Jumia plans to take Egypt's e-commerce by storm
Being the latest e-commerce project in Egypt, Jumia is one of Rocket Internet’s successful business models, which the German online investment giant implemented in 40 emerging markets until now. In about 3 months, Jumia Egypt shall prove itself as the top e-commerce project in the country, after it has already received an investment by J.P. Morgan Asset Management.
The online store sells everything, from technology over fashion items and offers two payment methods: online credit card payment or on delivery.
Entering the Jumia Egypt office is like entering an incubator directed at entrepreneurs. 50 young employees are keeping the website up and running, and are gathering “on-the-site-experience”, while developing their talents.
With an internet penetration of over 30%, Sherif Makhlouf, Co-Founder of Jumia Egypt, believes that the country has the right fundamentals for successful e-commerce: “Egypt has a huge consumer base that has needs which we can satisfy through the internet. The infrastructure is good and doing business here is not worse than Thailand or Vietnam. One just needs to address e-commerce in the right way – which no one has done until now.”
According to Makhlouf, it is all about the customer satisfaction. Jumia provides a large variety and selection of items, which can be chosen and bought by just one click, and “the product reaches the customer in its right color at the right time,” Makhlouf explains. Another success-driver would be the possibility of on-delivery-payment – a method that would probably be more convenient to Egyptians than credit card payment. Fashion items even have a next-day-delivery-policy, while other items reach their purchasers after 5 days or less.
The main problems facing e-commerce in Egypt are the infrastructure, inefficient payment methods, and lack of mentality. “The customer and supplier need to be educated about the benefits of e-commerce,” Makhlouf states.
As for future plans, the Co-Founder confirms: “Our main goal for the future is growth, of course, while maintaining our professionalism. Currently we depend on online marketing – Facebook, Google, Youtube etc. Offline initiatives are also an important part of how we want to grow, in order to create brand awareness and get closer to our customers and correctly understand their needs.”
Currently, the best sold items on Jumia Egypt are the iPad, iPhone, and Samsung Galaxy SIII.
Visit Jumia Egypt here:
http://www.jumia.com.eg/
The online store sells everything, from technology over fashion items and offers two payment methods: online credit card payment or on delivery.
Entering the Jumia Egypt office is like entering an incubator directed at entrepreneurs. 50 young employees are keeping the website up and running, and are gathering “on-the-site-experience”, while developing their talents.
With an internet penetration of over 30%, Sherif Makhlouf, Co-Founder of Jumia Egypt, believes that the country has the right fundamentals for successful e-commerce: “Egypt has a huge consumer base that has needs which we can satisfy through the internet. The infrastructure is good and doing business here is not worse than Thailand or Vietnam. One just needs to address e-commerce in the right way – which no one has done until now.”
According to Makhlouf, it is all about the customer satisfaction. Jumia provides a large variety and selection of items, which can be chosen and bought by just one click, and “the product reaches the customer in its right color at the right time,” Makhlouf explains. Another success-driver would be the possibility of on-delivery-payment – a method that would probably be more convenient to Egyptians than credit card payment. Fashion items even have a next-day-delivery-policy, while other items reach their purchasers after 5 days or less.
The main problems facing e-commerce in Egypt are the infrastructure, inefficient payment methods, and lack of mentality. “The customer and supplier need to be educated about the benefits of e-commerce,” Makhlouf states.
As for future plans, the Co-Founder confirms: “Our main goal for the future is growth, of course, while maintaining our professionalism. Currently we depend on online marketing – Facebook, Google, Youtube etc. Offline initiatives are also an important part of how we want to grow, in order to create brand awareness and get closer to our customers and correctly understand their needs.”
Currently, the best sold items on Jumia Egypt are the iPad, iPhone, and Samsung Galaxy SIII.
Visit Jumia Egypt here:
http://www.jumia.com.eg/