Health to retail: Jio Platforms' plan to be No 1 in B2C revealed

With a suite of over 24 apps, Jio Platforms, the digital services subsidiary of Reliance Industries, is working on a three-point strategy to grow its business. This includes the target to hit the number one slot in the B2C category in at least five to six of its properties, from the current two, in terms of active users and the focus is on Jio. Two, go aggressively for acquisitions to reach the top slot, if needed, as well as to enter newer niche areas. Third, deploy a combination of subscription as well as digital advertising revenues by leveraging the monetisation of the apps.

One of the key areas Jio Platforms has identified for the top slot is health care. Currently, the platform’s health app, JioHealthHub, has 10,000 daily active users and downloads of 1 million, according to Bank of America Global Research. This is behind Practo (30,000 daily active users), Netmeds (40,000), and 1mg.com (300,000). 
 

According to sources, Jio Platforms is in the final stages of talks with Netmeds to buy out its e-pharma business. If the deal goes ahead, JioHeathHub will catapult itself into the slot of the second-biggest player in the category with daily active users numbering over 50,000, behind only 1mg.com.

If the deal is signed, it will also help Jio Platforms to get a foothold in the ordering of medicines space. A RIL spokesperson, however, declined to comment both on its strategy and on the possible deal with Netmeds.

Pradeep Dadha, founder and CEO of Netmeds, said, "It would not be productive to comment on media speculations at this stage."

 

The other app where a lot of resources will be put in is JioMart, the e-commerce app that will be available through WhatsApp very soon. Reliance Retail is rolling out services in over 200 cities across the country and plans to tie up with over 30 million kirana shops for last-mile delivery as it directly takes on Amazon and Flipkart. Sources say the app could be incorporated within the MyJio platform too and is expected to see huge downloads. 

Jio Platforms is also promoting its agriculture and gaming apps. For instance, the Jio Krishi app is in the beta stage of pilot. There is also Helo Farmers, which is geared to take data-driven decisions. 

In the entertainment space, JioTV consumes the maximum amount of data on the Jio network after YouTube. Currently, it is number five in the general entertainment category, and this is a key focus area for the company.

Jio Platforms has two apps which are in the number one slot. The umbrella app MyJio, under which there are many B2C apps, is ahead of its rivals, which include Airtel Thanks, MyVodafone, and MyIdea.

With over 12.4 million daily active users, MyJio is way ahead of its closest telecom rival, Airtel, which has 6.3 million active users, according to the data available from Bank of America and SimilarWeb. In terms of app downloads, both are neck and neck at around 100 million.

The second prong of Jio Platforms’ strategy is acquisitions. 

According to Bank of America, music app JioSaavn is in the top slot of music apps with 7.6 million daily active users. However, its other popular apps in the entertainment space – for example, Jio Cinema, which occupies the number 18 slot -- have a lot of catching up to do.

In education, the website visits for Embibe stand at 3.3 million, merely a fifth of that of big daddy Byju’s and smaller than Vedantu and Unacademy. According to data, at least six of Jio Platforms’ apps have crossed the 50 million downloads mark. The final prong of the company’s strategy is putting in place a plan to garner anything between 6 and 10 per cent of digital advertising revenues through the apps.