Meta and an e-commerce venture between India's Reliance Retail and Jio Platforms are launching the JioMart grocery shopping on WhatsApp in India, as per TechCrunch.
According to the companies, it it's the "global-first end-to-end shopping experience on the popular instant messaging app."
With JioMart, customers in India will be allowed to browse the entire grocery catalog on WhatsApp. They can add to cart and make the payments through local payments without leaving the platform, as per TechCrunch.
JioMart's Launch is Part of a Strategic Partnership Between Meta and Jio Platforms
According to a press release of the companies, the launch of JioMart grocery shopping is part of "a strategic partnership between Meta and Jio Platforms to accelerate India's digital transformation."
Furthermore, the partnership between the companies will provide people and businesses of all sizes the opportunities to connect in new ways, said Mint. Moreover, it aims to fuel economic growth in India.
The companies also noted that JioMart on WhatsApp will revolutionize the manner businesses in India link with consumers. Additionally, it would simplify the consumer shopping experience.
According to Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, he is excited with the launch of Meta's partnership with JioMart in India, as this is the companies' first-ever end-to-end shopping experience on WhatsApp.
"Business messaging is an area with real momentum, and chat-based experiences like this will be the go-to way people and businesses communicate in the years to come," Zuckerberg said in a statement.
Jio Platforms is India's largest telecom subscriber and Meta is a significant minority investor in the company. The telecom company has over 421 million subscribers.
Jio also made an announcement on Monday that the company will be allotting $25 billion to start 5G services in India in October. According to the company, they are after reaching "every town" in the South Asian market by end of next year.
Ambani and Zuckerberg Share the Same Vision
Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries commented on the development, saying "our vision is to propel India as the world's leading digital society."
Ambani further added that when Jio Platforms and Meta started their partnership in 2020, Zuckerberg and him shared the same vision.
The leaders of both companies are after bringing more people and businesses online. Moreover, they both want to come up with truly innovative solutions that will make the daily lives of every Indian more convenient.
At the general meeting of the company, Ambani said that the first ever end-to-end shopping experience with JioMart on WhatsApp is an example of an innovative customer experience they are proud to develop.
The experience of JioMart grocery shopping on WhatsApp illustrates the companies' commitment of making a simple and convenient way of online shopping to millions of Indians possible.
In a speech years ago, Ambani, who is an ally of India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, cited Mahatma Gandhi.
According to him, like Gandhi, who's a leader of a movement against political colonization of India, "we have to collectively launch a new movement against data colonization."
Ambani said that in order for India to succeed in the data-driven revolution, it is necessary to transfer the control and ownership of Indian data back to India.
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