Thousands of anxious customers were already logged into the Jumia Kenya website minutes before the second edition of Black Friday kicked off on Friday 27th midnight.
Two hours later, Jumia would make history with an all-time sales record never achieved before in the company’s history hitting a momentous 12 times its normal traffic at the end of the sale with a noticeable shift in mobile traffic at 55% up from 37% in the previous year’s black Friday while desktop traffic took a bow at 45%.
Parinaz Firozi MD, Jumia Kenya said, “Our Black Friday sales went up by 1000% which is 10 times over the same last year beating our all-time sales record 6 times. We are delighted to celebrate yet another record, the support by thousands of our loyal customers is humbling beyond words and the efforts put in by retailers selling on our online marketplace in providing strong, affordable and quality products has been and will always be rewarded.”
Even more impressive, Jumia mobile applications saw 16,000 downloads on the material day with Android accounting for 90% downloads. Smartphones were the most preferred accounting for 25% of the total categories on sale. Infinix topped the list of most preferred brands followed by footwear manufacturer and retailer Bata, while phone brand Innjoo came in third.
Traffic to site soared minutes before the limited flash sales deals were released every two hours as shoppers jostled to get the best deals in a flash with most of the categories selling out within 20 seconds. Notably, 90% of all traffic and orders came from urban areas led by Nairobi, Mombasa and Nakuru. Some of the customers who missed out on the deals took to the company’s social media to air their feedback.
“We value all the feedback we received from our customers regarding the flash sales. It’s important to note that flash sales are a time limited, quantity offer of high discount. The system is a win-win for the customers. The faster you spot a deal, buy it and complete the buying process the lucky you are.”- Firozi
While Jumia’s customer service worked overtime to answer over 9,000 calls and respond to over 3200 queries on email and social media, Jumia doubled its delivery logistics team making the first Black Friday delivery in a rousing 80 minutes! Most of the company’s pick-up points that include Posta Kenya, Aramex and G4S offices in various parts of the companies have remained at peak operations as a result.
Jumia Kenya’s Black Friday success is testament enough that e-commerce adoption in Kenya is moving at a breakneck speed amidst the challenges of low internet penetration in remote areas and high costs of data bundles among others, without a doubt, embracing the trend remains an inclusive agenda for all brands and retailers seeking to realize more profits and reach a wider market.
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Robinson Murage
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About the author
How to prepare for Black Friday- Jumia KenyaNovember 24, 2015
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