Jumia Kenya has opened up its online platform to brands and corporate organizations for advertising.
In a move to optimise customer data, the company is marketing itself as a highly targeted platform promising great exposure to those who will take up the service.
The company’s CEO, Sam Chappatte, made the disclosure during the launch of Jumia Advertising Services (JAS) on Friday (today).
“20 per cent of active internet users in Kenya are on Jumia each month. We know our customers well – what they shop, how much they spend, etc – and can use this to present relevant adverts to them. This can enable our customers to discover relevant products & services, and will become a powerful digital marketing channel for advertisers,” said Chappatte.
Chappatte emphasized that their messages will reach highly targeted segments, right at the moment of purchase – e.g for DSTV the ads will be presented to people who are buying new TVs, or when selling beer, key messages can be shown to customers who are looking at a competitor’s products.
“We are launching Advertising in response to significant demand from agencies and brands. For effective digital marketing campaigns, you need data. This is what is special about our solution – and why leading brands that have been piloting with us over the last months are coming back for more,” he concluded.
With operations across 11 countries in Africa, Jumia plans to target users geographically and segment them based on their shopping behaviour at the most granular level.
The launch of Jumia Advertising Services is part of the company’s 2020 Strategy to increase the monetization of their platform. The company confirmed that they will also be opening up their extensive logistics network to third parties for deliveries of packages including even those that are not sold on Jumia.
Jumia mall
In September last year, the company launched Jumia Mall, a curated section on the platform that allows customers to easily identify the official distributors of leading brands on the site.
By providing this, customers can choose to buy directly from their favourite brands (for extra confidence), or from the wider marketplace. Customers have a choice to buy official brands from Jumia Mall, Jumia Global which is international vendors or quality vetted local resellers (the marketplace).
Customers who shop on Jumia Mall are guaranteed 100 per cent authenticity, official warranties from the brands, and a 15 day return policy in case they change their mind
“We are glad that Jumia Mall is here to truly democratize our brands and give our customers a chance to buy the highest quality and authentic Nivea products – products they can trust for their daily skincare and that come straight from our Nivea brand store,” said Nivea Sales Director Vikash Kumar.
Jumia has over 80,000 sellers and serves over 750 million consumers in the region through its marketplace platforms in 14 African countries.
The company directly employs 5000 people (500 of which in Kenya) and is expected to contribute significantly towards the 3 million jobs that are expected from online marketplaces by 2025.
