In July 2013, Jumia Nigeria introduced 16 cash on delivery locations in Lagos in a move to take shopping to the masses.
The then directors said that “Seeing that Nigeria is still largely an offline market when it comes to retail, we constantly innovate and improve our service delivery to soothe the shopping experiences of our customers.” That prompted them to launch offline delivery locations for more customers to purchase from the jumia.com online store and pay for their goods when they pick them at the specific areas.
Now, this is what is set to happen in Kenya, albeit after nearly a year since a similar launch in Nigeria.
Jumia Kenya’s new MD, Parinaz Firozi told TechMoran, “We are in discussions with companies to use their shops in various locations as pick-up points or potentially even build our own.” Making shopping on shopping on Jumia as convenient as possible with delivery anywhere in Kenya with cash on delivery paymnets options, mobile money payment options and delivery anywhere in Kenya.
The Rocket internet-backed Amazon for Kenya also aims to reduce the delivery time, and this will become possible as it continues to expand and build more hubs around the country or pick up points added the MD.
With e-tailing is heating up in Kenya, JUMIA Kenya has also unveilled discounts of up to 50% on products, a loyalty system whereby customers collect redeemable points as well as coupons being widely available to access further reductions on the site.
“Our J-Force initiative also allows people to sell for JUMIA on commission, whilst the recently-launched Market Place is an online user-friendly platform where entrepreneurs can sell their products to JUMIA’s huge customer base,” Firozi added.
Firozi said JUMIA’s J-Force provides the entrepreneurs with comprehensive and complimentary training in order to use the platform. The entrepreneur decides what products to sell and at what price, and uploads the images and the description of the product onto the platform. After approval from the JUMIA production team, the product goes online on the JUMIA website.
JUMIA then handles the marketing, customer care and delivery. After the customer places an order, the product is inspected by the JUMIA team twice: once during collection from the entrepreneur and then again by a team of experts in the JUMIA warehouse. The team at JUMIA then delivers the product to the customer’s doorstep.
“There is no training, subscription or storage fees and the supplier pays nothing to JUMIA Kenya unless the item is sold. JUMIA Kenya remits the cash resulting from the sales to the entrepreneur. It is important to note that JUMIA has a policy that allows customers to return any product or exchange it free of charge within 7 days after purchase,” she told TechMoran.
To make itself the go-to online retailier in Kenya, Jumia is also focusing on countrywide brand awareness, promotions and activation events, as well as media interviews and upcoming charity events in major towns countrywide. The firm also aims to remain customer-centric and creative to further improve the customer experience.
The one year old firm, with over 50,000 items, aims to create more partnerships and collaborations with fashion institutions to bolster its fashion display and its entire inventory so as it becomes the place Kenyans go to for their shopping needs via their smartphones, tablets and desktops.