Reliance Extends Its JIO Brand To Fashion Ecommerce With AJIO.com

Reliance Industries is extending the new brand ‘Jio’ to newer businesses. After its telecom unit Reliance Jio and its upcoming digital wallet Jio Money, the company has extended the brand to fashion ecommerce business, AJIO.com.

The portal has been tested among some employees since December, and will soon be opened to all employees by the end of this week.

According to the report, Reliance is planning to adopt a dual ecommerce model similar to Flipkart, which operates an ecommerce marketplace along with fashion portal, Myntra. With this strategy in hand, Reliance aims to compete against the likes of Myntra and Jabong. The strategy seems to be woven out owing to high margins in the fashion business, while  marketplace ventures like that of Flipkart, Snapdeal are of low margin.

AJIO.com has lined up with brands from the US, Russia, Turkey, Singapore, and Australia, besides other countries. The brands may include Holster of Australia, Gizia of Turkey and MDS from Singapore. It aims to distinguish its portfolio through a mix of curated and exclusive global, and local brands, besides handpicked artisanal products, they said.

The AJIO labels are said to be different from those sold by Reliance Trends and Reliance Brands. It will leverage Reliance Jio’s digital platform as well as its 3,000 Reliance Retail network for deliveries and returns.

According to a Morgan Stanley report, rise in internet penetration, rise in the number of online shoppers, and an increase in per capita income has pegged the value of India’s ecommerce market from $102 Bn to $119 Bn by 2020. The market has attracted some of the well-known players in the segment. Last year, Aditya Birla Group ventured into the fashion ecommerce space with abof.com, while Mahindra Group launched m2all. Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) also launched e-lala to bring small businesses at par with other ecommerce ventures.

According to sources close to the development, the company’s ecommerce platform for electronic products is ready for deployment. online grocery marketplace will also be launched in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year. It is also planning to enroll 1,50,000 small and medium vendors for its ecommerce marketplace, by the end of the current fiscal year.

Reliance has already appointed Sanjay Mehra, a veteran of US firm, Wolverine World Wide, as the chief executive of its fashion and lifestyle ecommerce business.

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