KAMPALA — The rise of e-commerce in the past few years has brought a lot of benefits for consumers, making shopping easy & convenient for them with just a few clicks of a button. However one group that is also reaping from the e-commerce surge are the budding entrepreneurs.
With e-commerce, entrepreneurs are able to use their skills to tap into a wider market base and potentially earn even more money in the e-commerce space. One of the entrepreneurs doing this is Joachim Mumbere who has turned his shop into an e-commerce hub.
“I was approached by Jumia a few months ago to turn my store into a pick up station point for customers near me. Since I started the feedback has been great, I have increased my sales because as customers pick their Jumia orders they also buy something from my shop.”
Joachim is not alone, hundreds of pick up agents are set up across the country using their businesses or shops as pick up stations for the e-commerce company. The new pick up station program will allow businesses like Joachim’s to earn revenue with every package picked from their pick up station and for consumers it will give them an opportunity to save on delivery fees by using the pick up points to receive their orders.
“ I have now become the online shopping expert in my area,” said Annette Kasande, a shop owner and Mobile Money agent who in her role as a pick up agent also helps customers place orders. “ Whenever someone wants to place an order they come to my shop for me to help them – a lot of people are impressed with our easy & convenient online shopping works.” she adds.
Jumia CEO Ron Kawamara added, “This new initiative will see us partner with existing local business owners in each key town to first of all earn additional income, boost their sales but more importantly, encourage e-commerce penetration in their local areas so they can become Jumia Logistics Partners & earn additional income.”
Uganda’s e-commerce market is rapidly growing and is expected to become the second largest online market in the East Africa region, after Kenya. This is mainly due to the rapid growth in telecommunications users and the widespread use of mobile money payments; with figures from a Q3 Uganda Communications Commission reporting over 25 million registered Mobile Money accounts and 26 million mobile subscriptions as of September 2020.
