After changing the dynamics of the Indian telecom sector, Reliance is all set to take on Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart with its own online shopping platform. Multiple reports on Tuesday confirm the development, and we’ve even spotted a test site running the Jio Mart banner earlier this week.
The Jio Mart platform is most likely to make its countrywide launch in the coming months, but for now, the company will be offering its service in Navi Mumbai, Kalyan and Thane, as mentioned over here.
As the banner highlights, JioMart will be available on iOS and Android, but we’re not sure how the platform will function. But interestingly, the link to the upcoming website is now being shared with Jio users across the country.
This report from Livemint quotes an unofficial source, who confirmed the soft launch of the platform, which is currently offering early launch discounts to Jio users who shop from JioMart.
What JioMart Offers
- JioMart claims it will cater to over 50,000 plus grocery products
- It will offer free home delivery, with no minimum order value
- No questions asked return policy for the customers
- JioMart also promises express delivery option similar to Amazon’s Prime service
JioMart will rely on the offline to the online model, allowing the company to partner with millions of existing offline shops, helping them sell their products online and in return offer them revenue share, which is likely to be discussed off the record with retailers.
JioMart has been long in the works, especially since Mukesh Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Industries spoke about it at the Annual General Meeting in August this year. Paytm Mall is another entity which has adopted the Offline to Online (O2O) model, but with varying degree of success.
The JioMart ecosystem is expected to make use of its existing payment services like JioMoney, and offer payments to merchants via the Jio point of sale (POS) terminals.
To make this happen, Jio has been acquiring startups that will offer the ammunition for JioMart to become operational, and it seems the company is almost ready to enter the online shopping battle with giants like Amazon and Flipkart in 2020.
But will Jio manage to repeat its success from the telecom sector and take its learnings into the highly competitive online retail space, that remains to be seen?
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