Mart: Rightsizing of stores in Karnataka making good progress 
--Vishal Mega Mart: Impact of GST cut on consumer spending yet to be seen 
 

 

By Shakshi Jain and Ashutosh Pati

 

MUMBAI – Hypermarket chain Vishal Mega Mart Ltd. expects to close 2025-26 (Apr-Mar) with a new-store count closer to the upper-end of its guidance range of 80-100, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Gunender Kapur said in a post-earnings conference call with analysts Wednesday. In terms of same-store sales growth, the company will endeavour to maintain the run-rate of around 10% in the near and medium term, he added later.

 

"You would recall that at the time of our IPO (initial public offering), we had guided to 80-100 new stores every year. So, for the current financial year, we will end at the upper end, or slightly over 100 stores vis-a-vis that guidance," Kapur said.

 

In the recently-concluded December quarter, Vishal Mega Mart net added 29 new stores. This takes its overall store count to 75 on a net basis for the first nine months of FY26. As of December-end, the company had a total of 771 stores, spanning 13.15 million square feet across 517 cities.

The company's adjusted same-store sales growth for the December quarter was 9.6%. For the first nine months of the current financial year, the company's adjusted same-stores sales growth was 10.3%. Vishal Mega Mart defines adjusted same-store sales growth as the growth in net revenue of all stores that have been operational for at least 15 months at the beginning of each quarter, excluding stores that are temporarily non-comparable with the base period due to refurbishment, cannibalisation, area reduction, or other such events.

 

The company considers three key elements for its same-store sales growth–-gains in market share from both mom-and-pop stores and other retail entities, increase in the average bill value of the existing customers, and improvement in the average selling price. "...at this point in time, we are finding that the biggest impact, which is driving our growth positively, is volume growth, which is led by our scaling market share," Kapur said.

 

He added that the company is recording uniform growth across states and across Tier-I and Tier-II geographies. "So, yeah, there are some states which are absolutely outliers in terms of the upper end of the performance. But generally, we are operating in a very tight range of performance." 

 

On the company's hyperlocal delivery service, which expanded to 723 stores across 485 cities in the December quarter, Kapur said, "Our revenue continues to grow, and our contribution to the store revenue by quick commerce continues to grow."

 

PLANS AHEAD

 

The company's management said Vishal Mega Mart will have to open more stores than planned in Kerala as "the population is almost contiguous across the state and there are no well-defined cities." However, the company is capping the store size at 15,000 square feet as they are closer in distance. Currently, Vishal Mega Mart has 19 operational stores in Kerala, with another 20 in the pipeline. 

 

Meanwhile, in Karnataka, the rightsizing of stores is making good progress, the management said.

 

In the December quarter, the company opened 12 new stores in south India, including four each in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, and two each in Karnataka and Telangana. Vishal Mega Mart opened seven new stores each in north and west India. The remaining three new stores were opened in the east.

 

The company's management affirmed that Vishal Mega Mart is not facing any significant pressure on rentals for its stores at the moment. Answering a query on the impact of the recent cut in goods and services tax on consumer sentiment, Kapur said, "What I've been experiencing is definite optimism because of the income tax and the GST change. But I think the impact of those is yet to be seen. We are quite certain that it will come."

 

On Wednesday, shares of Vishal Mega Mart ended over 4% lower at INR 119.86 on the National Stock Exchange.  End

 

Edited by Tanima Banerjee

 

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