Reliance’s Tech‑Driven Store

Reliance Retail’s fashion chain AZORTE opened its first standalone high-street store in Kolkata on April 10, adding a tech-heavy format to one of India’s biggest shopping markets. (indianretailer.com) The store is on Elgin Road and spans more than 10,000 square feet across two floors, with womenswear, menswear, kidswear and accessories under one roof. (indianretailer.com) AZORTE says the Kolkata outlet uses radio-frequency identification and quick-response code inventory systems, smart trial rooms that suggest related items, and self-checkout counters. Reliance Retail’s AZORTE page also lists mobile scan-and-go and fashion discovery stations as part of the format. (indianretailer.com) (relianceretail.com) That setup turns a clothing store into a data-rich retail space: every scan, fitting-room request and self-checkout transaction can show what shoppers touched, tried and bought. Retailers use those signals to manage stock faster, push recommendations and measure which displays convert into sales. (relianceretail.com) (ril.com) Reliance has been building toward that model for years. It launched AZORTE in Bengaluru on September 29, 2022 as an in-house premium fashion and lifestyle chain aimed at shoppers buying international and contemporary Indian fashion. (financialexpress.com) (indianexpress.com) The company originally said it planned close to 40 AZORTE stores across 12 cities within about nine months. By April 13, 2026, Indian Retailer reported the chain had reached 42 stores nationwide. (financialexpress.com) (indianretailer.com) Kolkata is not a small test case for that push. Reliance says it operates 19,340 stores across India and served nearly 1.4 billion transactions in the 2024-25 financial year, giving it the scale to spread store technology across formats and cities. (relianceretail.com) (ril.com) The Kolkata opening was inaugurated by actor Mimi Chakraborty with Nitin Sehgal, chief executive of AZORTE at Reliance Retail. In company-backed coverage, Sehgal said Kolkata had been part of the brand’s expansion plan “since its inception.” (sugermint.com) (indianretailer.com) For shoppers, the pitch is speed and convenience inside a physical store. For Reliance, the Kolkata outlet shows how fashion retail is being rebuilt around software, sensors and checkout systems that make a visit easier to track as well as easier to finish. (relianceretail.com) (indianretailer.com)