The renewed partnership between Jumia and Postal Services could see the revitalization of Posta, whose fortunes have dwindled over the years but with its rich infrastructure across the country, offers unparalleled logistics support to companies like Jumia that want to increase deliveries outside the major cities.
E-commerce platforms including Amazon use postal services and other existing logistical services like FedEx to deliver goods even as they continue to build their in-house network.
For Jumia that often has offers including Jumia Anniversary, Black Friday which lasts for weeks and mobile week among others, an efficient logistical system holds key to increasing penetration in the country.
The retail sector’s penetration is estimated to be at 30 per cent, while a joint report by the Communications Authority of Kenya and the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics found that more firms, about 27 per cent sold their products online.
The renewed partnership will increase pick up points 150, complementing the already existing 200 spread across major towns in Kenya.
A move to fully utilize postal services will be further boosted once the sector regulator Communications Authority of Kenya fully rolls out a national addressing system. It will involve the numbering of streets, buildings and homes to boost the local e-commerce industry by easing door-to-door delivery.
The deal comes days after the e-commerce platform launched Jumia Mall, which will see customers now able to order for goods and be delivered through the postal services.
The mall service promises same-day delivery of products, but depending with the location, the partnership will seek to best realize customer experience at least days possible.
Jumia’s partnership with Posta comes months after the previous one inked in 2015 ended abruptly.
Jumia is banking on these locations to enable same-day delivery of items (Jumia Express) to shoppers and in turn grow sales.
Last year, the Postal Corporation of Kenya was looking to clinch a deal with Amazon to become their logistics partner in Kenya but this has yet to come to fruition.
