Mumbai, April 24: Reliance Retail is looking to enter its next phase of growth by tapping small and medium retailers and expanding in the e-commerce segment.

The topline of the retail arm of Reliance Industries Ltd has crossed Rs 20,000 crore in 2015-16.

Reliance Retails's expansion will be critically linked to the plans of Reliance Jio, which is due to launch its 4G services.

It is expected to leverage Jio's technology platform to add to its competitive muscle.

During 2015-16, the company added 624 stores. It has over 3,200 stores across the country, with more than 400 in the east itself.

Sources at Reliance Retail said during the year, the company also added to its e-commerce range.

The website reliancefreshdirect.com allows customers to purchase groceries online (available in select cities). The company has launched its curated fashion and lifestyle portal ajio.com. The platform features merchandise from international and domestic fashion brands and own labels.

A footwear shopping portal is also on agenda. "We are testing closed user groups, and the website should go online soon,'' an official said.

The company has formulated the "Reliance Retail 2.0" strategy, which involves an integration of the infrastructure built by Jio and physical retail. A key element of the strategy is integrating with other merchant stores.

According to the company, the platform for electronic retailing is ready and has been deployed at over 65,000 retailers. Also, the infrastructure for local stores is in place and an aggressive rollout is being planned.

The idea is to use the local stores as a delivery point, enabling the latter to source various items from Reliance Market - its cash and carry format - which can subsequently be sold to their customers.

"The plan is to serve customers through the retailer. We may not have a store in customers' locality and yet a Reliance Retail product will be at their home,'' sources said.

It is learnt that Reliance Retail has tied up with over 1,50,000 retailers to sell devices, including Lyf 4G smartphones.