New Delhi, Aug. 10 -- For Akhila Rajan, a 38-year-old IT (information technology) professional living in Bengaluru's Marathahalli area with her husband and two children, the shopping routine had been fairly predictable the past two years. Most weekends meant a trip to the nearest D-Mart to stock up on household groceries and essentials. During the week, if she ran out of some household item or a last-minute need cropped up, she turned to quick-delivery platforms Blinkit or Zepto.

That began to change six-seven months ago when she started noticing advertisements by JioMart, Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd's online delivery arm, on digital billboards inside her gated residential community.

"The ads were everywhere in my society. I thought, o...