Wednesday, 24 April

E-commerce transformations; how tech unicorns are utilising new technologies to better serve consumers

Technology
Shopping online

Things are not the same as before.

A lot has changed over the past few years all around the world.

In football, underdogs have won major titles that no one believed they could.

Famous people and world leaders have passed away.

Everywhere you look, there have been changes and transformations.

In technology, however, the transformation is enormous and the changes are erratic. Day-in-Day-out, we wake up to something truly incredible.

Technologies that are causing major developments and making life easier.

There are certain technologies that are causing positive e-commerce transformations in Africa and Ghana. Jumia, Africa’s leading e-commerce ecosystem takes a look at a couple of them below

Mobile Apps - How do you ensure that your products and services are always visible and easily accessible to consumers?

Averagely, Africans spend about 5hours daily on their mobile devices.

Over 65% of this time is spent on several mobile apps either shopping, paying bills or having some fun time on social media.

Mobile apps help to increase customer engagement through treasure hunts, puzzles, flash sales and push notifications.

This technology has helped many businesses grow in terms of new customers, customer engagement and customer loyalty.

Smart Lockers - One new technology that has become very important over the past few years, especially with the covid-19 pandemic in perspective has been the smart locker.

Safety, convenience, less human interaction, and speed of receiving ordered items are among the big benefits of using smart lockers.

E-commerce companies like Jumia have partnered with smart locker companies like LocQar to bring online deliveries closer to consumers.

It takes just about 7 seconds from the time a customer reaches the locker to the time he/she retrieves the package.

With CCTV cameras in well-secured zones, using smart lockers is a sure safe way of receiving online orders these days.

GPS - Also known as the ‘’Global Positioning System’’, the GPS has been a technological revelation in recent years. This has supported e-commerce businesses so much that it is nearly impossible to successfully execute online deliveries without them. Digital addresses are making it easier to locate customers who order essential items.

In the past, using a general landmark may end the delivery agent in someone's backyard or kitchen.

Today, due to GPS and digital addresses, it is very easy for customers to be located and deliveries to be made at their doorstep.

Whether at home or in the office, GPS makes it possible and stress-free for you to receive your online order.

Digital Payments - Every business transaction involves payment of some kind. Over the years, carrying large sums of money when executing business deals have become very risky.

Can you imagine counting Ghs 200 million in cash for an online real estate transaction?

What about the number of notes you need to carry along to buy 20 televisions for your newly built hotel?

It is fairly easier to pay your bills online or pay for your online orders in advance before receiving them. Apart from avoiding physical contact through cashless transactions, digital payments also ensure commitment from customers to buy these items.

Today, it is very easy to pay your water bills, electricity, DSTV and other subscriptions online. Online platforms like JumiaPay make it very easy to do such transactions.

Many tech companies are utilizing new technologies to better serve customers.

With research and development on a daily basis, the potential of e-commerce growth is exponential.

Do not blink, before you know it, something new and technologically impossible may just unfold before your eyes

Source: Benet Otoo, Jumia