Jio-Facebook alliance may go beyond kirana stores – Times of India –

NEW DELHI: The partnership between India’s largest conglomerate Reliance Industries and US social media large Facebook may broaden beyond the scope of simply onboarding kirana stores for JioMart by the WhatsApp platform, sources mentioned.
Apart from utilizing the messaging app WhatsApp, going ahead, Reliance may leverage different on-line platforms of Facebook group, akin to Instagram and Facebook, to push its different retail manufacturers, together with Reliance Brands, Reliance Trends and Reliance Digital.
“It could turn out to be an enterprise level play for Reliance in the long term and could benefit both partners,” mentioned the CEO of a worldwide attire model. “Millennials, for instance, are on Instagram and brands under Reliance Brands could leverage that platform. In contrast, Reliance Trends, which is into more affordable products, can use the Facebook platform to reach out to more consumers.”
Questionnaires emailed to Reliance Retail and Facebook didn’t elicit responses until the time of going to the press.
Commenting on the deal, for which Facebook is paying round $5.7 billion for getting 10% within the digital arm of Reliance, a Credit Suisse report on Monday mentioned the partnership may later be prolonged into different retail classes akin to drugs distribution, trend & life-style stores and meals supply, because the Jio funding alerts social media large’s intention of capturing India’s huge ecommerce potential.
The funding gives Facebook with an opportunity to onboard the massive small and medium companies and drive ecommerce through the JioMart enterprise, the report confirmed.

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