JioMart morphs into e-marketplace to take on Amazon and Flipkart

Reliance Retail’s digital commerce platform JioMart will morph into an e-marketplace offering multiple brands – from electronics, consumer durables, fashion and lifestyle, beauty, home, kitchen, and grocery – as it girds up to take on the likes of Amazon and Flipkart ahead of the festival season sales.

India’s largest retailer was in the process of onboarding third-party sellers these past few months, further increasing its selection across categories multifold.

Its website and application offers general merchandise as well.

It had introduced electronics last year, but the assortment was limited.

In a release announcing its month-long festival sale, the company said: “JioMart is set to be a one-stop shop for all its customer shopping needs this Diwali – from food to fashion.”

It also said there will be exclusive deals on consumer durables and electronic gadgets such as laptops, smartwatches, smart high-definition television sets, smartphones, mobile accessories, and will offer additional offers on its own brands like Reliance Digital and Reliance Trends.

Sandeep Varaganti, chief executive officer, JioMart, was quoted as saying: “As one of the largest multichannel home-grown e-marketplaces, we aim to transform the digital retail ecosystem by empowering local stores, kiranas, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), SMEs, local artisans, and burgeoning women entrepreneurs.”

He also said, “We are onboarding sellers and local artisans into our e-commerce fold. We have also expanded the categories across segments and increased stock-keeping units by more than 80x, compared with the previous year.

“Our most recent launch, the JioMart-WhatsApp ordering, has been received well by our customers.

“We are confident that during the upcoming festival season, we will be able to strengthen our relationship with sellers and customers through JioMart.”

JioMart was rolled out as a platform in 2020 during the pandemic for people to shop for groceries and daily essentials.

JioMart began its sale this year on September 23 and it will continue until October 23.

The company also announced its entry into the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) category at its annual general meeting (AGM) this year.

“The objective of this (FMCG) business is to develop and deliver high quality, affordable products which solve every Indian’s daily needs,” Isha Ambani, director at Reliance Retail Ventures, had said at its AGM.

She also said, “As part of our commitment to India’s rich culture and heritage, we will soon start marketing quality goods produced by tribals and other marginalised communities across India.

“This will not only provide these communities gainful opportunities for employment and entrepreneurship, but also help preserve the incredibly rich talent, skill sets, and knowledge base of our traditional Indian artisans, especially women.”

Reliance Retail is also in the process of taking its FMCG space private label brands sold at its supermarkets and hypermarkets, Reliance Fresh and Reliance Smart, to general trade.

The company had internally set a turnover target of Rs 50,000 crore from the FMCG business.

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