eCommerce

-

Tuesday, December 5th, 2017 at 6:03pm

Mobile_payment_03 — IMG Source:commons.wikimedia.org

Direct Pay Online Group (DPO) has mastered the fasted way of growth acquiring already exisiting companies with customers instead of going for the customers itself directly.

The firm today acquired Setcom (Pty) Ltd, which operates SID Instant EFT, the original and leading instant electronic funds transfer (EFT) solution in South Africa.

The acquisition is its fourth in Southern Africa after it acquired PayGate South Africa in September 2016, VCS Namibia and Botswana in March 2017, PayThru South Africa in June 2017, and VCS South Africa in August 2017

DPO says the deal will see Setcom complement comprehensive suite of payment solutions across the continent for all major cards, mobile money and e-wallets.

According to Offer Gat, the DPO Group Chairman: “We are excited to add South Africa’s leading Instant EFT solution to our suite of products, and look forward to working with Setcom’s innovative team, including the founder and instant EFT innovator David Liu.”

Setcom began its operations in 1999 and has been providing secure online card processing to hundreds of South African online merchants since then. In 2007, the company launched SID Instant EFT, a secure payment product that allows real-time funds transfer from a customer’s to a merchant’s bank account through an efficient and easy-to-use online platform.

SID has enabled merchants across South Africa to collect instant EFT payments via websites, email or invoices, and has become one of the most popular online payment methods in the country.

The acquisition of Setcom, and the subsequent incorporation of SID Instant EFT into the DPO product suite, will allow DPO to be the first Payment Service Provider (PSP) to offer merchants with a single solution for all their online payment needs, ensuring that through a single and simple integration, merchants will be able to accept payments through card, mobile money and EFT across the African continent.

Though DPO Group says it serves over 25,000 online merchants in Africa including over 50 airlines, thousands of hotels, restaurants, travel agents, tour operators and other players in the e-commerce sector, a majority of these have been acquired through acquisitions and not its fancy tech. If its products were superior, DPO wouldn’t need to buy out any competition. On the other hand, the acquisitions will give it the volumes it wants to turn profitable or go public.

DPO Group CEO, Eran Feinstein seems to expound on these acquisitions.

“Setcom has continuously innovated and achieved impressive results in the South African payment space,” he said. “We plan to expand and promote SID to all current and future merchants across our markets so that they may offer this payment option to their customers, further helping them to enhance their businesses.”

eShopper lets you shop from your favourite retailers in Kenya

By

Brian Baraka

-

Tuesday, November 28th, 2017 at 11:06pm

1

Kenyans can now shop from any of their favorite supermarkets and retailer stores courtesy of the new eShopper app. The eShopper app now available on play store for Android devices and also the apple store for iOS devices has made it possible to shop anytime at your own convenience and provides delivery at your preferred spot.

The app requires the shopper to register by creating an account on the app, pick items they need making an online shopping list, then choose their retailer where they normally make their purchases, pay for the goods via Mpesa mobile payment and the shopping will be delivered. Cash on delivery is also one of the accepted medium of making payments. With their dedicated team, they are working to provide a 24 hours customer care services.

TechMoran reached out to Mr. Douglas Okari the Managing Director and Tylor Ongwae the CEO of eShopper who were passionate to share the inspiration behind their app. “We all can a test that the traffic in our city is crazy. It is quite difficult to shop sometimes because of the amount of time we waste on the roads, so we are helping customers to cut the stress out of it as we can do the shopping for them” Okari said.

eShopper wants customers to spend time with family since all the shopping needs can now be met with the launching of the app. “We also want parents with kids in boarding schools around Nairobi not to worry about how they will find time to shop and deliver shopping to their children whenever they are out of commodities while in school,” Tylor Ongwae expounded further.

The app targets individual day to day shoppers, the ever busy office workers and parents. Most of them have the purchasing power as Kenya and Africa at large has seen rise of the middle class.

How Can You Prepare to Become a Business Owner

eCommerce

By

-

Thursday, October 26th, 2017 at 4:01pm

If you have never ventured into the world of business ownership before, then you might be a little unsure how you want to proceed. You may have a great idea for a business, but you might not have the knowledge or the experience to set everything up and start work. That doesn’t mean that you should give up, as there are ways that you can get yourself up to speed and start running your own company.

Start Learning

There are many ways that you can start to learn more about business and how to become an entrepreneur. Many successful business people have written books about how they started and the issues they faced. These can be a good learning curve for you and a good way to avoid the same mistakes. You can also take online courses such as Concordia online MBA to further your knowledge and give you a good background. You can also find a lot of help on YouTube and business forums.

Know What You Intend to Do and Where You Are Going

In order to start your business, you need to know where you intend to go with it. The first thing to do is to learn how to write a business plan. This document will outline the basics of your business and how you’re going to market and fund the venture. It should also give a summary of the people who will work for you and what markets you intend to focus on first. A good business plan is vital for you because it will be required for things like funding and insurance.

Know Your Market

It’s important that you know what market your products are aimed at, and how you intend to publicise your business. Learn as much as you can about the market and most important of all, who your competition is. If two or three companies are selling similar products, then you’ll have to find an edge that the others don’t have. It’s also a good time to start your marketing with social media accounts and a website. These two things alone can generate a lot of interest if you use them in the right way.

Start Slowly

You’ll have big ambitions about your company, and that is good. However, you need to take things slowly at first, or you may overlook things that are important. If you already have a steady job, consider starting your business part-time at first. Focus on it at weekends and after work and see what the market is like before you move forward. If things start to pick up quickly, you can always reduce your hours at work to concentrate more of your time on your business.

You’ll never stop learning as a business owner, however, if you learn the basics well, you can make a good start to your business and your reputation. Soon, you’ll be able to run your company and grow into other markets.

Jumia to give online loans to its vendors across Africa to bolster its inventory

By

-

Monday, October 16th, 2017 at 5:44am

Rocket Internet-backed Jumia has launched an online lending programme for its merchants in Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt, Morocco and Ivory Coast helping them borrow loans to grow their inventory, and help it become an everyday and everything store.

By leveraging on transactional, operational and behavioral data on its vendors, Jumia believes it can work with partners to provide credit facilities to vendors who are the B2C platform’s lifeline.

“We are always working with those partners and we bring them business online and by just listening to them we realized how difficult it was for them to access funding. So we realized they had a problem and we thought we could help them solve their problem by using the Jumia data to provide them with better financing opportunities,” Jumia co-CEO Sacha Poignonnec told TechMoran on the side lines of the TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield Africa held in Nairobi.

The whole idea that the vendors-technically SMEs have little access to financing and if they do, it’s so expensive. So Jumia decided to mine its vendor data, get the right financing partners who will extend credit to the vendors to help the SMEs grow their online businesses.

Jumia is therefore creating a virtual Sacco where the vendors can access better finance from various financial institutions to create a win-win situation for both Jumia, its merchants and the financial institutions.

With low interest rates of up to 12% per annum, Jumia believes the loans will help provide the much needed working capital vendors need to buy goods to sell on the Jumia platform. With more items on Jumia, there will be less need for guys to shop offline or visit other sites such as Konga in Nigeria among others.

However, for Jumia this is about choice and price for its customers as Africa is in the early stage of ecommerce and the move will imply shoppers can be sure of finding whatever good or service they are looking for online instead of looking for elsewhere.

“It’s really about bringing the relevant products to people and when we started a lot of transactions were for people to buy mobile phones and fashion but once you have bought one mobile phone you cannot buy a mobile phone everyday. So, it’s really about fulfilling people’s needs. Today, if you go to Jumia in Nigeria or in Kenya you will see a lot of grocery items, fashion, hygienic items, diapers, cream toothpaste and pampers, you see a lot of new products bringing which are fulfilling everyday needs to the people. To us its about about bringing more and more choice to people and better prices to the people that when they go to Jumia they can always save time and money because they can find whatever they are looking for.”

The firm has not mentioned the financial partners and its still mum whether the public would soon be allowed to access loans on Jumia, but that is the plan, to make it the go to place for everything.

That’s the push Jumia is doing now. Going down to people’s needs and making sure that whatever it is they need they can find it on Jumia. So that Jumia becomes an option for them to buy anything anytime. Jumia will need to sort out its instant citywide delivery to become Africa’s everything everyday store and reign on estate kiosks.

Jumia takes a go at MallforAfrica with launch of Jumia Global

By

-

Thursday, October 12th, 2017 at 11:15am

For several years, Africans used to send family and friends to shop for them whenever they traveled overseas, by sending them an item or two on Amazon or eBay.

Later, hundreds of sites sprouted across cities to help buyers in Africa buy just about anything from hundreds of overseas eCommerce stores and have it delivered back home either in Accra, Lagos, Nairobi or in between. Sites like Kenya’s Vitumob, Box, Savostore, Box, Kentexcargo among others fulfilled their customer needs just fine. Then came VC-backed MallforAfrica to change Africa’s global e-commerce shopping trend.

During its launch in Nigeria in 2014, Chris Folayan said the platform aimed to ship to millions of shoppers in Nigeria, as well as Nigerians living abroad who want to ship items home to their families in Africa. MallforAfrica signed partnerships with Macy’, BestBuy, GAP among others.

“There is a significant population in Nigeria, and many other African countries, who can afford and want to purchase Western products, said Chris during the Nigerian launch. “But for many years, security issues and logistics made this difficult or even impossible. But now we are able to use digital technology to offer Africa the access it has wanted, while guaranteeing retailers that their transactions will be secure and delivered safely.”

By providing Africans a platform through which to purchase items directly from international online retailers, MallforAfrica said it gave users access to hundreds of US and UK e-commerce retailers and more than 8.5 billion products combined.

Rocket Internet-backed Jumia is now getting into that market. The firm says the move would help provide its buyers with a wide assortment of genuine products at low prices. Jumia Global is open to importers based in Kenya and even the global retailers in the US and Europe as well as merchants of all walks of life. To help users know an item is shipped from overseas, Jumia is marking them Jumia Global and the items are delivered a month after order confirmation. Jumia Global items require prepayment and their return is accepted only when the item has a defect.

Jumia Global says it has employed verification tech to ensure its customers get 100% genuine and original products and any seller found to be selling non-genuine products will be immediately delisted from the marketplace.

Jumia’s biggest challenge is that it’s yet to sign up any retail giant like Amazon, eBay, Macy’s, among others to its platform therefore its shoppers won’t be buying directly on any foreign e-commerce site at the moment. MallforAfrica’s biggest advantage is that it allows shoppers to purchase an item directly from USA and UK e-commerce sites via a simple browser extension. The firm also recently added an e-commerce solution that allows regional store owners to sell items through its platform directly meaning it would be easier to have big name brands on the MallforAfrica site than Jumia Global which is targeting mostly small-time vendors.

Jumia Global will therefore not greatly affect MallforAfrica for Africa’s business in Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya especially for the middle class shopper who looking for popular brands than just price.

It should be noted also that buying on global ecommerce stores is not in line with Jumia’s business model as that would require the firm to handle international shipping and logistics most of which is expensive and not worth a try. Jumia will also avoid warehousing costs in the US and Europe. Jumia Global still makes sense for shoppers not keen on brand by price.

Mobile Commerce and Data Uptake on the Rise in Kenya

By

Susan Mwenesi

-

Monday, October 2nd, 2017 at 4:24pm

Payment of goods and service through the mobile money transfer platforms hit Ksh692 Billion in the three months to June, the latest sector statistics report (PDF) by Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) indicates.

The value of KSh.692 billion is quite significant compared to Ksh102 billion in December 2015, when the industry regulator first captured these statistics in its quarterly reports. The number of mobile commerce transactions stood at 316.5 million.

Person to person transfers were valued at Ksh. 541.8 billion.

The report covering April/June 2017, indicates that the number of mobile money subscriptions stood at 28.0 million while the number of agents was registered at 180,657.

During the quarter under review a total of 480.5 million transactions (withdrawals and deposits) valued at KSh. 1.2 trillion were made.

“The positive growth witnessed in the mobile money transfer service was largely driven by the widespread use of mobile money solutions and adoption of the service among traditionally underserved groups (rural populations), and increasingly broad range of mobile money services (including insurance and loan products) in Kenya,” reads part of the report.

Mobile money has become an integral part of commerce in Kenya over the past decade. It has evolved to become a loan disbursement tool, adding to other uses such as peer transfers, betting, as paying for shopping, utility bills (water, rent and electricity), school fees, and receiving dividends.

The Internet/ data market segment experienced positive growth during the financial year 2016/17 with total number of Internet subscriptions hit 29.6 million, translating to an increase of 15.2 per cent from 25.7 million in the previous quarter.

“The growth was driven by 15.3 per cent increase of in mobile data subscriptions to 29.4 million at the end of the quarter, which accounted for approximately 99 per cent of the total subscriptions,” the report noted.

The Authority in the report also said the increase of mobile data subscriptions could be attributed to continued fall in the costs of smartphones coupled with the widespread availability of the handsets.

The number of data subscriptions grew by 9.9 per cent in this period when compared to the same period of the previous year.

The total number of terrestrial wireless data subscriptions recorded an increase of 30.5 per cent to post 47,231 subscriptions at the end of the quarter under review up from 36,104 subscriptions registered in the previous quarter.

When compared to the same period of the previous financial year, there was a two fold increase which the quarterly report attributed to the licensing of new players in the market during the financial year.

Fixed Digital Subscriber Line(DSL) data/Internet subscriptions rose to 2,715 during the period under review from 2,452 subscriptions reported in the third quarter marking an increase of 10.7 per cent. However when compared to the same period of the previous year there was a decline of 11.4 per cent over the year.

Fibre optic data subscriptions stood at 54,700 subscriptions up from 48,040 subscriptions registered during the previous period while broadband subscriptions were recorded at 15.4 million up from 13.7 million posted in the preceding quarter representing a growth of 12.6 per cent.

The broadband penetration thus stood at 34.2 per cent as at the end of quarter under review up from last quarter’s 30.4 per cent

Fixed broadband speeds of greater than or equal to 256 kbps recorded the least number of subscriptions while those above 2 Mbps recorded the highest number of subscriptions during the period under review. The same trend has been observed from quarter-to-quarter.

Mall for Africa & Mall for the World partner logistics network WCA eCommerce to bolster ecommerce

By

-

Friday, September 29th, 2017 at 1:10pm

Mall for Africa (MFA) and its UAE focused sister company Mall for the World (MFW) have partnered with WCA eCommerce, a global logistics eCommerce network to further amplify cross-border eCommerce logistics by enabling WCA members to increase their customer base while allowing MFA/MFW to enter additional markets through WCA’s local and regional logistics capabilities.

Mall for Africa and Mall for the World will provide all WCA members, and their customers, access to more than 200 of the best US and UK retailers in the world. The patented, award-winning companies will provide WCA members with a new source of shipment, volume-based revenue. MFA/MFW agrees to manage every step of the customer order process, offering its customers a simple, secure and convenient solution to online shopping while WCA members manage shipping and last-mile delivery. The partnership will enable exceptional service to consumers as well as unprecedented growth for WCA’s eCommerce network.

“We are delighted to join such a vibrant network and are looking forward to having WCA assist in achieving our growth targets,” said Chris Folayan, CEO of Mall for Africa and Mall for the World. “Having a strong presence on the ground is crucial and having partners we trust is even more important. We know having our platform at the members’ fingertips will be a great selling point to their current and future customers.”

With hundreds of members —and growing rapidly—WCA’s eCommerce network offers a surplus of guidance from industry experts and online tools. The network also offers its members access to global shippers and customers giving them the opportunity to compete in the highly competitive cross-border supply chain.

“Reflecting the huge level of interest in innovative delivery solutions, we are thrilled to welcome Mall for Africa and Mall for the World into the network,” said Dan March, CEO of WCA. “This partnership demonstrates the growing demand from eRetailers to plug into a truly integrated global network of eCommerce logistics specialists. We are confident that Mall for Africa, and our rapidly-expanding global list of certified members, will both experience mutually-beneficial growth as a result.”

With cross-border eCommerce expected to grow at twice the rate of domestic eCommerce, global eCommerce revenues are expecting to exceed a staggering 4 trillion dollars by 2020 and eCommerce transactions are estimated to grow at the rate of 30% per annum by 2020.

Over the next six months WCA eCommerce plans to launch a range of additional benefits, including comprehensive eCommerce shipment insurance, a range of innovative eCommerce-specific IT solutions, preferred rates on global and domestic last-mile and courier deliveries, and regional eCommerce consolidation programs.

Local smart commerce platform KOKO exploring options in wifi, digital goods & payment of e-gov services

By

-

Wednesday, September 27th, 2017 at 2:02am

1

Local smart commerce platform KOKO Networks is looking at expanding its platform to include wireless broadband, digital content distribution and payment of e-government services in its planned second phase of growth.

Speaking to TechMoran, KOKO’s Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer, Sagun Saxena, explained that the firm’s first business line, an ethanol cooking fuel solution branded SmartCook, is progressing well. The company has installed its “KOKOpoint” fuel dispensers in nearly a dozen different parts of Nairobi, and will continue to expand its presence gradually this year while it focuses on building up a large agent pipeline for city-wide launch next year. By the end of 2018, it expects to have a very dense network of KOKOpoints throughout Nariobi, serving mass-market consumers within 300 meters of their front-doors.

KOKO says the response to SmartCook’s “Soft Launch” earlier this year has been tremendous, with users appreciating the cleanliness, safety and bite-size affordability of the modern cooking solution.

Saxena tells TechMoran that distribution of SmartCook fuel via these automated fuel dispensers is working safely and efficiently, and the firm is very pleased with the feedback from customers and Agents alike.

And although KOKO is focused on scaling up access to the SmartCook solution via its network of KOKOpoints in the short term, back in its labs, its team is working on some exciting opportunities to expand the platform.

“Our team is working closely with several companies on expanding the KOKO platform to include e-commerce, wireless broadband connectivity, digital content distribution, fintech and e-government services,” Saxena explains.

Since its public unveiling in April 2017, KOKO has moved to establish a basic presence in Nairobi and is preparing for significant expansion across the city and in other large urban African markets in 2018.

“The experience we’ve gained so far in Nairobi is feeding continuous improvement of our technology and operating processes, resulting in valuable safety, performance and efficiency gains,” Saxena said. “Major new software features have been released for KOKO’s customers, shopkeepers and partners. For example, the new myKOKO android app enables customers to easily earn cash for convincing friends and family members to join SmartCook.

During its April launch, Saxena says major oil marketing companies showed a lot of interest in the firm and are now positioning themselves to use KOKO’s technology to supply ethanol cooking fuel to KOKOpoints near their petrol stations. KOKO is currently running a process to cement an oil industry partnership that will help accelerate KOKO’s network buildout as it continues to expand production capacity of its consumer and fuel dispenser hardware to support next year’s city-wide launch.

The firm is also working closely with relevant bodies to strengthen the certification standards and regulatory environment for the nascent ethanol-based cooking industry that it is leading, to ensure that this innovative new energy industry segment develops to its full potential.

Yes, it’s a cliché, but nevertheless… watch this space!

Meet Stockport an online garments and shoes shop for Kenyan students

By

Brian Baraka

-

Tuesday, September 26th, 2017 at 5:17pm

“I wish there was a boutique just outside our campus entrance, I have just received an abrupt call for my internship interview and I can’t find a single presentable pair of trousers,” narrated Victor Kiplagat, about how it all started when TechMoran caught up with the two co-founders behind Stockport

According to him, he was up early one morning and got a call that he was scheduled to interview for a job but he couldn’t find the best outfit. Victor doesn’t explain what happened next but the only thing he remembers is the old adage ‘Necessity is the mother of inventions’ as that morning gave birth to Stockport, an online shipping platform for students.

How Stockport works

Stockport enables students to shop anytime at their own convenience and have the items delivered to their hostels or appartments within 2-3 hours.

To use the platform a student creates an account like on other ecommerce platforms, selects the items he or she wants then completes their orders and moves the items to the cart for checkout.

Focused only on youth, Stockport provides a range of products including popular shoe brands like Adidas, Nike and Vans and other local and international brands prefered by college students.

Currently, the startup serves students from Multimedia University of Kenya with a student population of more than 7000 but has intentions of expanding the business to three more neighbouring campuses before venturing to other schools in the other parts of the country.

“We are really working hard to ensure that our customers get the best experience while shopping with us to ensure that we retain our valuable clients as we gain more and build more on our traction” said Brian Baraka, co-founder of Stockport. “ We have put in place measures that would enable us reward our customers through a points gaining system where those shopping earn loyalty points which can be redeemed to other products or even rewarded as discounts” he added.

The two who are schoolmates and in their third year of education at Multimedia University of Kenya say they are sure that the path of entrepreneurship they have taken will solve problems prevailing in their day to day lives and that of others in the community. With the current 0.5 market penetration in the Kenyan eCommerce industry, Stockport is positive that this rate will progressively increase due to the increase number of internet users as the country embraces technology and therefore claim a good portion of the market share.

Since the platform is focused on students at the moment, it aims to train and educate as many campus students as possible to ensure they are conversant with online shopping to expose others to it. The training is still in introductory phases so the team is now focused on demonstrating how to buy online and how to pay or checkout.

Though cash on delivery is the most popular mode of payments on the platform, the team hopes to one day add crypto currencies such as Bitcoins. Stockport will generate its revenues from sales made through the products they have in stock and also will be able to provide a platform where other students to be able to sell quality and affordable products to potential buyers.

Jumia Express launches in Kenya to power next day deliveries in the city

By

-

Saturday, September 23rd, 2017 at 1:50am

Jumia Kenya has launched “Jumia Express” service (formerly “Jumia First”) in Nairobi in a move expected to see shoppers enjoy next day deliveries in Nairobi and 1 day faster than normal in other parts of the country.

Jumia is still mum about same day deliveries in Nairobi a year after it was launched in Nigeria .

“Our customers want us to deliver as fast as possible. We have been working very hard to make this happen, and can now consistently deliver Jumia Express orders next day within Nairobi & up to 1 day faster in the rest of the country. Thousands of products are now available on Jumia Express, with more vendors signing up to the service each week”, said Jumia Managing Director Sam Chappatte.

The items carrying the Jumia Express logo include: Groceries, fashion, smartphones, TVs & home appliances.

“Given that these products are sitting in our warehouse, we are guaranteed to have 100% availability & can pick and pack these products much faster than those that are sitting with vendors. This ensures Jumia Express orders are faster”, stated Chappatte.

Tuskys and Unilever are among suppliers in Kenya whose products are being fulfilled by Jumia Express. Jumia Express is also made available to Jumia’s vendors at a moderate cost. Jumia Express is only available to local vendors. Products coming from abroad on the Jumia Global program will continue to take 10-12 days to be delivered.

Though Jumia says the launch was a move to make online shopping as seamless as possible for customers, and shortly after announcing improvements in the process for vendors to join the platform and doubling the number of vendors on the platform, and growing its assortment 10 times to 350,000 products since last year, the improvements could as well be a strategic plan to for Jumia to remain competitive as Safaricom readies launch of Masoko, its online SME marketplace.

After Kilimall failed to compete Jumia on delivery and inventory, people close to the company see this as a wake up call to Jumia and will help it streamline eCommerce in the country and set standards for the competition.

You Can Now Use Bitcoin To Make Payments At South Africa’s Pick n Pay

By

-

Monday, September 18th, 2017 at 6:42pm

Bitcoin is gradually finding its way into stores in Africa. This is a further signal that Bitcoin is the currency of the future because the more stores accept it as a mode of payment, the more Africans will be interested in investing in the cryptocurrency that is worth more than $4,000.

One of the businesses embracing Bitcoin is South Africa’s retail giant, Pick n Pay as it has announced that shoppers will for a “limited time” be able to pay for their groceries using bitcoin at a Pick n Pay retail store in Cape Town.

In a statement, the Cape Town-based specialist software payments development house Electrum, said customers at Pick n Pay’s campus store are now able to use the bitcoin cryptocurrency to purchase groceries and services.

Electrum MD Dave Glass says, “We’ve worked closely with PnP for several years as a key technology provider. Our mission is to support innovative enterprises like Pick n Pay, and together we use the advanced Electrum software-as-a-service technology to move quickly on new opportunities, whilst at the same time delivering the best possible shopping experience“.

Jason Peisl, IS Executive at Pick n Pay, explains, “At Pick n Pay one of our key values is to embrace change and encourage innovation and leadership. To deliver on that promise we are constantly working with our technology partners to find ways in which we can deliver valuable, innovative services to our customers. Cryptocurrency and Bitcoin are still relatively new payment concepts, yet we have been able to effectively demonstrate how we are able to accept such alternative payments.“

Joe Falter Appointed As The New CEO of Jumia Travel

By

-

Wednesday, September 6th, 2017 at 11:11am

Daniel Anuoluwapelumi Moses

Jumia Travel has announced the appointment of a new Chief Executive Officer, Joe Falter, succeeding Paul Midy who has exited the top post to take a different position in the larger Jumia Group. Falter, who is also the Founder and CEO of Travel’s sister company Jumia Food, assumes the role as part of efforts outlined to further bolster the company’s operations.

“I could not be more excited to join this dynamic team which is revolutionising the way that people travel in Africa and beyond. With by far the biggest hotel inventory and market leading innovations, Jumia Travel is a clear leader in travel, tourism and hospitality, and I am thrilled to be leading the business forward” Says Joe.

Previously a management consultant at McKinsey in London, and with a track record of scaling companies in Europe and Africa, Joe brings with him a unique shift in strategic management that will help capitalize on emerging business opportunities.

Commenting on his first move as the new travel company’s boss, Joe ascertains that “Jumia Travel has grown exponentially in the last 2 years and the immediate objective is to continue this rapid growth trajectory while further strengthening our offering to customers and hoteliers. Our 30,000 hotel partners in Africa and hundreds of thousands of customers will be treated to exciting new developments online and offline.”

“I am confident that Joe is the right leader to accelerate Jumia Travel to become the only preferred travel agency in Africa and beyond,” says Jumia Co-Founder Sacha Poignonnec.

Founded in 2013, Jumia Travel has built a track record in e-commerce and technological innovation, becoming the leading online travel agency in Africa. It offers online hotel and flight booking services as well as tailor made packages for its large inventory of customers, both individual and corporate.

SafeTrade launches to improve trust between buyers and sellers

eCommerce

By

-

Monday, September 4th, 2017 at 10:05am

Daniel Anuoluwapelumi Moses

You know that feeling when you pay for a product, and you get a sub standard one? Or the feeling when you offer a service only to be shortchanged by the buyer and not paid in full? Well, it all seems like SafeTrade has launched to put an end to that particular feeling.

SafeTrade is an online platform that serves as a middleman between sellers and buyers. They make sure that buyers get their desired products before payment, and sellers, after delivering the required products or services are paid in full. They help to satisfy both parties in a sales transactions. Monies are handled through payment gateways Remita and PayStack.

Launched on September 1st, the startup is currently self-funded by its small team of 4 members with Eddy G.U as its technical head.

SelfTrade as a startup could restore sanity to the sales industry while reenacting the already soured relationship between customers and some merchants, mostly online ones. They would aim to bridge the gap of trust between sellers and buyers. SafeTrade, if well utilized as a platform, would go a long way to redefine (online) trade and keep both parties happy.

We would be posting an interview with the founder of SafeTrade soon.

Indego Africa helps African artisan women sell their products online

eCommerce

By

-

Friday, September 1st, 2017 at 3:36am

You want to purchase products that are designed in New York City and handmade in Africa, which also combines traditional techniques, local materials and amazing artisanal skill, you should try Indego Africa. But that’s not all.

Indego Africa works with women in Africa to sell their products. Their aim is to uplift these artisan women out of poverty and empower them with employment opportunities and education.

Employment opportunities in terms of the sales the recipients make from selling their products to them, and education such that all their profits are reinvested into education programs for the artisans who handcraft their products. Their courses range from leadership and entrepreneurship to financial and business management to skills-based vocational training & more.

These women, with the right funds and training, could turn out to become very great business persons. So i think Indego Africa is actually leveraging technology to make a very great impact on Africa. Presently, they work with over 1000 women already.

In a case where you want to make an impact such as this, you could donate to Indego Africa too and be sure that your funds would also be diverted into educating and uplifting the artisan women in Africa. You can checkout Indego Africa’s shop here.

Diaspersnmum Launches to be an eCommerce Platform for Mothers and Babies

eCommerce

By

Christie Uzebu

-

Wednesday, August 30th, 2017 at 6:41pm

Founded by Ben Oche, Diapersnmum is an ecommerce store that caters for women and their children, offering beauty and wellness products.

According to the founder, “our platform provides women in all stages of life the opportunity to get their beauty, care and wellness products at affordable prices. We also carry products for babies and children. So in essence, its one stop shop for women.”

Diapersnmum offers a rewards program to customers, that enables them earn points as they shop. In the long run, these accumulated points can then be used to to make make more purchases on the platform.

The founder revealed that access to a variety of products, customer focus and internal focus are the core values and stand out points of the one-year-old startup.

With a lot of ecommerce platforms in Nigeria, many of which are struggling to make a name, creating a niche has become the best way to differentiate yourself and be relevant, just like Ben Oche has done. Having big competitors like Jumia and Konga, we can’t wait to see how this works for Diapersnmum.

eBay And Mall for Africa Partner To Bring African Goods To Global Shoppers

By

-

Wednesday, August 23rd, 2017 at 8:02pm

eBay and Mall for Africa have partnered to make it possible for shoppers in any part of the world to purchase African goods.The partnership expands upon an existing relationship between the two companies, which allows Africans the ability to purchase items from eBayforAfrica.com or directly through the Mall for Africa app.

The partnership expands upon an existing relationship between the two companies, which allows Africans the ability to purchase items from eBayforAfrica.com or directly through the Mall for Africa app.

Mall for Africa and eBay will now provide Africans in Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, and Burundi a new platform to sell their one-of-a-kind artisan products into the U.S. The inventory will be surfaced on the Mall for Africa store on eBay.com, allowing sellers to expand their businesses and increase brand awareness. To start, product categories will include fashion, art & collectables, jewellery, and clothing. Expansion into other categories and additional African countries will occur in the upcoming months.

“We couldn’t be more pleased with extending our partnership with eBay as we empower, expose, and positively affect thousands of hardworking artisans while making it convenient for US shoppers to purchase African made products that would otherwise be unavailable to them, “said Chris Folayan, CEO of Mall for Africa. “As someone who grew up in Africa became an entrepreneur, and who currently does business in Africa, I know first-hand the importance of cross-border trade and having the opportunity to expand a business internationally.”

Mall for Africa’s long-time shipping partner, DHL, will be responsible for all shipping needs. The seller simply packs the product, prints the label, and drops the package off at DHL’s nearest drop-off location. Last February, DHL published research that indicated a significant forthcoming increase in cross-border e-commerce sales. It also asserts that in 2020, 1 out of 5 e-commerce dollars will be generated cross-border and the market is anticipated to grow at 25% annually—almost twice the rate of domestic e-commerce.

“eBay’s vision for commerce is one that is enabled by people, powered by technology, and open to everyone,” said Sylvie De Wever, eBay’s General Manager of Latin America and US Exports. “This expanded relationship with Mall for Africa will not only bring great inventory and more selection to our marketplace but will also create greater economic opportunity for African artisans looking to expand their reach.”

Mall for Africa provides African consumers with a platform to purchase items directly from over 200 of the best US and UK retailers in the world. As a leader in the industry, MFA manages every step of the order process, offering its customers a simple, secure and convenient solution to online shopping.

Jumia Announces Back To School Season Sales and Free Shipping Offer

By

-

Wednesday, August 23rd, 2017 at 4:22pm

Jumia has announced its inaugural essay writing competition for all Nigerian students with the chance to win up to 1 million naira in scholarship.

The competition is a part of Jumia’s kick-off of the 2017 Back to School season sales.

The nationwide competition will bring together students from all over in an intellectual bout that challenges them to develop smart solutions and unleash hidden potentials that will address tangible problems faced in the country.

The essay competition will be divided into 3 categories – senior secondary school (SSS), junior secondary school (JSS) and advanced primary school pupils.

The secondary school category ranges from SS1 – SS3 and their essay topic for a N500,000 scholarship win is – “What is the role of e-commerce as a means of diversification for the Nigerian economy?” The JSS1 – JSS3 students will writing for or against the topic “Parental control on the internet should be enforced till age 18” for a N300,000 scholarship win.

Students from Primary 4 – 6 will write for or against the topic: “Online shopping is better than offline shopping” for a N200,000 scholarship.

Every participant is expected to send their entry in MS-Word document format, in not more than 250 words with their full name, class, school name and address, along with their parents/guardians phone number to [email protected] All entries close at 12:00am on August 31st, 2017.

Along with the competition, the Jumia Back to School sales event will feature everything school-aged children need at incredible prices. Stationeries, backpacks, shoes, sneakers, insulated lunch boxes, water bottles, provisions, toiletries, clothing for boys and girls, socks and underwear tees, laptops and computer accessories, alarm clocks and more!

There will also be free shipping on all back to school purchases until Sunday, 27th of July, 2017. The first 100 customers to shop daily between Monday, August 21st and Thursday, August 24th will enjoy a complimentary bottle of dettol and peak milk.

While commenting on the Jumia Back to School campaign, Ojuola Asuquo, the Head of Engagement Marketing at Jumia Nigeria said, “We are pleased to support and make a contribution to Nigerian students and their families towards the upcoming school year.”

She also encouraged parents to cheer and prompt their school children to participate in Jumia’s inaugural writing competition, and likewise take full advantage of the Jumia Back to School sales campaign and free shipping offer.

South Africa’s SnapnSave Secures R14m Investment From Kalon Venture Partners And Smollan

eCommerce

By

-

Monday, August 14th, 2017 at 7:47pm

South Africa’s venture capital company Kalon Venture Partners (formerly Grotech) and retail solutions company the Smollan Group SA have together invested R14-million for a minority stake in SA shopping community SnapnSave.

Kalon Venture Partners chief executive Clive Butkow said the deal, which was concluded late last week, will see Kalon and Smollan each invest R7-million in the Cape Town based startup, in return for a 20% stake each.

SnapnSave’s app facilitates discounts for shoppers on their favourite products, wherever they shop, just by snapping a photo of their till slip.

SnapnSave CEO Mark Bradshaw said in just over 18 months, SnapnSave has given SA shoppers over R3.5-million cash back into their bank accounts and is about to reach 200 000 app installs.

Bradshaw, who has taken a few days off from work following the conclusion of the deal, said the funding would help to fund a 12-month plan to grow the app’s downloads to 500 000 in South Africa.

The funding injection will also help the two-year old startup to enter three Asian and African regional markets, which Bradshaw.

Based on their existing use of coupons and on mobile phone penetration, the startup has identified these as Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam, as well as Nigeria, Kenya and a North African country.

The idea is to grow the app on the back of Smollan’s network which is present in more than 50 countries and provide services to over 500 000 retailers.

“Our till slip technology means shoppers can get cash back wherever they shop simply by taking a till slip selfie. The tech is all enabled without any till point integration that as a result means the product can easily scale into markets without any barriers,” said Bradshaw.

The current funding deal follows an initial angel investment injection the startup received when it launched in July 2015. However, Bradshaw did not want to disclose the figure when asked by Ventureburn.

Butkow said over one billion people globally are expected to use digital coupons by 2019.

Bradshaw added that in South Africa over 15% of SA smartphone owners have already used a digital coupon. “Consumers love saving money and with the state of the economy they are looking at ways to put real cash back into their own pockets,” he said.

Kalon Venture Partners is a VC fund set up under the Section 12J VC tax incentive where investors receive a 100% deduction of their investment from their taxable income.

Nigeria’s Shopnow.ng To Become Africa’s First E-commerce Startup To Accept Bitcoin

By

-

Wednesday, July 19th, 2017 at 6:09pm