Prime
Majority of rural online customers order for phones, says report
A Jumia report shows that at least 15 percent of orders from rural customers are for phones. Photo / File
What you need to know:
- At least 15 percent of registered orders from rural Uganda, Jumia says, are for phones
A report by Jumia has indicated that phones are the most ordered for items on its e-commerce platform by rural customers in Uganda.
Phones, which form 15 percent of registered orders, come ahead of home care products and computing devices at 12 and 11 percent, respectively, while appliances and men’s clothing, which form 7 percent each, are also listed among the most ordered for products by rural customers.
The data contrasts trends in urban setups where customers mainly purchase food items, which Jumia indicated could be due to the fact that most rural areas have an abundant supply of home grown food products, thus the shift. The report comes on the back of an indication in which Jumia early this month said it would leverage on its offline sales model, known as Jforce, to expand beyond Kampala into rural Uganda, supported by a large rural population and increased urbanisation.
However, contrary to Uganda, in Kenya, beauty products form the biggest share of orders through Jumia, contributing 16 percent of all rural deliveries.
These are ahead of phones and home items, which contribute 11 percent each.
The supplies, the report notes are informed by scarcity of varieties among local retailers reluctant to stock up items that are believed to be slow sales.
The report also notes that 61 percent of orders placed through Jumia originate from cities while 24 percent are from rural areas. 15 percent are from secondary markets.
“24 percent of deliveries made are in remote areas in regions where choices for products are currently extremely limited for consumers and infrastructure is particularly constrained,” the report indicates, noting that delivery times within Kampala had largely reduced to just 24 hours.
Jumia also indicated that data had indicated that Bugolobi in Kampala had the highest concentration of e-commerce penetration, while Jinja, Arua and Gulu had the highest concentration outside Kampala.
Jumia has at least 11.3m products listed on its e-commerce platform.
The shift towards e-commerce has gathered momentum in recent years, accelerated by an increase in mobile phone access with at least 30 percent of phone users using smartphones compared to 70 percent, who use features phones.
This has also been supported by the increase in internet penetration, which, although decelerated to 24.6 percent at the start of this year, has enhanced transition from the brick and mortar business model to online trading.
