How To Buy And Sell On Zambia’s eMarket, Kaymu

15/04/201520/05/2015 TechTrends

Kaymu, Zambia’s biggest online marketplace for buying and selling so far, has been around for the past year and is slowly growing, for a country that still has fears about online trade. Kaymu is serving as an online marketplace for buyers and sellers in the country and the number one question about it is from a lot of people is ‘how exactly does it work’? So here goes:

To Buy : A customer has to simply sign up to order any item from the categories on the Kaymu website has to offer, from fashion to electronics to home decor. Sign up is free here and the contact and residential details customers provide are used to make confirmations of orders and also act as delivery addresses.

Signing up allows buyers have a purchase log where they can view all previous and current orders and their status. Customers have a choice of cash on delivery (CoD) or MTN Mobile Money payments for their purchases, putting their orders at their fingertips, literally. Buying from one’s couch just got a whole lot easier to do.

To Sell : At no cost, a seller with an item can upload its pictures to the Kaymu marketplace for sale online using the guidelines that Kaymu provides here. These items have to be very descriptive and with clear images for the customer to know exactly what they are about to spend their money on, reducing the chances of a returned purchase from the buyer to the seller. To start selling create product post can be created here.

Selling on Kaymu gives merchants an opportunity to increase their target market, thereby increasing their profits. The delivery service that Kaymu uses also increases the speed at which these items reach the buyer so the seller can reap his rewards in a shorter time.

We agree this website has a lot to offer to traders who want to cut costs such as rentals. Think about it, if you have all your stock even in your bedroom, all you have to do is upload the pictures to the site, have a buyer look at it from there and possibly buy, and Kaymu has a delivery service so you definitely know that your item will get to the buyer if available.

For the buyer, this gives them more time to do other things that walk into shops, make queues, or sort out transportation for the goods they can easily order on the site.. delivered to their residences.

There are, however, a few concerns, as to why there is still no cart as we mentioned in an earlier article, and why there aren’t more payment plans.

Kaymu Zambia’s Country Manager, Mr John Paul Makilya said “Kaymu’s ability to implement credit/debit card prepayment options is dependent on market size. At present, we are working with partners to determine what the most appropriate payment options are for Zambian consumers. Regarding the cart, we’re building a new user-friendly checkout system that will be rolled out in the coming months.”

The current payment plans are still convenient anyway, being cash on delivery (CoD) and MTN’s Mobile Money, as shown below: