Reliance retail the subsidiary of Mukesh Ambani owned Reliance industries is all set to launch its e-commerce website for online shopping and all India delivery by April end or early May. The company is hiring employees for the launch of services, 2000 new employees have been hired for the e-commerce store and around another 8000 for the delivery and logistics chain.
Reliance is looking at replicating the business model of Walmart in USA which has both physical stores and an online ordering portal. The e-commerce store will serve in 3 categories namely Fashion & Lifestyle, Electronics and Groceries.
Currently, Reliance has e-commerce presence only in Mumbai via reliancefreshdirect.com, its online grocery store which was launched in November last year after piloting it among its employees over six months at Reliance Corporate Park campus in Navi Mumbai. Its electronics, grocery/food and technology teams will be located in Mumbai while the fashion and lifestyle team will be based in Bengaluru.
The launch of the portal was earlier scheduled for the third quarter of FY-2015. The reason for the delay is because the company wants to wait until the roll-out of Jio’s 4G LTE services across the country, which will allow hundreds of thousands of Indians access digital commerce services from their mobile phones itself. Reliance is planning to price its 4G services at existing 2G/3G rates, ensuring that it can attract a larger section of the population who will now have access to mobile commerce, as they cannot afford laptops, tablets and desktops to shop online.
The electronics portion of the e-commerce store will be like the online counterpart of Reliance digital and digital xpress stores with the option of home delivery of products with the convenience of online payment or cash on delivery. Reliance has plans of using the digital express mini stores as galleries for display and experience of Reliance Jio 4G products and services after the commercial launch in 4G markets Pan India. New Jio 4G handsets and sim cards along with activation of services will be made available through these stores.
