[alpha1]

Most of the D-Marts that I have seen are typically outside the prime localities, mostly on the municipal borders and therefore have already reduced a significant portion of their operating costs (rent).
And as Libranof1987 quotes, the land is owned by D-Mart so that makes it a real estate company ;-)

Most D-Marts, most of the times have great discounts and schemes running and have a vast portfolio of fast moving products (food and consumer goods).

Never really ventured into their footwear and apparel. From the cursory glance it appears to be cost effective stuff which is not too high quality but gets the job done.

[AZT]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

I don't understand why would go to such a place when i can order everything online and have it delivered home for free on Amazon or Big basket.

I think most folks go because its like a little family picnic on a Saturday or a Sunday. Big Bazaar used to be this way and it probably still is.

Insane.

Grofers and D mart app have become my go to apps. As someone mentioned earlier, you tend to over shop when you go to the physical store. You are correct about the family picnic part, don't see any other reason to go physically and spend that much time.

[hemanth.anand]

When someone says Dmart...I hear Discounts.That's the only reason why people flock Dmarts.

I have one Dmart less than a Km from my office, another one around 3kms from my office, and the third one around 2kms from my home.
Most of the shopping for small events at office are at Dmart. I used to go to Dmart even for monthly groceries at home but stopped after they stopped accepting sodexo and similar meal coupons that I get in office as part of my remuneration.

We now go to a Malayali supermarket near my home for our monthly groceries. They may not give discounts as much as Dmart but the difference is negligible.

Originally Posted by Red Liner

I don't understand why would go to such a place when i can order everything online and have it delivered home for free on Amazon or Big basket.

Even I told this and tried this one month but my Mother and Wife didn't like it. They prefer hand picking items than ordering online...especially cereals and other such stuff. Also my mother says she feels better when we go outside and a it's a break from that locked-inside-the-four-walls feeling.

[Red Liner]

Hmm. I think people have a sense of accomplishment having spent a whole lot of money, buying a whole lot of stuff they probably don’t need, and saving some money which needn’t have been spent in the first place.

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Hmm. I think people also have a sense of accomplishment having spent a whole lot of money, buying a whole lot of stuff they probably don’t need, and saving some money which needn’t have been spent in the first place.

I don't know about others, but in my home, I'm the spendthrift...especially in supermarkets. Many times my wife takes my meal coupons and goes for shopping along with my mother. She says I buy unnecessary stuff!

[Latheesh]

I go to DMart once a month for our monthly grocery, toiletries, and other purchases.

+ve
Price vs quality
Selection
Some awesome discounts (many times 50%)
D-Mart brand items are of decent quality

-ves
Billing is pretty slow
Parking
Crowd (most of the time)
You tend to over spend

Tips:
1) Prepare a complete list of items you need, list it down same way it is arranged in store.
2) Go to the store during afternoon hours (on a weekday) or just before opening during weekends.
3) Go alone

I finish my complete purchase in 30-45 minutes flat unless I have something to check other than groceries, toiletries, and cleaning supplies.

No plan to invest in DMart share though.

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by Bigzero

Huge shopping carts packed to the rafters with stuff, perhaps many of them not needed, but irresistible with the discounts on offer. And yes, buy eight soaps at a time, etc.

If I look back , the combination of significant price reductions on MRP, availability of everything under one roof, the large shopping carts, and the overall feeling of being smart to have shopped at the place where other smart people are shopping too, has worked for them quite well so far.

This reminds me of the feeling I have everytime I walk out of Costco with my shopping. The couple of times I walked out of Costco with just one item, people seriously looked at me funny. Even the attendant asked, "Just this?!"

I have never been to a DMart, so its good to know about how shopping habits are the same anywhere, as long as there is an illusion of 'saving'.

[sushantr5]

When I am in Pune I shop in D mart as it is quite close to my house in Wakad. My wife likes to shop in D-Mart but I hate the place due to the crowd. Crowd with our world class civic sense really makes you think a lot about this place.

But over the time I found a trick, never visit the place before weekly offs and weekends. And never visit this place when there is salary time of the month. So I started to avoid this place from 25th of the Month to 10 th of next month and I only started to visit the place on Monday and Tuesday. Then onward my visits to D-mart became peaceful.

[Newpunter]

I've been to a Dmart store around 15 kms away from my home, a couple of times. They recently opened a new store just around 1km away and I haven't been there (and don't plan to either).

Like others have mentioned, you get a lot of good deals, but it is very crowded, the aisles are very narrow and it is difficult to navigate or move. If I wanted to spend time in traffic, I would rather drive my car, rather than be pushed around by people physically :-) .

The reason for their crazy valuation seems to be because they open in areas which are on the outskirts, which means lesser competition from big brand stores. And they own the land on which they operate, so they have appreciating assets.

I have found one more stock that is similar to Dmart, called Vmart. I understand that it operates in a few Northern states. The stock price was around 200 when I started investing a few years back and it was close to 3000 when I checked some days back. The probably operate in a similar way to Dmart as well.

[raksrules]

Since most people here have told the exact same things that prices and quality is great while crowd is a negative, I will just add that Dmart also has "Dmart Ready" stores in most localities (at least in Mumbai I know of). These are small shops which have some limited items but you can order stuff through Dmart App and get it delivered to this "Dmart Ready" store which may be more nearer to you and minimum order is Rs. 1000. You get free delivery to that store and you pick your items from there.
There is also home delivery option but that has some charges. But keep in mind that the app does not have everything available in store and rates may vary as well.

[skchettry]

D Mart is my most preferred groceries store. I usually pick up my month stock from it.
Due to overcrowding issues, now they are open from 8 in the morning till 11 in the night.
I am a happy customer because:
1. The prices are well discounted on all products.
2. Exchange policy is good.
3. The collection especially of groceries meets my requirements.
4. At the bottom of the bills, they clearly mention how much I have saved on the MRP - that's a figure I can straightway compare with the one if I end up shopping at my neighborhood store. I end up saving at least 2k in a month.
5. They are open for 15 hours in a day - morning hours and late evening hours are good for those who like to avoid crowds.



What I don't like about them:
1. There's practically no parking space available.

[sramanat]

Well, like many have pointed out already, it is a place for getting sweet volume discounts. On the staples/commodities, they are like any other competing product (seriously does anyone use branded sugar or toor dal?). For branded ones, they offer discounted versions with bigger volumes. I have been using the same shampoo for years and I don't mind a liter of that stuff packed in a bottle. Or the washing detergent.

Cons - super crowded, chaotic and given our people's general attitude towards queues and waiting for one's turn, a sure fire way to increase your stress levels.

I have one conveniently located next to my where my daughter goes for tennis class. I drop her and walk in and get 2 items per visit. They have a counter for under 5 items which is relatively less crowded. This way we avoid going there on weekends as a family hauling everyone's ass and having everyone pissed off at the end of the excruciating trip.

[subhro1988]

I do my weekly grocery shopping from DMart, Powai. The best time to visit is either at 8am or at 10:30pm. At that time the store is less crowded and parking is not an issue.

Key advantages for DMart in my opinion are -
1) They offer a minimum of 6% discount on any product
2) Old breads etc are removed and fresh ones are restocked every day.
3) Sometimes they run offers of BOGO, where if you buy 1 product they charge you 50% of the price
4) Items like rice/atta etc offer huge discounts on the 5Kg and 10Kg bags

The option of ordering from Big Basket or Amazon is always there. But I have seen that for a monthly grocery bill of Rs. 6000 the difference is almost Rs. 1000.

[smileline]

Lots of Benefits of D-Mart, but with a Disclaimer. "Make a shopping list and stick to it"

[Rajat347]

The Best Time to go to D Mart is 8AM.
With big discounts on the table they offer far better deals than Tata Star Bazaar and Reliance.
One can easily save 20% on monthly groceries without compromising on branded items.
I usually don't buy my kids diapers from there because of lack of variety but for that i use first cry.com with 40% discount every time

As per a case study D Mart has their own real estates. They don't go for lease. Hence saving cost of infra.
They layout is equally simple and that helps to reduce cost.
They also gave chances to specially able people as sales persons for employment.
IPO cost of Avenue Super Market was 881Rs but today the share cost is cruising above 2100Rs. I have none of them.

Just need to be tricky and go in early hours. For a middle class family they do offer good savings.