Market Research think-tank Kearney’s data suggest that India’s retail business is expected to grow at a pace of 9% between 2019-2030. The market is projected to grow from USD 779 billion in 2019 to USD 1,407 by 2026. Further, the Indian retail market will increase to over USD 1.8 trillion by 2030. A billion population, mostly lower and middle class, provide a large base for the retail industry. Considering the bright prospects of the business, many big and small companies are heavily investing in Indian retail. Moreover, the digitization process has opened the scope of E-Retail. From small startups to big multinational companies, everyone is in a hurry to capture the exponentially growing Indian retail business.
The bonhomie of Reliance and WhatsApp
Addressing the shareholders at Reliance Industries’ Annual General Meeting, Reliance Retail Director, Isha Ambani, said that JioMart and WhatsApp have collaborated in the retail Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) business in India.
Shortly after the announcement, Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO, and co-founder of Meta said, “Excited to launch our partnership with JioMart in India. This is our first ever end-to-end shopping experience on WhatsApp People can now buy groceries from JioMart right in a chat”.
“Business messaging is an area with real momentum and chat-based experience like this will be the go-to way people and businesses communicate in the years to come”, he added.
In April 2020, Facebook took a 9.99% stake in Jio Platforms for Rs 43,574 crores. Since then, the two companies are in the process of cooperating in the retail sector. The pilot project to start the business was started in Maharashtra in April 2020. Now after the complete rollout, Reliance JioMart will be available on WhatsApp and customers can order groceries through chat.
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Big MNCs v/s Indian Startups
It will be an interesting battle as many small startup companies are vouching for retail business in India. The 10 minutes short-time grocery delivery brands are mushrooming in India. Startups like Blinkit, Zepto, Dunzo, and Swiggy Instamart are already competing with each other.
Coming of two giants, Reliance and Meta, in the retail sector will certainly bring shadow in the business of small startups. Timid in terms of financial and technological resources, these startups will struggle to compete with the unlimited resource-based companies.
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Reports suggest that WhatsApp has over 487 million users in India. If JioMart would get such a large customer base in one go, then they will be much ahead of the new entrants. Although Blinkit and Swiggy Instamart will find themselves in a competitive position but startups like Zepto and Dunzo will struggle to fight.
Earlier groceries in India were mostly dominated by small shops but the digitization process has completely changed the scenario. Technological advancement and smartphone accessibility has transformed the retail business. Not only big metropolitan cities, but small towns are also experiencing large e-commerce transactions. In this environment, the e-retail business is also pacing with exponential speed. The partnership of Reliance and WhatsApp is planned in the direction of the earliest capture of the budding market. In this condition, small startups like Blinkit, Zepto, Dunzo, and Swiggy Instamart will find it difficult to breathe.
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