Founded in June 2013 by Anthony Murumba and Ian Wanyoike, Kenya’s Uber Duka, a crowd-curated social marketplace aims to help people discover great products from amazing stores unlike other e-commerce websites where discovery and people’s interest are not a point of focus when presenting products to people.
According to the founders, day to day e-commerce stores focus rather on availability and offers and not the people.
“We’re building a shopping environment around social interaction, where people discover new stuff and how to get them, from people within a community who have shared interests. We’re giving people the ability to curate their own product catalogs to save and share their favorite products and where to get them from with people in their social circles on uber duka and elsewhere,” says the founders.
Uber Duka allows users can to take photos of their favorite products from around the web or from physical stores, share photos with their friends for later purchase and/or reference in blog posts, shares or recommendations.
“These categories are art, accessories, gadgets, clothing and footwear, with room to expand. We aim to start selling what we feature and also add a merchant platform for guys with brands and stores to list and sell their stuff,” writes the co-founders. “We’re looking to fuel impulsive buying by featuring the type of products people lust for enough that even though they may not have the money to buy, they keep scrolling, looking, favoriting and sharing.”
Uber Duka allows users to create a community to engage with others on what they are purchasing.
