Monday, September 26, 2011

Ugandan E-commerce site Kmart - A success story

Albert Einstein, said Life is like riding a bicycle - in order to keep your balance, you must keep moving. This is exactly what Kmart (Karibumart.com and Kampalamart.com), is doing. In just two months of being online, the E-commerce site has leaped from a no name to being one of the highest trafficked Ugandan websites.
As the person managing this grande project, i have interacted with several people during and after the launch of this well contrive venture and certain questions keep popping up.  I am writing today to try and answer some of the common ones.

So what exactly is Kmart?
Simply put, Kmart is an online Market place targeted at the East African Market. With over 3 millions Internet users in Uganda, alone, a novel and unique market segment is being curved out – At Kmart, we view this as an opportunity that we are moving to harness.
With people’s proclivity for spending loads of time online vis-a-vis the high cost of Internet services,  It’s only logical that people engage in activities that can pay the bills – Junkies, do this to support a drug a addition, why can’t we the clean ones do the same?

What is Different About Kmart ?
We provide a platform so that people online browse for what they want and then arrange to buy it in the ways they know best (Cash, Mobile Money etc). The trader downtown can now put stock online at no cost and a prospective buyer can check out the listings in the comfort of their office or home . Think of it as taking the hustle out of shopping and turning it into a pleasurable experience -  all at no additional, hidden costs which are synonymous with Middlemen.  This, is our differentiator.

How is the Market warming  up to Kmart?
The response is overwhelming! In September, our first complete month online, we clocked about 800,000 hits – In October, we portend about a million hits.  With  40% of our traffic coming from returning  visitors,  you don’t have to be a genius to guess that we are doing something right here.

What is the Kmart Strategy?
We have modeled our service offering around people. A lot of user input has been sought and incorporated into the design and functionality of the website – I appreciate all the feedback we have received so far.
In response to the Internet’s burgeoning Social inclination, we have started to send information to people on Social Sites as opposed to having them visiting the site. We syndicate all our listing on Twitter and facebook – so without leaving your social site, you are able to know what goodies we have in stock today. When we say “people centered”, we mean it.

Future Plans ?
They say “Whatever stops to grow, dies” – and we at Kmart understand this all to well - we are making every effort to stay relevant to our clientele.
We have already started campaigns to expand to the rest of East Africa, and have a large repertoire of listings already from Kenya and Tanzania – this has been received very well in these two Countries. We plan to reach Rwanda and Burundi, and hope to receive the same level of support in those markets too.
The disease that causes many In the hopes of reaching the moon to fail to see the flowers that blossom at their feet is one we eschew at Kmart. Instead, we favour  a regional strategy with local implementation focus.
We encourage you to visit the website and talk to us if you think there is anything we can do to make your experience more pleasant. Our