Within 72 hours of signing the agreement with Facebook, Reliance Retail’s e-commerce venture JioMart went live on the WhatsApp on Sunday evening in areas around Mumbai.
Caught in lockdown, people in areas of Navi Mumbai, Thane and Kalyan were amused to access JioMart on the WhatsApp.
Users in Navi Mumbai, Thane and Kalyan can now use JioMart for grocery shopping.
The users can initiate an order by texting “Hi” to +91-8850008000, which prompts a link that opens a mini store on the browser.
The mini store allows the users to pick a range of grocery products, ranging from rice, dal, cooking oil, tea, coffee and spices.
Once an order is placed, JioMart assigns a neighborhood store to the customers and sends an invoice through WhatsApp.
The customer then has to pick up the order from the store from the neighbourhood.
JioMart has set up an O2O model, (online-to-offline marketplace), a model similar to Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group.
In the O2O channel, a customer searches for the product or services online but buys it through an offline channel.
The JioMart is now working on its ordering system at the pilot stage. More than 1,200 neighborhood stores are engaging in the pilot program.
By going live on Sunday, JioMart gained opened its door to WhatsApp’s 40 crore users.