JioMart Goes Live On Whatsapp! How To Order Items From JioMart On Whatsapp Chat? (Exceptions, Rules)

As the physical shops are shut following the lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19 virus, customers are favouring shopping for essentials online. As the demand rose, Amazon roped in the local kirana stores in its new programme ‘Local Shops on Amazon’ and Google allowed free listing and selling in its Google Shopping Tab. 

Now, Reliance Industries has also made the announcement of the JioMart-WhatsApp partnership to enable transactions between grocery stores and consumers.

Read to find out more…

What is the Fuss About?

Following Reliance’s tie up with Facebook, Reliance Retail has now signed a commercial pact with Facebook’s WhatsApp to further the reach of its online venture JioMart. Reliance’s tie up with WhatsApp means it gets direct access to WhatsApp’s user base of over 400 million.

JioMart went live in the suburban Mumbai areas of Navi Mumbai, Thane and Kalyan.

Reliance Retail Ltd, the retail arm of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), had soft launched its new commerce venture named JioMart.  JioMart is currently catering to online shoppers calling itself ‘Desh Ki Nayi Dukaan’.

Through these kirana stores, RIL will sell its own private labels under brand names such as Best Farms, Good Life, Masti Oye, Kaffe, Enzo, Mopz, Expelz and Home One.

What is JioMart Aiming At?

Reliance Retail operates neighbourhood stores, supermarkets, hypermarkets, wholesale, specialty and online stores. It has consolidated merchants under the e-commerce platform. The merchants, in turn, will cater to the demand. This will help the company save costs and enter areas currently outside the traditional purview of e-commerce companies.   

Through this RIL is offering local merchants offering an O2O (online-to-offline) marketplace. Under the O2O model, a consumer searches for the product or services online but buys it through an offline channel.

Will JioMart get tough competition from e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Bigbasket among others?

How to Place an Order on JioMart?

To order from JioMart, customers need to add JioMart’s WhatsApp number 88500 08000 on their phones. 

JioMart then sends a link to the customer’s Whatsapp chat window. The link is valid for 30 minutes. 

Clicking on the link directs the user to a new page wherein he has to fill his address and phone number.

Following the procedure leads to the catalogue of products made available to order from. Products available include sundry brands along with Reliance Retail’s own private labels.

Once the final order is placed, it is shared with the local kirana store on WhatsApp. The customer receives a notification with the order and the kirana/JioMart store details on his number. The customer will also receive an alert once the kirana bills the order.

Currently, the only payment option available is cash and the customer has to pick up his order from the store.

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