WhatsApp consolidates its position as a commercial channel in India

The Meta group, formerly Facebook, has just announced the opening of a new experience for its WhatsApp instant messaging service in India. This is based on a partnership signed with a local e-commerce reference. It is based on an integrated end-to-end shopping experience on the messaging service and completes the transformation of WhatsApp into a true sales channel.

FACTS

• WhatsApp and JioMart's new initiative will allow Indians to shop with the e-tailer directly on their instant messaging service.

• They will be able to, from WhatsApp:

  • browse the JioMart catalogue,

  • add products to their shopping cart,

  • pay for their order.

• All this without ever leaving the WhatsApp environment, within a conversation window opened with JioMart via a special number.

CHALLENGES

• The partnership with JioMart is the first end-to-end shopping experience on WhatsApp. It is the result of Meta's long-standing efforts to transform its instant messaging into a full-fledged shopping channel.

• Diversification in stages: Even before the transformation of the group into Meta, Facebook had high ambitions for WhatsApp. And since 2020 and the obtaining of local accreditations, the Indian territory has been an Eldorado for testing new WhatsApp services. Moreover, JioMart is a long-standing partner of Meta in this area. The online grocery shop was already allowing some of its customers to shop via WhatsApp; the integration of payment was then expected to be a feature capable of really simplifying the customer journey.

• Supporting India's digital transformation: JioMart and Meta executives agree that their initiative is a commitment to India's digital transformation. They envisage that their new solution will enable Indians who have never placed an order online to become familiar with e-commerce from a familiar online messaging platform. In addition to JioMart, the experiment is also intended to be extended to millions of Indian businesses.

MARKET PERSPECTIVE

• While Meta is now realising its ambitions for WhatsApp in India, the Asian country is not the only one to benefit from the diversification of the messaging service. WhatsApp has been a bridgehead for commerce within the Facebook ecosystem for several years. In France, it is the Casino group that has been using WhatsApp as a new sales channel since the beginning of the year (modelling on a successful model deployed in Colombia).

• In addition to commerce, WhatsApp is also seen as a payment tool, both in Brazil and the US.

• Apart from Whatsapp, Youtube and Instagram are also in the process of rolling out integrated sales features.