Facebook-owned WhatsApp will be an important asset for Jio since Facebook bought a considerable stake in the Indian telecom giant. Reliance Jio is looking at increasing revenue through these platforms, especially the JioMart.
WhatsApp plays an important role here as it brings the advantage of 400 million subscribers in India and will be soon launching a payments app. The JioMart will then be able to manage back end work, supply chain, and inventory while WhatsApp will look after the orders and payments.
This partnership is going to prove to give an intense competition to other e-commerce platforms looking at the grocery market such as BigBasket, Grofers, Amazon, Flipkart and other stores. WhatsApp will give JioMart the edge because of its friendly user experience and existing popularity.
WhatsApp is already a channel used by small stores and traders that use its messaging ability for orders and queries. The ongoing lockdown has moved a lot of small vendors to use WhatsApp to communicate with their regular customers. With essential services being a big priority now, WhatsApp comes in handy for updates.
As per analysts, the payments app of WhatsApp will bring in maximum revenue as small vendors have shifted on its platform as well. The WhatsApp Business App helps small businesses communicate with their customers. JioMart may see a major push with this development.