Last week, we got word that Jumia had appointed a new managing director for its Kenyan and East African operations. The new Managing Director Sam Chappatte replaced Parinaz Firozi who left the company after two years at the helm of the e-commerce firm. Chappatte previously served as managing Jumia’s New Countries, overseeing operations in six countries; Ghana, Uganda, Cameroon, Tanzania, Senegal and Algeria.
It’s already public that Jumia was looking to rebrand all its subsidiary startups to Jumia, with Jovago becoming Jumia Travel, Lamudi changes to Jumia House while HelloFood becomes Jumia Food. Site car Carmudi becomes Jumia Cars while Vendito becomes Jumia Deals. Job search site Everjobs will now be referred to as Jumia Jobs.
The new structure was unveiled today where we got to talk with Jumia’s new managing director about his plans. Sam said he plans to grow the site’s current 3 Million unique visitors a month using three key aspects. Core to these plans is to diversify the product offering on the site which is currently dominated by electronic goods such as smartphones.
This would definitely improve traffic to the site as well as the number of individuals shopping on the site. It will also give users a wider pool to choose from when looking to shop. The other plan involves improving the customer experience for shoppers on the site. This will include ensuring faster and improved delivery of goods purchased on the platform. The E-commerce website has already engaged Postal Corporation of Kenya to allow good deliveries across the country but there are still lapses in the delivery process.
Still on customer experience, the MD wants to improve the quality of interactions users on the site have on the website including relevant suggestions based on user’s previous interactions. Importantly, the MD is looking to bolster customer service with the view of building trust with customers. The final aspect of the plan involves people, with the view of recruiting and developing the best talent for the firm to achieving the firm’s goals.
The E-commerce website has already engaged Postal Corporation of Kenya to allow good deliveries across the country but there are still lapses in the delivery process. Still on customer experience, the MD wants to improve the quality of interactions users on the site have on the website including relevant suggestions based on user’s previous interactions. Importantly, the MD is looking to bolster customer service with the view of building trust with customers. The final aspect of the plan involves people, with the view of recruiting and developing the best talent for the firm to achieving the firm’s goals.
On the new rebrand of various Jumia services under the Jumia brand, the company is looking to understand the taste and preferences of their customers with the view of satisfying their needs better. This will allow the firm to also sell the relevant products to their customers. Importantly, the company is also looking to leverage the already established Jumia brand to grow the lesser known brands owned by the company. With this understanding, Jumia will further seek to give its vendors access to more customers to sell their merchandise.
Jumia will collect your data, just like Google and Apple, among others before them have done, to better serve you offers and advertisements.
This, therefore, means Jumia will be keener to collect your data and build its own bank more like what Google or Amazon do to understand consumer habits. The firm will therefore likely suggest products you would use, or something you may be likely interested based on your purchasing habits or visits to each of its unique sites. Think of what Google does with YouTube or Gmail or how Amazon suggests alternative or similar products to its user’s searches. Ultimately, Jumia wants to become the premier online destination for all services.
