Reliance’s grocery service, “Jiomart” makes debut in the e-commerce market
Biplab Das, INN/Kolkata, @infodeaofficial
JioMart is an e-commerce platform that was launched in January. However, the service is yet to be available in all country circles. Consumers in Thane, Navi-Mumbai, and Kalyan are currently able to use the service during the lockdown to order the daily essentials.
Some of JioMart’s key features are free home delivery, no minimum order value, expedited delivery, no return policy questions, and more. Jio claims offers on JioMart products will be much better than the competitor and notes that consumers will have “savings” like never before.
JioMart promises to stockpile over 50,000 product platforms for consumers to buy every essential daily product they need. JioMart’s only available on the web as of now. The app will soon be available on Google Play Store and Apple App store after it is launched officially for all users.
Facebook has purchased a 9.99 percent stake in Jio Platforms worth $5.7 billion from Reliance Industries. The partnership is expected to lead to JioMart using WhatsApp’s Business App to help small enterprises reach their customers easily. WhatsApp Pay and JioMoney could also merge in to provide a seamless shopping experience online.
WhatsApp Business has been available for quite a while in India but is not as popular as the main WhatsApp personal messaging platform as it is for power users who want to reach specific audience customers.
The collaboration between JioMart and WhatsApp Business could boost the country’s millions of small and medium-sized enterprises by offering a single shopping platform, directly connecting businesses to customers and helping customers often pay electronically for their orders using the same site.
There are several e-commerce platforms from BigBasket to Grofers to Amazon, and more, available in the country. Due to the rise in demand for foodstuffs or daily necessities due to lockdown, many companies such as Zomato, Swiggy, Uber, among others, have started delivering grocery at the door.
The introduction of JioMart in partnership with WhatsApp may present a challenge to these platforms given the popularity of both the platforms. Jio and WhatsApp have over 750 million users together-many of whom are going to be common. For now, we have to wait to see what Facebook and Jio are up to with e-commerce site JioMart.
Walmart-owned Flipkart is also drawing up plans to begin this year’s full-scale wholesale business and has ramped up ties across sectors with manufacturers. Investors believe that JioMart will force startups and large institutional backers to re-evaluate their position in the internet space for B2B and B2C consumers.
There’s already a strong presence of Reliance in consumer electronics, fashion, lifestyle, and grocery segments. In the quarter of December, its retail business crossed Rs 45,000 in revenue.
“India’s market will continue to grow over a period of time into this three large ecosystems-Reliance, Amazon and Walmart,” said Ashish Sharma, managing director of Temasek-backed venture debt company InnoVen Capital.
