Did you ever wonder what Mukesh Ambani and Mark Zuckerberg have in common? No? Let us tell you what we both think of them. Apparently, both are aggressively ambitious. Both of them lead very aggressive companies known as Reliance and Meta (formerly Facebook). When these organizations have decided to walk together, you can only imagine how powerful they are.
JioMart now uses WhatsApp to conduct their e-commerce business 19 months after Meta (formerly Facebook) invested almost $6 billion into Reliance’s Jio Platforms unit.
Now, order groceries on JioMart using WhatsApp
You can now order groceries from JioMart using WhatsApp via a new “tap and chat” feature. The move comes amid a rivalry between JioMart, owned by Reliance Industries Ltd., and Amazon.com Inc. and Walmart Inc.-owned Flipkart.
According to JioMart users who received WhatsApp shopping invites with a 90-second tutorial and catalog, delivery is free, and there is no minimum order value. Daily essentials such as fruits, vegetables, cereals, toothpaste, and cooking staples like paneer cottage cheese and chickpea flour are currently available through WhatsApp. Customers can fill their shopping baskets within the app and pay via JioMart or with cash when they receive their orders.
Huge growth potential in Online Retail
The Boston Consulting Group estimates that food and groceries will account for more than half of the nation’s retail spending by 2025, which could reach $1.3 trillion.
Even though grocery shopping online is still a small segment of online retail, it is rapidly growing. Other startups such as the SoftBank Group Corp.-backed Grofers, Google-backed Dunzo, the Naspers-financed Swiggy, the Tata Conglomerate-backed BigBasket, and others like Zepto are now also trying to capture our grocery delivery market.
The service plugs into the popularity of WhatsApp, which has about 530 million users in the country Meta has its largest overseas base. Kirana Stores, available at every hook and nook of the nation, would also be easily adapted to new ways as most of the operators are already on WhatsApp. Notably, Jio, Amazon, and Flipkart are each competing to help these Kirana Stores, with store management tech, credit and tax filing services, and supply replenishment, intending to harness them for neighborhood deliveries.