Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Group wants to connect ~30m kirana stores across the country with its own physical and digital infrastructure, thereby creating a large omni-channel marketplace. A key part of creating such an ecosystem is deployment of merchant point-of-sale (PoS) devices across kirana stores. To better understand the features of such a machine, we visited a few kirana stores that have adopted the offering.
Jio PoS is a hand-held device connected to Jio’s 4G network and allows a retailer to accept payments through various digital means (i.e. credit cards, debit cards, wallets). However, unlike peers, Jio PoS also offers functionalities such as billing, online procurement (from RRL’s cash-and carry stores), management of purchases/ sales/ inventory, customer relationship management and generating tax reports.
Key Features of Reliance Jio PoS
A Jio PoS device is equipped with a barcode scanner, which can be used to generate bills for customers. Barcodes of most common SKUs are already fed into the device and can hence be billed directly. For loose items (wheat, sugar, etc.), a retailer needs to create a custom barcode (input product details and price), when billing the item for the first time. The barcode can be re-used for subsequent orders. Further, the PoS device comes with an in-built printer, which can generate a physical copy of the bill.
Accept Digital Payments
The PoS device can accept payments through various modes, including debit card, credit card and wallets. The device can also be used by the retailer to make digital payments to its vendors.
Reliance Mart Interface for the B2B Kirana Store
The PoS device allows the retailer to make online procurement from registered vendors. We understand that, currently, the online procurement is restricted to RRL’s cash-and-carry store network (Reliance Market). Apart from online ordering, the cash-and-carry store has a team of salesmen who would visit these kirana stores for order booking. The device can also record purchases made from third-party vendors and distributors.
Customer Relationship & Loyalty Programs
Jio PoS device helps the retailer to better engage with the customer base. A database of customers can be maintained using this device and an order can be tagged to a particular customer. This allows the retailer to track purchase frequency, quantity and preference of a loyal customers. The device also enables a retailer to introduce specific offers to customers and run a loyalty programme.