Reliance-Facebook collaboration looks at new areas, e-tail could be first (JioMart)
The first impact of the Facebook-Reliance Jio deal will be on JioMart. But what exactly is this e-commerce platform from Reliance Industries? As the name already suggests JioMart is an e-commerce platform launched this January. The service, however, is yet to be available in all circles of the country. Currently, consumers in Thane, Navi-Mumbai and Kalyan can use the service to order daily essentials during the lockdown.
Some of the key features of JioMart are free home delivery, no minimum order value, express delivery, no questions asked return policy and more. Jio claims offers on products available on JioMart will be much better than the competitor and notes consumers will have “savings” like never before.
JioMart promises to stock over 50,000 grocery platform for the consumers to buy every necessary daily essential product. As of now, JioMart is available on the web only. The app will be soon available on Google Play store and Apple App store after it is officially launched for all users.
On Wednesday, Facebook picked up a 9.99 per cent stake in Reliance Industries’ Jio Platforms worth $5.7 billion. It is expected that the partnership will lead to JioMart using WhatsApp’s Business app to help small businesses reach their customer easily. WhatsApp Pay and JioMoney could also merge in to offer a seamless online shopping experience.
WhatsApp Business has been available in India for quite some time but isn’t as popular as the main WhatsApp personal messaging platform as it is for power users who want to reach out to customers of specific audiences. The JioMart and WhatsApp Business collaboration could boost millions of small and medium sized businesses of the country by offering a single platform for shopping, connecting businesses with customers directly and also helping consumers pay for their orders online using the same platform.
Also Read: Jio-Facebook deal: What does it say?
Should other platforms worry?
There are several e-commerce platforms available in the country from BigBasket to Grofers to Amazon and more. Given the surge in demand for groceries or daily essentials due to lockdown, many companies such as Zomato, Swiggy, Uber, among others have started delivering groceries at the doorstep. The launch of JioMart in collaboration with WhatsApp could pose a threat to these platforms given the popularity of both the platforms. Jio and WhatsApp together have over 750 million users – a lot of whom will be common. For now, we must wait to see what Facebook and Jio are up to with JioMart e-commerce platform.