JioMart and Ajio lose weekly users as Reliance’s digital reach struggles to build habit

JioMart’s weekly active users fell by 1.7 million year-to-date and Ajio’s by 1.5 million, even as quick-commerce rivals added users rapidly. Reliance is expanding dark stores and JioMart coverage, accepting near-term margin pressure to improve grocery-commerce repeat usage.

— FiledThu, 3 Sept, 2026, 01:02 IST·First seen Thu, 3 Sept, 2026, 01:01 IST·Source Financial Express · BrandWagon

What happened

Reliance Retail’s JioMart and Ajio lost weekly users despite continued digital investment. JioMart’s low download-to-weekly-use conversion trails quick-commerce

Key facts

  • JioMart weekly active users down 1.7 million year-to-date
  • Ajio weekly active users down 1.5 million year-to-date
  • Blinkit added 13.4 million weekly active users
  • Zepto added 6.4 million; bigbasket 6.1 million; Myntra 6.8 million
  • JioMart: 132.4 million downloads and 9.1 million typical weekly users (about 7% conversion)
  • Blinkit and Zepto conversion: 24% each; bigbasket and standalone Instamart: 14%
  • Quick-commerce active-user share: JioMart 6%, Blinkit 40%, Zepto 28%, bigbasket 16%, Instamart 8%
  • June-quarter grocery digital average daily orders rose 116% YoY
  • Digital share of grocery B2C revenue rose 160 bps to 13.4%
  • JioMart serves about 5,500 pin codes
  • Retail EBITDA from operations fell 1.8% in the June quarter
  • Shein installs rose from about 11 million to 30 million during the June quarter
  • Tira added 0.7 million weekly active users year-to-date

Why this matters

Reliance’s habit deficit strengthens the strategic case for partnerships or acquisitions in quick commerce, loyalty technology and high-frequency grocery fulfillment to accelerate engagement beyond organic dark-store rollout.

What to watch

  • JioMart weekly active users and WAU-to-download conversion trend for two consecutive quarters.
  • Repeat-order rate, orders per active user and 30/60/90-day cohort retention.
  • Dark-store count, average delivery time and serviceable-population expansion in major metros.
  • Contribution-margin movement versus promotional intensity and free-delivery thresholds.
  • Quick-commerce monthly transacting users, order frequency and new-city expansion by Blinkit, Zepto and Swiggy Instamart.
  • Evidence of JioMart integration into Jio recharge, Reliance Retail loyalty or a broader subscription program.
  • Ajio weekly-user trajectory, which would indicate whether Reliance's broader digital ecosystem can still cross-pollinate demand.
  • Accelerate dark-store density in the highest quick-commerce penetration clusters rather than pursue uniform national coverage.
  • Use Jio, Reliance Smart, Smart Bazaar and Ajio customer data to create cross-category membership, cashback and replenishment prompts.
  • Reduce app-friction and improve assortment reliability, substitution quality and delivery-slot accuracy before expanding acquisition spend.
  • Deploy private-label grocery and sponsored-product inventory to partially fund retention incentives.
  • Test separate propositions for instant top-up missions and value-oriented planned baskets to avoid competing on every order type.
  • Rationalize Ajio-JioMart promotional overlap, using fashion-led traffic to seed grocery trial but measuring incremental repeat behavior rather than downloads.

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