AHMEDABAD: Reliance Jio, after successfully disrupting India's telecom industry, is preparing to wade into the crowded ecommerce market leveraging its vast network and hundreds of millions of subscribers, according to two persons aware of matter. The company is working with corner stores, or 'kiranas', and consumer brands to create an operational model that will enable shoppers to buy at neighbourhood shops using digital coupons via its Jio Money platform or text messages, they said. A pilot project involving several stores and leading brands is ongoing at Mumbai, Chennai and Ahmedabad and a larger rollout is likely next year, they said.
Given Jio's rapid growth to gain 132 million subscribers in about a year, its entry into online-to-offline ecommerce should put on notice payment companies including Paytm and PhonePe that are also forging collaborations with corner stores and other entities. These firms, though, have the strong backing of investors to aggressively expand their networks.
Ecommerce giants Amazon and Flipkart, too, are investing significant sums in their grocery delivery businesses.
Reliance Jio declined comment to a detailed emailed questionnaire from ET. The online-to-offline business model is strategic for a new digital entrant like Jio, as of India's $650-billion retail industry, only 3-4% is ecommerce and another 8% is controlled by organised retailers such as Shoppers Stop and Big Bazaar. The remaining 88-89% of the market rests with smaller entities such as corner stores.
Jio's ecommerce business model has not been finalised and will incorporate several changes and additions based on inputs from the pilot project, said a Jio executive, one of the persons mentioned above.
For the pilot, Jio has roped in ITC, Wipro, Dabur, Tata Beverages, Godrej Consumer Products and Amul, this person said. ET couldn't independently verify this.
"In total, 15-20 brands have been enrolled for the pilot project," the executive said. Jio will initially tie up with consumer brands for its platform while simultaneously connecting with corner stores through the brands' distribution networks, he said.