A digital transformation opportunity for 3 crore kirana stores, Jio-Facebook deal gives the fillip

Last week, Mukesh Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Industries Ltd, broke the big news on signing a deal with Mark Zuckerberg-led Facebook (that owns WhatsApp). In the global eyes, this deal was noted as a testimony to India’s digital transformation efforts – one that exhibited dynamic social and economic transformation changes driven by the rapid adoption of digital technologies.

Facebook committed $5.7 billion in Reliance Jio Platforms to secure a 9.9% stake in the company. This deal gives a big fillip to Reliance Retail, the subsidiary of Reliance Industries, recognized as the most valued firm in India. And quite after the multi-billion dollar deal, Reliance started testing its online marketplace JioMart on the Facebook-owned messaging platform WhatsApp. JioMart is Reliance’s e-commerce venture. Launched in January, JioMart is said to be offering around 50K grocery products to the customers. Essential items owned by private labels of Reliance Retail are also available on this platform.

Within three days of signing the commercial pact with Facebook, Reliance Retail went live on WhatsApp in the areas of Navi Mumbai, Thane, and Kalyan in Mumbai. This means that by doing so, Reliance Retail's e-commerce venture JioMart has gained direct access and reach to WhatsApp’s user base of over 400 million. And what more, this deal automatically enables JioMart to possibly connect consumers with any of the 3 crore kirana stores through the most commonly used messaging platform WhatsApp. Potentially, in the future, JioMart and Whatsapp will empower nearly 3 crore-small Indian Kirana shops to digitally transact with every customer in their neighborhood.

Mukesh Ambani believes that at the core of this partnership is the commitment that Mark Zuckerberg, Founder of Facebook, has towards creating an opportunity for an all-round digital transformation of India and for serving all Indians. The partnership, says Ambani, will be a great catalyst to make India the world’s leading Digital Society. “The combined power of Jio’s world-class digital connectivity platform and Facebook’s intimate relationship with the Indian people will offer innovative new solutions to each one of you,” expressed Ambani in the company statement released on the deal.

How to place an order on WhatsApp through JioMart?

Reliance has rolled out JioMart in areas of Mumbai where a consumer can order groceries and other essentials from WhatsApp. For a country so reliant on WhatsApp, this is hailed as an amazing move by Reliance to take over the likes of Flipkart and Amazon. And for WhatsApp, this could be the best way to monetize its 400 million Indian users. Ultimately, the coming together of JioMart, Jio’s small business initiative, and the extensive reach of WhatsApp, will only enable people to connect with businesses, shop, and ultimately purchase products in a seamless mobile experience.

As of now, JioMart is available in three areas in three suburbs near Mumbai — Navi-Mumbai, Thane, and Kalyan.

For using the service, a user needs to save JioMart’s WhatsApp number 88500 08000. Users can initiate an order by texting “Hi” to the WhatsApp number, which prompts a link that opens a mini-store on the browser, allowing them to pick a range of grocery products including toothpaste, snacks, tea, and coffee, rice, and cooking oil.

Using the link, the users can then place an order from the catalog of products by filling their contact details. The order is shared by JioMart with local Kirana store over WhatsApp, while the user receives the details of the respective store, and is notified once the store bills the order.

The customer then has to pick up the order from the store. JioMart also promises free home delivery, besides and express delivery service, which is much needed at times like the ongoing lockdown imposed by the Government to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infections.

Currently, available in Mumbai only, the service is expected to be rolled out in all circles across the country. The company has also started to roll out own retail stores to facilitate the delivery of groceries.

Ushering an O2O model

The WhatsApp and JioMart collaboration is currently at its pilot stage. Sources closely watching the companies report that more than 1,200 neighborhood stores are engaging in this pilot program. It is believed that Reliance is aiming to set up an online-to-offline marketplace model (O2O), a model that has been pioneered by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba. In the O2O channel, a customer searches for the product or services online but buys it through an offline channel.

So, by looping in thousands of kirana stores pan-India, this might just be a new chapter in the fiercely competitive hyper-local retail space in India. And, in the future, with in-app payments in the offing from Whatsapp, this deal may do wonders for a population that is still hesitant to try online deliveries, thus transforming them digitally – both the kirana stores as well as its trusted consumers.