Improving e-commerce in Nigeria with Jumia’s Free Delivery

After 10 years of serving e-commerce consumers, Jumia has made tremendous strides in the areas of speed and affordability. However, to fully reward our consumers, we are also committed to making e-commerce a bigger part of their daily lives by improving convenience.

Achieving this objective means addressing aspects of the consumer experience such as product variety, price, payment and delivery options.

Diversifying and subsidizing product offers

First, we set out to widen the range of products available on our platform, focusing on products that consumers regularly need, such as groceries, personal care and sanitary products. We then boosted visibility for these products under the Jumia Everyday umbrella.

But even with ever-increasing variety, consumer enthusiasm was stalled by the recurring delivery fees associated with purchasing everyday products online. Consequently, we decided to offer free delivery on a wide range of frequently purchased products at the start of the year.

This required a concerted effort from the commercial team, marketing, logistics, and other departments. For instance, our commercial team had to revisit stock level management in anticipation of the order increases expected to result from the free delivery initiative.

Furthermore, the marketing team had to create sufficient awareness for free delivery offers. Therefore, it executed an omnichannel approach spanning web, email, broadcast media, billboards, and more. In addition, we devised the ingenious free delivery label and banners on our platform to keep consumers aware at every step of the journey.

The logistics team also had to adjust to the increasing order frequency triggered by free deliveries. In addition to revisiting stock level requirements, we took a close look at product-specific packaging, and resource allocation to activities like sorting and quality checks, among other areas.

We also brought the customer support team up to speed to infuse free delivery messages into interactions where they are relevant.

Impact of free deliveries

• Primarily, consumers save on repeat purchases and enjoy a consistent supply of essential goods without the hassle of alternating providers.

• Consumers realize more convenience since they spend less time deliberating on the total delivery fee for assorted carts.

• As we publicize free delivery offers, consumers learn more about e-commerce services and the unique value attached.

Consolidating free delivery offers

• We are increasing access to the Cash-On-Delivery option for convenience and to enable consumers to utilize free delivery without worrying about the available payment options.

• We also conduct educational events online and offline to dispel common myths about e-commerce, such as the idea that it’s expensive.

• Our team has added free returns and refunds to build trust and strengthen consumer experience.

• We continue to study the data on the most sought-after products to expand variety based on product attributes like utility, brand, size, price, and more. This increases the affinity for free delivery offers since they’ve been attached to the most desired products.

The disruption caused by COVID-19 further reinforced the relevance of Jumia and e-commerce in Nigeria. It played a vital role in providing consumers with continued access to essential goods and services, and we witnessed a shift to essentials and everyday products. It also accelerated e-commerce adoption by sellers and brands.

Our goal is to continue to build Jumia as the number one everyday platform for Nigerians. We want consumers to be able to shop for their everyday essentials like groceries and have them delivered to their doorstep within minutes. We’re going beyond just shopping for fashion, beauty, phones, TVs and laptops and more.

We are currently offering free delivery in Lagos, Abuja and Ibadan and we are expanding the offering to many more regions in the country. While doing that, we will also focus on speed of delivery for an even better consumer experience. **********************************

Lere Awokoya

Head of Brand - Jumia Nigeria

Lere Awokoya is the Head of Brand of Jumia Nigeria, stepping into the role in 2021. Lere is an enthusiastic and self-motivated brand-marketing professional with an astute acumen for brand strategy and creative thinking. He has over 10-years of experience in brand marketing, with a proven track record in successfully introducing and building global brands in regional and domestic markets. Lere’s area of expertise also includes formulating and implementing market strategies to achieve the highest possible product standards, reach diverse regional markets and guarantee consumer satisfaction.