Reliance’s E-Commerce Venture JioMart Goes Live On WhatsApp In Mumbai’s Thane, Kalyan And Navi Mumbai Areas

Within three days of signing a commercial pact with Facebook-owned WhatsApp, Mukesh Ambani owned Reliance Retail has gone live on WhatsApp in the areas of Navi Mumbai, Thane and Kalyan in Mumbai, reports Livemint.

By going live on WhatsApp, Reliance Retail's e-commerce venture JioMart has gained direct access and reach to the messaging application's user base of over 400 million.

The users in said areas of service can add the JioMart's number (8850008000) on their phones, upon which they receive a link on the chat window which remains in service for 30 minutes. Using the link, the users can then place an order from the catalogue of products by filling in their address and phone number.

The order details are shared by JioMart with local Kirana store over WhatsApp, while the user receives the details of of the respective store, and is notified once the store bills the order. The customer then has to pick up the order from the store.

The company is aiming to set up an O2O model, (online-to-offline marketplace), a model which has been pioneered by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba group holdings Ltd. In the O2O channel, a customer searches for the product or services online but buys it through an offline channel.