 "Jiomart")
Reliance Industries, helmed by Mukesh Ambani, is gearing up to make its mark in the quick commerce arena, aiming to challenge the likes of Zomato's Blinkit, Tata Group's BigBasket, Swiggy's Instamart, and Zepto, according to a report by the Times of India. Reliance Retail's JioMart may introduce its quick commerce service as early as next month.
Reliance's foray into quick commerce coincides with Walmart's Flipkart's plans to enter this space, which has garnered rapid popularity, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns.
JioMart to enter quick commerce space
Initially, JioMart will roll out its grocery delivery service in at least seven to eight unnamed cities. Following this, the platform plans to expand its coverage to encompass over 1,000 cities.
This move comes more than a year after Reliance Industries' 90-minute grocery delivery service, JioMart Express, was discontinued. Unlike the previous service, JioMart's new objective will be to complete deliveries within 30 minutes. Currently, JioMart offers slotted and next-day delivery options to its customers.
How will JioMart be different from Blinkit, Swiggy, or Zepto?
Popular quick commerce platforms Blinkit, Swiggy, and Zepto specialise in delivering groceries and a variety of non-grocery items within 10 to 15 minutes. All these platforms generally follow a dark store model.
JioMart, however, plans to leverage Reliance Retail's extensive network of over 18,000 stores and fulfilment centres to fulfil orders. Eventually, the platform plans to expand to offer non-grocery items.
Through this strategy, JioMart will focus on creating a hyper-local omni-channel presence and serving its customers from thousands of nearby stores nationwide.
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Competition in the quick commerce space
Reliance's entry into the quick commerce market is expected to intensify competition in the sector, with players needing to contend with the company's pan-India reach and substantial financial resources. Goldman Sachs estimates the online grocery market size in terms of gross order value to be around $11 billion as of FY24, with quick commerce already constituting 50 per cent or $5 billion of this value.
Currently, Blinkit leads the quick commerce segment with approximately 40 to 45 per cent market share.
