Reliance Retail’s push to build a large digital customer base is running into a more difficult challenge: turning its reach and distribution muscle into regular user habits.
Two of the three Reliance consumer apps tracked by CLSA — JioMart and Ajio — have lost weekly active users this year, even as their main competitors in quick commerce and fashion e-commerce have expanded their user bases, according to a recent report citing data from Sensor Tower.
JioMart, Reliance’s grocery and quick commerce platform, has lost 1.7 million weekly active users since the beginning of the year, while fashion platform Ajio has lost 1.5 million. In contrast, Blinkit added 13.4 million users, Zepto 6.4 million, bigbasket 6.1 million and Myntra 6.8 million over the same period.
The gap becomes more apparent when downloads are compared with active usage. JioMart has been downloaded 132.4 million times, but only 9.1 million users open the app in a typical week, implying a conversion of about 7%. The comparable figure is 24% for both Blinkit and Zepto, and 14% for bigbasket and the standalone Swiggy Instamart app.
JioMart accounted for only 6% of active users across the six quick commerce apps tracked by CLSA, compared with 40% for Blinkit and 28% for Zepto. Bigbasket had a 16% share and Instamart’s standalone app 8%. The latter does not capture users transacting through Swiggy’s main app.
The numbers suggest that Reliance has been relatively successful in getting users onto its platforms, but less so in making them return regularly. That distinction is particularly important in quick commerce, where convenience and repeat usage can quickly translate into a habitual choice of one platform over another.
“Quick commerce is a habit building category where users come in with high intent. It’s less of a discovery platform. If customers aren’t recalling your application for their instant use case, you lose out,” said an analyst tracking the sector.
Reliance, however, is continuing to spend to build that habit. In the June quarter, the company said average daily orders in grocery digital commerce rose 116% year-on-year, while the share of digital in grocery B2C revenue increased 160 basis points to 13.4%. JioMart now serves about 5,500 pin codes.
Retail Ebitda from operations fell 1.8% during the June quarter, with Reliance attributing the pressure partly to its digital commerce push. CFO Dinesh Taluja described the margin reduction as a conscious play, saying the company would expand dark stores and grow JioMart over the next three years.
Ajio faces a different challenge. While it lost 1.5 million weekly active users, Myntra added 6.8 million. Analysts also see a potential internal conflict as Shein, operated by Reliance in India, targets the same value-conscious shopper that helped Ajio build its base. Reliance said Shein’s installs rose from about 11 million to 30 million during the June quarter.
Tira remains the exception, adding 0.7 million weekly active users this year.