Meta has partnered with Indian eCommerce company JioMart to allow users to purchase groceries directly through Meta’s WhatsApp conversation.
JioMart’s whole grocery range is available on WhatsApp in India, add items to their cart and pay within the WhatsApp chat, the companies announced in the press release. From Monday, August 29.
“Business messaging is an area with real velocity, and chat-based experiences like this will be the go-to way individuals and businesses communicate in the years to come,” In the release, Meta Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said.
India has become an essential front in the eCommerce battle between Amazon and Walmart. 1.4 billion people live there, with internet penetration steadily rising at 47% (it had been in the low single digits fifteen years ago).
Earlier this year, Amazon intended to create an internal logistics division. Purchasing a 51% stake in Ecom Express help speed up eCommerce delivery in the nation, an Indian end-to-end logistics solutions company.
And Walmart, which manages the Indian eCommerce site Flipkart, notified in April that it would give Indian factories and trading companies an increased ability to expand worldwide as cross-border vendors on Walmart Marketplace. That offering is part of the business’s goal of developing its sourcing from India to $10B annually by 2027.
Meanwhile, Since 2020, Meta has been working with Jio’s parent company, Reliance Technology. The social media giant put $5.7 billion into the company, acquiring a 9.9% interest.
India is WhatsApp’s most extensive base of customers, with 500 million users or more. In April, the company started offering peer-to-peer (P2P) payments to attract more clients to the app.
