Will WhatsApp Get a Killer Feature That Every Indian’s Been Waiting For?

On this episode we discuss the Facebook-Jio deal and its implications on the Indian market. The most prominent example of this is the fact that JioMart enabled grocery ordering via WhatsApp in three localities near Mumbai. In-house e-commerce expert Harpreet Singh joins host Pranay Parab to discuss al things JioMart and WhatsApp. We begin this episode by talking about the lockdown and how it has been affecting us so far. We then talk about how we’ve been ordering groceries online, and how JioMart’s WhatsApp number order service could help us. Then we discuss the killer WhatsApp feature that we’ve all been waiting for. This is the one feature that could make WhatsApp useful for more than just communication and could be the first step towards making the app India’s WeChat.

Next we talk about the hurdles that we faced when using JioMart. It’s early days for the service but there are a few changes that could be made to make everyone’s life a lot easier. This is where Harpreet points out what people expect from online grocery ordering, and where JioMart is falling short at this point. Next we talk about tour experience with ordering via JioMart and how the process worked for us. Finally we share our thoughts on the Indian e-commerce space right now, before wrapping this episode by talking about the one thing that will make Pranay rejoin WhatsApp.

That’s all for this week’s episode of Orbital, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.