OLX has launched a revamped mobile application that is more secure, loads faster and is user friendly to ensure better user experience. The platform focuses on mobile only as OLX taps into the reality of the African market , a mobile internet continent.
OLX App makes the platform safer for users in numerous ways by ensuring all photos are watermarked and an already existing photo cannot be re-used by anyone else claiming to sell a similar product.
The migration to a new platform is already live in Tanzania, Uganda and Ghana which have reported success during the transition to the new app dubbed Project Serengeti.
OLX In-app Chat is among the exciting features found in the new app and allows buyers and sellers to interact within the web and App via instant chat messaging and direct chat with other users who are logged in online.
“This allows a buyer to chat with the seller in real time if he is also online. If the seller is offline there is an SMS option whereby the app itself will take you to your messaging app to compose a new message, and the good news is that the number is already inserted, so no need to write it down”,
said, said OLX Country Manager, Peter Ndiang’ui.
The Report button is also visible when contacting a seller to enable buyers report any suspicious trends portrayed by a seller.
“For instance if a buyer requests for money before viewing an item then the buyer can use the Report button to report a suspicious seller”,
said Peter Ndiang’ui and further added that,
“The safety tips in the site will always remind users to transact safely. This, we believe will go a long way in ensuring OLX users are safe and informed on our platform”.
Users of online trading platform OLX will have to delete their current OLX apps and install a new version of the app as the company takes the first steps toward a mobile-only future.
OLX is available in more than 100 countries worldwide and 50 languages. This translates to millions of people across the globe using OLX to buy and sell goods, find a job or rent a house every day.
Data from the Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK) for the period April to June 2015 indicates that there are about 19.9 million internet users in Kenya, a majority of them, over 80 percent using their mobile phones to access the internet.
