Online shopping may never be the same in India. Imagine browsing products, adding items to cart and making payments on WhatsApp, the most popular platform in India. This is becoming a reality in India with Jio Platforms and Meta announcing the launch of the first end-to-end shopping experience on WhatsApp, where consumers can shop from JioMart directly from their WhatsApp conversation.
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This is being touted by the company as a world first, as the idea is to make WhatsApp the platform that brings together buyers, delivery partners, and sellers.
Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO, Meta, said in a Facebook post: “Excited to launch our partnership with JioMart in India. This is our first end-to-end shopping experience on WhatsApp — people can now buy groceries from JioMart directly in a conversation. Business messaging is a space with real momentum, and conversation-based experiences like this will be the best way for people and businesses to communicate in the years to come.”
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Two years ago, when Facebook announced a Rs 43,574 crore ($5.7 billion) investment for a 9.99% stake in Reliance Jio Platforms, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries, TechRadar wrote: “The speculation is that the social media giant wants to bring its JioMart platform to WhatsApp, which allows users to connect directly with businesses. With over 400 million users, India is WhatsApp’s largest market by a margin, and Facebook is now trying to use that scale to turn the platform into an e-commerce destination.”.
So today's announcement isn't at all unexpected. It just seems like it was launched a little late.
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The JioMart platform on WhatsApp can be a game-changer for how millions of businesses across the country connect with their consumers, while also bringing simplicity and convenience to people's shopping experience.
Information source: techradar.com
