Black Friday campaign registers surge in e-commerce
Vinod Goel, the Regional CEO - Jumia East Africa together with Evelyne Anite, the State Minister for Finance in charge of Investment appreciating the Mecha Phone during its launch in Namanve on Saturday. PHOTO | STEPHEN OTAGE
What you need to know:
- The Black Friday campaign serves as a powerful platform for local companies to boost their sales from November when the shopping season starts.
Jumia, Uganda's leading e-commerce platform, has witnessed exceptional growth in customers ordering goods online during its Black Friday campaign.
According to Vinod Goel, the Regional CEO – Jumia East Africa, the campaign has transformed the e-commerce retail landscape in Uganda, with more orders coming from outside Kampala.
"The retail landscape in Uganda has never been more apparent. E-commerce growth outside Kampala has surged, clocking in at three times the growth rate within the city. More than half of Black Friday orders were placed by customers in upcountry areas, where the supply of quality goods has traditionally been scarce," Goel said.
Jumia currently operates in 120 towns, but customer demand has prompted the company to open an additional 50 Jumia stations and broaden its reach by onboarding 10 million products catering to a diverse range of consumer needs and preferences.
In recent years, e-commerce has emerged as a transformative force in Uganda's retail landscape. As online shopping grows across Africa, Uganda stands poised to play a vital role in this evolution, with its e-commerce sector expected to contribute over $1 billion to the local economy in the coming years.
Meanwhile, Jumia has also partnered with Simi Mobile to launch Uganda's first locally assembled smartphone, Simi Mecha. Patrick Bitature, the Chairman of Simba Group of Companies, lauded Jumia for its role in Uganda's digital market.
"With 40 shops in Uganda and 50 in Kenya, Simi-Mobile has beaten Simba Telecom's distribution methods because trading on the digital economy has seen us expand our presence to Tanzania, Kenya, and Ethiopia," Bitature said.
Ares Zhou, the Chief Executive Officer of Simi Mobile, noted that the company has registered success in the eight years it has been manufacturing and assembling phones in Uganda. "Simi phone is the most popular phone brand on the Jumia platform, which inspired us to venture into manufacturing tablets and high-end smartphones," Zhou said.
The Black Friday campaign serves as a powerful platform for local companies to boost their sales from November when the shopping season starts. The concept, which dates back to the 1980s in fairly developed countries, is relatively new in Uganda.
