WhatsApp and Jio partnership

With the motto “small is big “ the collaboration of reliance retail with whatsapp has drawn a gracious amount  of public attention. This e-commerce venture might be a forewarning for players like Amazon and Flipkart. JioMarket has the potential to  capture a massive number of households and are planning to occupy the grocery space first . The main aim of this organisation would be to connect the small scale vendors(kirana stores) to the customers.This business model can cut down the investment amount  as they do not require investment in -real estate,building new customer base as they use the kirana stores existing customers. 

Then what is the role of whatsapp?.Whatsapp on the other hand  is trying to secure approval to roll out its digital payment services and also is on the verge of creating a plan to come up with digital payment services to small grocers.Using whatsapp as the base of communication is a very strategic and a thoughtful move as every second man is familiar with this platform.To be precise nearing 400 million people use whatsapp.And not to forget several state government has tied up with jio and are offering free smartphones . This could also swell the usage of the upcoming  platform.

 The major problem that needs to be tackled by the other players in this area is the humongous database that jio and whatsapp have already captured.Existing cash and carry outlets like  Reliance fresh and Reliance supermarket have a massive customer base. The facebook ad platform will act as a catalyst in the process. The covid-19 crisis has made the citizens realize the importance of digitalisation and hence there will be a noticeable increase in customers using online platforms.This change will add to their benefit.

If this alliance between the two works in their favour then this is going to be a revolution for the  entire e-commerce ecosystem of India .This surely is a wake up call for Amazon and Flipkart.They should focus on  making changes in their policies to combat the approaching competition.

Written by: Amulya