JioMart-WhatsApp partnership to allow retailers, customers to shop via chat

Slated for launch in 2022, JioMart's conversational e-commerce push on WhatsApp will serve up catalogues from merchants and allow users to order essentials both on demand and as subscriptions

JioMart will roll out a conversational e-commerce on WhatsApp, which will allow retailers in its network and customers to order essentials like grocery items and snacks both on demand and via subscriptions next year, Reliance Jio executives Isha Ambani and Akash Ambani said at Meta’s (formerly Facebook) Fuel for India 2021 event on Wednesday.

JioMart’s WhatsApp ordering is expected to start in 2022 and the feature to order directly from JioMart has currently been piloted for a section of WhatsApp users only as it is in its trial mode.

Users will be able to order on the go or even avail subscription of daily needs from JioMart through WhatsApp.

On the subscription front, Isha Ambani, director, Reliance Retail and Jio Platforms said, “Bread, butter, vegetables, beverages, everything that you need in your household that day or that week…Look up a product, set up a subscription for a regular buy if that’s what you want, or get personalised recommendations based on your past purchase history.”

This move by JioMart to offer customers and retailers the convenience to order via WhatsApp comes at a time when the grocery delivery market is already flooded with players like Amazon, Walmart’s-Flipkart, Big Basket and Grofers.

“We currently have over half a million retailers on JioMart. We intend to build out native features that will not only help users shop seamlessly on WhatsApp but will also help retailers increase stock assortments, improve margins and get them closer to perhaps a larger base of customers, like never before,” Akash Ambani, director, Jio Platforms said at the event.

He also said, “They (retailers) will be able to get new orders in addition to keeping their relationships with their regular user base intact.”

A customer or retailer can likely pay for the order via UPI, card payments or cash on delivery through Jio. The orders will be executed through the retail store chains of Reliance Retail.

Jio is also offering customers the option to recharge their Jio phones via the WhatsApp.

“As Jio and Meta teams work closely, we are opening more and more avenues of working together. One such avenue is Jio on WhatsApp, which is simplifying the entire ‘prepaid recharge’, Akash Ambani.

He also said, “It is really exciting how the end-to-end experience for recharge through WhatsApp along with the ability to make payments can potentially make the lives of millions of Jio subscribers much more convenient.”

This move by JioMart comes after Meta invested in Rs 43,574 crore for a 9.99 per cent stake in Jio Platforms last year.