Reliance's JioMart is averaging half a million orders per day; WhatsApp driving growth

JioMart, Reliance's online-to-offline commerce platform that launched in May, has scaled up rapidly, riding on the pandemic-fuelled digital acceleration.

The service, which went live in 200 cities across India, is currently processing an average of 500,000 orders per day. "We can go even higher on peak days", Jio Platforms CEO Kiran Thomas revealed at the Facebook for Fuel India 2020 event.

He said,

"JioMart is empowering millions of kiranas and small merchants through the simple and secure platform of WhatsApp, and linking them to Reliance Retail's pan-India supply chain. We expect to grow manifold in future, and are optimistic about enabling new cohorts of users and making it easier for them to shop for daily essentials."

"Customers are transacting seamlessly on JioMart and the conversational nature of the service enabled by WhatsApp has made people adapt to it intuitively," he added.

Reliance also stated that it will continue to add new features to JioMart, which it calls 'Desh Ki Nayi Dukaan'. The 'new commerce' platform is taking on the likes of Bigbasket, Amazon Pantry, and others in a fast-expanding e-grocery market.

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Within a few months of launch, JioMart is second only to Bigbasket in terms of SKUs and Amazon Pantry in geographical reach.

JioMart combines Reliance Retail's sourcing power across staples, fresh produce, frozen foods, edible oils, and other daily essentials, and WhatsApp's massive reach among kiranas and corner stores that command a lion's share of India's retail pie.

The platform had launched with a selection of 50,000 products available at "five percent below MRP", with free deliveries and no minimum cart value. JioMart is now adding non-essential categories like electronics and consumer durables.

Reliance's retail ambitions got a significant boost earlier this year with Facebook's $5.7 billion investment in Jio Platforms. The latter owns nearly 10 percent of Jio now.

In a fireside chat with Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook Fuel for India 2020, RIL Chairman and MD Mukesh Ambani stated that "JioMart aspires to serve tens of millions of small shopkeepers in India, who are the bedrock of employment".

"Jio brings digital connectivity, WhatsApp now with WhatsApp Pay brings digital interactivity, and the ability to close transactions and create value, and JioMart brings the unmatched online and offline retail opportunity that gives small merchants in villages and small towns a chance to digitise and be at par with anybody else in the world," Ambani added.