Gabriel Budi Sutrisno · · 1 min readMeta launches grocery shopping on WhatsApp in India
Meta, in collaboration with Indian ecommerce firm JioMart, is bringing a shopping experience on WhatsApp in the country, allowing users to buy JioMart grocery products on the messaging app.
Photo credit: Meta
The two companies tested the integration with select users two years ago. Meta said this is the first end-to-end shopping experience on WhatsApp.
Users in India can start shopping on JioMart through WhatsApp simply by sending “Hi” to the ecommerce firm’s number. They can then browse the JioMart catalog, add products to their cart, and make payments without leaving the chat.
“Business messaging is an area with real momentum and chat-based experiences like this will be the go-to way people and businesses communicate in the years to come,” Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, said in a post.
See also: The key players in Southeast Asia’s online grocery market
Meta is a minority investor in Jio Platforms, the parent company of JioMart. In April 2020, the US-based tech giant said it was injecting US$5.7 billion in Jio Platforms for a 9.99% stake, making Meta the largest minority shareholder.
India is WhatsApp’s largest market, accounting for 487.5 million of its users. The investment granted Meta access to Jio Platforms’ more than 419 million users.
Editing by Miguel Cordon and Lorenzo Kyle Subido
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