To begin with, JioMart will deliver groceries in at least 7-8 cities and eventually scale up the service to cover over 1,000 cities.The development comes a little over a year after the company discontinued its 90-minute grocery delivery service JioMart Express. The plan now is to fulfil deliveries under 30 minutes, the sources said. Reliance Retail did not respond to queries.
Reliance’s move comes at a time when Walmart’s Flipkart is also gearing up to foray into the quick commerce space, a concept which has found rapid traction, particularly among millennial and Gen Z households. Blinkit, Swiggy and Zepto service deliveries of groceries and a range of non-grocery items in 10-15 minutes. Unlike incumbent players, JioMart will not adopt a dark store model for its quick commerce operations but instead tap into Reliance Retail’s vast network of stores and fulfilment centres.
As of now, JioMart offers slotted and next-day delivery options to customers. “Over time, JioMart will also deliver non-grocery items through quick commerce,” sources said, adding that this is where it can effectively tap into Reliance Retail’s over-18,000-stores across categories and formats. “JioMart is focused on hyper local omni-channel presence and continues to serve its customers from thousands of stores located in proximity to consumers across the country,” said a source aware of the company’s strategy.
Reliance’s entry into quick commerce will intensify competition in the space and players will have to contend with the company’s pan-India reach and deep pockets. Currently, Blinkit leads quick commerce with about a 40-45% market share. Goldman Sachs estimates the size of online grocery market in terms of gross order value to be about $11 billion as of FY24 of which, quick commerce already makes up about 50% or $5 billion in GOV. Analysts also say that instant deliveries may well be eating into the share of kirana store purchases.
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