Due to the nationwide lockdown imposed in India in mid-March, only essential markets are allowed i.e. pharmacy, gourmet stores, only necessary offices, or industries. As people are stuck behind there doors and stepping out even for groceries seems an impossible task, here comes the internet, with online grocery systems; like (grofers, Big Baskets, etc.). As the lockdown has been imposed there is swell in the online markets, because why not when you can get your essentials without even stepping out, just outside your door, who wouldn’t want that?
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries has launched an online extension of its own grocery business which is called the “JIOMART” brand across 200 cities. This initiative was made in order to provide door to door services to people as other platforms like Grofers, Big Baskets,etc.) are not providing essentials across the nation and it gets tougher for rural areas.
JioMart services are offered to 200 cities, from leading metropolitan cities like ( Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, and Kolkata), and even in smaller towns like Mysuru, Bhatinda, and Dehradun. this was tweeted by the chief executive of Reliance Retail’s grocery business, Damodar Mall. They last month started a pilot project of serving users in Neighbourhoods surrounding in Mumbai.
Due to the pertinent lockdown in question, D-mart said that April revenues are down 45% year-on-year as nearly 50% of the stores are closed or have very stringent restricted hours of operation. Therefore, online orders Should help offset some of the lower sales in physical stores.
The existing Players like (Grofers, Big Basket, Swiggy, etc.) are providing the essential groceries across people while social distancing, online grocery orders have spiked, given the fewer store visits, Credit Suisse said.
CLSA said as of now, the website is at the initial steps so it will be using the Reliance’s offline grocery supply chain as its backbone and deliver to homes. Due to the lockdown, the delivery time period may vary according to the location, but the estimation is of two to three days.
“As the success of the ongoing Beta tests in Navi Mumbai, which also circumscribes Mom and Pop stores and it also uses WhatsApp as a platform to order, will be later extended to Pan-India.
On the website, people can order from a full suite of grocery items by visiting the official website JioMart. Products like fruits, vegetables, and branded foods, beverages, dairy, snacks, baked goods, staples, personal, and home care.
Eventually, like other online retailers, it is possible that Reliance integrates its entire retail offerings, including fashion, lifestyle, and consumer electronics, onto one supreme e-commerce platform and mobile app.
As recently Reliance partnership with Facebook-owned WhatsApp for JioMart will also help in swelling monetization opportunities, in near future it will also open new opportunities for employment by increasing the convenience and reach of consumers.
As Grocery is 70% of the India Retail market, 90%-plus unorganized, driven by local general stores/Kirana stores.” Organized penetration is less than 10% while online penetration for grocery is less than 1%, it said. But due to nationwide lockdown online grocery is graciously swelling day by day. As people are scared to go outside and whilst maintaining social distancing, the increasing number of COVID-19 cases is also increasing which makes the e-commerce grow incessantly.
Facebook is expanding its arms into e-commerce by launching small businesses and shops. “The idea is to bring millions of small businesses online. this will help the small business owner and retailers of free online storefronts and will also expand the Facebook presence across Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger,” Bernstein said.
“Facebook shops will be complimentary to WhatsApp business use to sign and onboard Kirana stores for JioMart (grocery app of Reliance Retail).
“In terms of pricing, Reliance has extended the Smart promise of ‘minimum 5 percent off on MRP’ to all products on JioMart. The discount is higher on its private-label brands, and is competitive to branded products,” it said.
JioMart has been experimenting with this new initiative in Navi Mumbai, Thane, and Kalyan among select population groups. it was serving these customers through both Kirana stores and their own warehouses. it also set up smart points, which were acting as delivery points in the neighborhood.
Just before the national launch, Reliance Retail tapped the WhatsApp customers base in the three pilot regions to source orders. In our view, it was just a test phase of integration. The orders were available only for pick-up from nearby Kirana store, whose details were sent to the customer via WhatsApp. However, the national launch, so far, does not have integration with WhatsApp,” it said.
As JioMart is stepping its foot in the E-commerce line it will be tough competition for the other existing alternatives to cope with Reliance. As reliance awaits its national launch to boost the Indian economy and to serve people at their doorsteps with a smile.
