Ambani tests WhatsApp-backed online store in locked-down India

Motorists ride past the Jio World Centre during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure against the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus, in Navi Mumbai. Ambani said the tie-up with WhatsApp will help almost 30 million Indian mom-and-pop store owners to take digital payments from customers in their neighbourhoods. Reliance Industries Ltd started testing its online shopping portal days after Facebook Inc said it would invest US$5.7bil (RM24.81bil) in digital assets controlled by the company’s billionaire chairman Mukesh Ambani. JioMart, an e-commerce venture of Reliance Retail, is serving users in three neighbourhoods surrounding Mumbai, according to the JioMartLite website. Facebook has said it expects the partnership with JioMart will help make WhatsApp the primary way small businesses connect with customers. The platform intends to deploy the tiny mom-and-pop retail outlets known as kirana as delivery points. Amid restrictions on movements aimed at containing the spread of the new coronavirus, the stores have been thriving, according to consultant McKinsey & Co. Grocery purchase frequency at such shops has jumped 39% since the outbreak began earlier this year, the most among India’s food retailers, McKinsey estimates. In a statement delivered by video on April 22, Ambani said the tie-up with WhatsApp will help almost 30 million Indian mom-and-pop store owners to take digital payments from customers in their neighbourhoods. JioMart’s model has some key advantages over its biggest competitors, said analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein, in a country where the law effectively blocks ecommerce platforms from owning their inventory.