JioMart partners with WhatsApp to deliver daily essentials

They (retailers) will be able to get new orders in addition to keeping their relationships with their regular user base intact,” said Akash Ambani, Director & Head of Strategy for Reliance JioMart Platforms.

The e-retail major announced its decision during the Fuel for India 2021, Meta’s annual event.

The partnership opens up a world where customers and retailers will be using a ‘tap and chat’ feature to order groceries through WhatsApp.

Food and groceries account for half of India’s retail expenditure, and is projected to reach 1.3 trillion USD by 2025, according to Boston Consulting Company.

“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 personalized recommendations based on your past purchase history, it's all there," said Isha Ambani, Director at Reliance Retail and Reliance Jio Platforms.

This move by JioMart also allows prepaid users of Reliance Jio to recharge through WhatsApp.

Akash Ambani said JioMart and Meta are working on opening avenues for both to work cohesively, which includes ‘Jio on WhatsApp’ and simplifying its ‘prepaid recharge’.

In April last year, Meta had invested 5.7 billion USD for securing a 9.99 percent stake in Jio Platforms, the digital and telecom arm of Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL).

The partnership between the two companies is meant to connect 400 million WhatsApp users and half a million retailers under the Reliance network.

Last year, WhatsApp pilot tested its ordering feature in various cities. Now, customers can use the order service by paying through cash, UPI, card or cash on delivery (COD).

He 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.”