In this new age of the internet, one may not need a physical store to sell products. The online space has provided the perfect opportunity for individuals and startups to market their products and services. You can easily get consumers online without using the traditional forms of marketing that charge an arm and a leg just to showcase your product/service. But, how do you sell your products online in Kenya?
From the consumer side, the internet has completely changed
the way people shop for products. 63% of product purchase cycles start from the
internet.
For example, if Wanjiku wants to buy a car, she is likely to
start her research online on what car would perfectly suit her considering her
needs and budget. She will then proceed to look for options through online
searches and on social media. Wanjiku might not even need to visit several
dealerships before making the decision to purchase the car.
From her online research, she will shortlist the favorable
dealerships, engage them and probably visit 2 or 3 before making the purchase.
If you want to sell your products online in Kenya, you have
quite a number of options that you can choose from. It will largely depend on
what product you are trying to sell online. It could be a one-time sale of a
product you want to offload, or you are starting a business that will see you
continually sell products or services to your customers.
Let us explore some of the ways that you can sell your
products online.
5 Best Ways to Sell Products Online in Kenya
Below are some of the best options you can explore to get
your business started online in Kenya.
Build your Own Website
A website can be one of the best investments you can make for
your business. You get a lot of flexibility when you build your own
website. You can list a wide array of products, provide invaluable
information through useful content and use different channels to market the
products.
An eCommerce website can help with automation and management
of your business and the complete sales cycle can take place with minimal human
intervention. Customers would be able to place orders and make payments online.
With no middleman, a website will give you full control of
your business and you will be able to maximize on your profits.
You can quite easily get started with an eCommerce website
and within a short period of time, your online shop will be ready. The
advancement in technology has made it easy to set up ecommerce sites, therefore
you can exploit tools such as WordPress’ Woocommerce, Shopify, Ecwid or Squareup.
Alternatively, you can hire an expert to set up for you the
eCommerce website. It can somehow get challenging, especially when it comes to
the complete setup that may require a payment gateway to facilitate payments
through PayPal, Visa or Mastercard. For this, you may require an expert
developer to help you with the website.
eCommerce websites are however slightly pricey when you
compare to other types of websites. In Kenya, this could mean you set aside at
least Ksh 60,000 or more depending on the size of your online store. However,
it is a worthy investment to do and you will definitely get a return on your
investment if done right.
Online Marketplaces in Kenya
Building your own website sounds like an uphill task? Well,
your second option is to sell your products through already available
marketplaces in Kenya. Becoming a merchant in the various marketplaces online
in Kenya is rather simple, but varies from one website to another.
Some of the most popular marketplaces in Kenya include:
- Jumia
Online Shop
- Kiondr
- Sky
Garden
- Avechi
- Jiji
- Kilimall
- PigiaMe
- Mzizzi
- Vituzote
- Jamboshop
There are many more marketplaces in Kenya. Businesses and
individuals have a ton of options to choose from when it comes to marketplaces.
You may find more success with niche based marketplaces as opposed to
generalized online shops.
For example, if you are selling cars, you are better off
listing your car on cheki.com which is a niche based marketplace focusing on
cars rather than trying to sell your cars on Jiji, which is broad based.
Facebook Groups, Pages, and Marketplace
This is arguably the easiest option for many. All it takes
to get started is a smartphone and you are off. You have several options if you
want to sell your products through Facebook. Some of the options you can
explore include:
- Selling
through your personal profile
- Selling
through a Facebook Page
- Selling
through Facebook Groups
- Selling
through Facebook Marketplace
All you need to have is a good camera phone and take good
photos of your products. Alternatively, you can hire a professional photographer
and/or a graphic designer to have even better shots. Then, you can post the
image with a product description through any of the above avenues.
Selling your products through your personal profile can be
limiting as you are marketing to your small circle of friends. However,
depending on the type of product you are selling, you can get handsome results.
Building a page on the other hand, requires time and devotion. You may also
incur a cost of promoting your posts through Facebook Ads to reach a broader
audience.
One of the most effective ways of selling products in Kenya
at a smaller scale on Facebook is through the Facebook Groups. You can find
very targeted groups on Facebook that will help with your conversion. For
instance, if you are selling camping gear, you can join a group of camping
enthusiasts in Kenya to find your potential customers.
Additionally, Facebook Groups in Kenya have emerged for
individuals within a certain locality. These groups are very popular among
residents within the locality and members generate content that make these
groups very lively.
For instance, people living in Ruaka, a very small but
vibrant town in Nairobi/Kiambu, have a group named “RUAKA –
livin it n lovin it.” that has over 117,000 members on Facebook. Other
neighborhoods across the country have similar Facebook Groups.
“Wanderlust Diaries Ltd”, a group for travel lovers has over
386,000 members while “Nairobi Expats Marketplace” has over 60,000 members.
The “Buy and Sell” section of these groups showcases
products that members are selling and it is one of the best ways to sell your
products for free on Facebook.
The last, relatively new concept, is the Facebook
Marketplace which is a partnership between Facebook and Shopify among other
online eCommerce platforms. Well, not that new as the concept started back in
2016 but it is just recently that Facebook have been seen to fully roll it out
to support eCommerce on the platform. At the moment, the platform is free for
merchants.
Sell Products on Instagram
Much like Facebook, Instagram provides a great
avenue to market and sell your products online in Kenya. Instagram has
gained popularity over the years and is appealing to a younger generation in
Kenya that is more visual.
To maximize on the selling options on Instagram, you may
want to convert your normal Instagram page to a business profile. This will
help you access a number of options for selling and reporting that will be very
useful for your marketing and sales.
You can also use Instagram Stories to reach out to your
potential customers. It is very evident that posts on Stories get a wider reach
as compared to the normal posts both on Instagram and Facebook. You can better
your posts by using the right hashtags for a better organic reach for your
posts.
To make your campaigns even better, you can try running ads
on Instagram. Another cool feature you can exploit on Instagram is the
Instagram Shopping which lets you set up products on normal posts with names
and pricing details. The posts appear as normal Instagram Posts but users can
“tap to view products”. The products within the posts have tags that link users
to a product page with more details about the product.
There are also very many micro influencers that would be happy
to promote your product at a small fee or on commission basis. You can identify
the right influencers and partner with them to promote your products through
their Instagram profiles.
Edgar Obare, popularly known as the “Tea Master”, an
influencer on Instagram with over 388,000 followers offers space on his
Instagram Stories to advertise at a fee. His Instagram Stories are reported to
have 50k+ views and he only charges Ksh 1000 per post. You can find a number of
other influencers in Kenya that can help you promote your products on Instagram
at very reasonable rates.
Instagram is heavy on presentation and how you present your
products matters a lot.
Sell via WhatsApp and other Instant Messaging Apps
WhatsApp is another excellent communication tool that you
can use to promote your products or services to your potential customers.
WhatsApp Business allows you to create catalogs for your products or services.
You can use a variety of media and your creativity really comes into play if
you want to capture the attention of your audience through the WhatsApp Status
feature.
You can also use the broadcast feature on your WhatsApp to
reach out to a targeted audience. The App allows you to label your lists
accordingly and target these lists with different broadcasts. However, this
needs to be used in moderation and you have to inform your audience about
opting out.
Things to Consider when Selling Products Online in Kenya
Well, now that we know about the available options for
selling products online in Kenya, it is important that we go through the best
practices to help you maximize conversion. Below are some of the things that
you really need to take into consideration when engaging customers and
prospects online.
#1 Customer Service
Customer experience is very important online. How you handle
your customers from the consideration stage all through to the purchase stage
and beyond matters a lot. With the competition for the same audience online,
the customer experience could make the difference between you and your
competitor.
It has come out in research by Microsoft that 95% of
customers find customer service to be very important and that is the main
reason they would remain loyal to a particular brand. Make sure that everything
is well organized from your end, communicate promptly with your customers,
answer phone calls and go through every little detail that comes out in
conversation.
Personalize your customer service and always ask for
feedback and reviews so that you can constantly improve the experience for your
customers.
#2 Availability in Stock
Do not take orders you cannot fulfill. Ensure that you are able
to fulfill orders and communicate clearly if a product is out of stock. For the
popular products, make sure that you order in time so that you are able to
fulfill orders as they come in.
Use data that you acquire over time to constantly improve on
your sales forecasts. Be mindful of your cash reserves and use these insights
gathered to know what to order, when to order and the capacity of your orders.
#3 Delivery System
Delivery is one of the most challenging aspects when it
comes to selling products online. When starting out, you might be forced to
make deliveries on orders by yourself. However, handling logistics becomes
challenging with an increased number of orders.
You may be required to get a reliable courier service to
handle your delivery needs. Clearly communicate to the customer any additional
charges like shipping. You can also offer a pick up point in a central location
for customers to collect their orders.
There are many places in major towns in Kenya that you can
rent-a-shelf at reasonable prices to handle your orders. Renting a shelf can be
as low as Ksh 3000 per month in Nairobi.
If your orders are out of town, find a reliable courier and
offer customers different options that could work for them.
#4 Product Quality and Description
The product is the most important aspect of your business.
The quality of the product will determine a number of consequent outcomes. The
quality of the product is very important to the customer as they want to get
value for their money spent. Be careful not to over-promise in your product
description.
It is hard to meet every expectation of your client, but it
is in the interest of your business to try as much as possible. Product quality
may determine why the customer will shun your competitor. Customers will always
provide positive or negative feedback when it comes to product quality and this
can affect your business reputation either negatively or positively.
Selling good quality products at reasonable pricing will
help grow your business and improve your customer loyalty. These customers will
in turn refer their friends and write positive reviews about your products
online.
#5 Your Safety and Security
While you are trying to move your products through the
different avenues, it is important to consider your safety and security. You
may want to vet the delivery addresses with a keen interest in your own
security. Some areas are unsafe and people may place orders with an interest to
steal or harm the delivery persons.
Especially for high value goods such as smartphones and
other small electronics, you need to be extra careful. For areas that are
unsafe, you could respectfully request the customer to pick the products from
your pickup location or in a central and populated location.
For out of town orders, you could request the client to pay
for the product fully before dispatch.
Conclusion: Selling Products Online
Whether it is one product you want to offload, or it is a
business you are slowly building online, the internet offers the perfect
platform to sell products online. Some avenues may be challenging to explore,
but the fruits could be tenfold.
Organize your products, research the market, identify a
strategy and go all out with your online sales. It can be a bit tedious when
starting out, but it gets easier as the orders come in.
Kenyans are embracing technology and 99.9% of Kenyans between the ages of 16-64 years own mobile phones. Of these mobile phones, 99.7% are smartphones. This offers a great opportunity for ecommerce in Kenya. It has made it easier for individuals and small businesses to sell products online in Kenya.