How to Sell on Jumia Kenya in 2024: Step-by-Step Guide

Jumia Kenya is a lucrative marketplace for anyone interested in selling products in Kenya. Learning how to sell on Jumia Kenya could be ideal for you because it offers you the freedom to add another income stream to your life and secures your future. Selling here entails a low initial investment, and you also reach millions of buyers in Kenya. If you want to know more about how Jumia Kenya works, how to sell here, and everything in between, you have come to the right place.

Why You Should Sell on Jumia Kenya

As a Jumia.co.ke seller, your products are available 24×7 to millions of customers. More than 50,000 businesses, big and small, sell on Jumia.co.ke today. Selling on Jumia.co.ke brings a host of benefits for you.

• Jumia Kenya is the biggest marketplace in Kenya

Jumia boasts of having over 4 million customers in Kenya. There are additional 215,000 potential customers visiting this marketplace every month. With such a vast customer base, you can’t ignore it and sell your products elsewhere. Furthermore, such a huge customer base is impossible to find in brick-and-mortar stores.

As more and more people continue embracing technology by the day, the number is expected to escalate. Hence there has never been a better time to start selling on Jumia Kenya than now.

• Additional Stream of Revenue

You cannot underscore the benefits of having multiple incomes. Finances drawing in from all angles help you get closer to your financial goals. You use your other talents besides what you are employed to do, giving you financial stability.

In Kenya, you could be employed full-time, but as a wise person, you can have a side hassle, selling on Jumia and earning extra income. With time, you will notice that it may not be even too demanding as your 9 to 5 pm job and the proceeds are handsome too.

• Trusted Brand

Individuals and well-established retailers can benefit from selling on Jumia. Jumia’s traffic is more significant than any other local retailer. Hence when your brand sells on Jumia, you will reach more customers and build your brand because you are trading on a trusted brand. Jumia is equal to or more than the biggest mall you find in Kenya.

• Many Kenyans Have an Account

With over 4 million users in Kenya alone, you have great potential to sell your products daily. As a Jumia user, you first must create an account to gain access to the ecommerce shop’s complete services.

• Minimal Fee

Unlike competitor marketplaces in Kenya that charge high fees for selling on their platform, the Jumia fee is minimal. Opening an account is free, and trading is free too. As of 2021, the marketplace used to charge only 4% off your sales which is way too little compared to other ecommerce websites.

Follow these steps to start selling on Jumia:

1. Find What to Sell on Jumia Kenya

You can sell on Jumia Kenya a wide range of products. The products, however, are grouped into various categories, as you can see below:

• Electronics- TVs, sound system, projectors, cameras, etc
• Phones and tablets – tablets, mobile phones, accessories, etc
• Computing – laptops, scanners, printers, networking services, software, etc
• Health and beauty – makeups, hair care fragrances, etc
• Home and office – beddings, cookware, furniture, appliances, etc
• Grocery – cooking, laundry, toiletries, beverages, etc
• Fashion – jewelry, wearables, watches, etc
• Baby products – toys, apparel diapering, etc
• Automobile – car and motorcycle accessories, safety equipment, etc
• Sporting goods – cycling, sports and fitness, camping, etc
• Gaming – Play station, video games, etc
• Other categories – Livestock, gardening, music, movies, etc

Related: 251+ Profitable Products To Sell Online in Kenya

Factors to Consider when choosing a product to sell on Jumia

• Easy To Import: At the end of the day, what you are looking for is profits from your sales. Therefore if you can import products to sell on Jumia for cheap, sell and make lucrative profits, you win. Before you decide whether or not you can sell any product, do your homework to find a pocket-friendly company for importation that will guarantee meaningful profits even after you deduct their cut.If you need help in learning how to Import from the comfort of your home without paying for a flight ticket or even worrying about KRA tax stuff, I wrote a 60-page book that explains it all in detail
  
• Good Price Point: The pricing of a commodity determines the number of customers that buy a product from an outlet. Regarding price points, you have to determine the right price for your products that will influence buyers to purchase them from you and not from other vendors that sell on Jumia or brick-and-mortar stores. It should not be too low to raise eyebrows as to the authenticity of your product or too high for buyers to afford. It should cut across all these factors.
• Profitable: People sell on Jumia in Kenya to make profits selling to a larger audience. Smaller profits from a vast number of buyers are better than just a one-time profit from a single sale. Profitability can also depend on the products you are selling, competition among sellers selling the same commodity, and the uniqueness of the product. Merchants who sell in Jumia, unique products earn more profits than those who don’t
• Low Competition: Jumia has more buyers than merchants. Even so, there could be considerable competition among sellers. Hence you must stand out. Research the Jumia marketplace to find your niche. Some niches have more competition than others. It would be profitable and less of a hassle when you choose one with low competition.
  On the other hand, choosing to sell on Jumia is the right choice because of its big name in the Kenyan ecommerce market. Selling here is hands-free because it experiences less, if any, competition from the competitors of its league.
• Unique: How unique are the products you sell in Jumia Kenya? Unique products sell by themselves more than ordinary products. These do not experience a stiff competition
• Bestsellers list: Are you selling commodities listed on Jumia’s bestsellers list? These are the top 100 most sought-after and bought products on an ecommerce shop. This list helps conduct product research and narrow down to a handful of products you want to sell on Jumia Kenya. It is better to deal with bestseller products rather than selling on Jumia blindly.

2. Create a Brand for Your Product

If you want Jumia customers to remember your product, you need to get all of your touchpoints right—from business name and logo to trademark and product packaging. Customers will see you have something superior—more customers = more money.

• Hire a logo designer – A professional logo designer will make a logo that grabs people’s attention, one that makes a great first impression, is memorable, and separates you from standard sellers. Work with a professional logo designer to create a logo that fosters brand loyalty.
• Packaging design – Design specific and recognizable packaging that enhances brand loyalty and customer retention. Customers consistently seek out the familiar. If you take your time and resources to make what you sell on Jumia Kenya uniform and consistent, customers will thank you by buying more and frequently.

3. Find Your Product Supplier

Now that you have already chosen a product or a list of products to sell on Jumia Kenya, now comes the time to look for a genuine supplier of your products. If you are looking for overseas suppliers, the right place to find them online is alibaba.com.

In case you do not know how to find a supplier from this marketplace, sticking by the following guide will ensure you find the authentic supplier to work with.

• Step 1: Visit alibaba.com, and while there, create a free Alibaba account and search for suppliers using a set of keywords or product keywords.
  

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• Step 2: Whenever you are searching for anything online, be wary of scammers. Do not just get into deals blindly. Therefore, first things first, filter the search results on this website in order to get reputable and honest suppliers. It would be best if you also looked for verified suppliers. 

Alibaba.com has a verification program called Trade Assurance. The program seeks to establish trust between buyers and suppliers. This program covers you in the event that your products are not shipped on time or do not meet quality standards.

Always look for verified suppliers to be on the safe side despite an offer non verified suppliers are giving you. You will notice that a supplier is verified when you look at their profiles.

When you look at their profiles, you will see that their operations have undergone assessment and are verified. Third-party institutions are responsible for carrying out these assessments and verification, so you can rest assured there is no conflict of interest.

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• Step 3: Once you have shortlisted a handful of suppliers, you can now go ahead and contact each. Use the contact information provided on Alibaba to contact them, or if you are not in a hurry, you can contact them through email. In the email or call, specify the kind of product you are searching for and also mention an estimate of the volume you need.

Include also the requested photos of the product as well as, if possible, their factory. It is imperative to inquire about the price of the product per unit and the production time.

Don’t forget to find out about the suppliers’ Minimum Order Quantity ( MOQ) and their payment terms. Finally, ask whether it is possible to order a sample and how much the shipping cost will be.

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•  Step 4: Go with a supplier who agrees to send a sample. A sample is significant because it will be used for inspection and enable you to check the products before you can order in bulk. Once you have completed the assessment and are comfortable that the product meets the standards set by Jumia Kenya, you can go ahead and place your order.
  This way, you can now invest a large amount of money. It is right to ask for samples from a click of your prospective suppliers whom you have vetted, preferably 3 or 4. This will allow you to compare quality, price, shipping times, and, most importantly, communication.

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• Step 5: Negotiate the products’ actual price, payment terms, and possible discounts with your suppliers. The negotiation strategy should be win-win. Remember, being your first time trying out this business, all you are aiming for is to find a trustworthy supplier with whom you can do business and build a long-lasting business relationship.
  

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If you need help in finding a legit supplier on Alibaba, I wrote a 60-page book that explains it all in detail

4. Send Your Product to Jumia Warehouse

Jumia recommends that before you can begin selling commodities on the platform, you must first send your merchandise to the Jumia warehouse.

5. Ensure Your Store Meets Jumia Requirements

In order to sell on Jumia Kenya, you first must provide your store’s

• Email address
• Phone number,
• and the details of your store, like the legal name, address, etc.
• Bank account details must also be provided.

You must ensure that you are selling genuine and legal products.

6. Setup a seller account on Jumia Kenya

Use these steps when setting up a seller’s Jumia Kenya account and start selling immediately.

• Sign up on the platform –The following information is required to complete your Jumia seller account in Kenya.
• Your company details – Your name, company name, phone number, address, city zip code, and email address. You are also required to suggest a suitable name for your store garden, which will be your shop’s name on Jumia’s platform.You will be asked whether you can deliver your products to Nairobi. You must respond to this and also state whether your business is run by an individual if it is run by a legally recognized corporation. Jumia Kenya will ask you to submit your business registration number for a registered company.
• Product information – In this, you are required to choose your product category. For example, if you deal with computers and accessories, your category will fall on computers and accessories. Next, you will be asked if you already sell products on the Jumia platform or indicate if you sell on other websites, after which you will be asked to accept the terms and conditions. When you are through reading the terms and conditions, you can decide whether or not to conform to them. After that, you can go ahead and register as a vendor.

Your Jumia vendor account will then be activated after this process. The Jumia seller center will send you an email notifying you that your account is activated.

7. Take Professional Product Photos

You need to have professional product photos as these are more appealing to customers and will grab their attention and get them to buy your products.

Do the following to get professional photos.

• Use a tripod to take consistent photos
• Have sufficient lighting
• Adjust your camera’s white balance
• Take high-definition photographs
• Edit your photographs

8. List Your Product on Jumia Kenya

For your products to be available for customers to view and purchase on Jumia Kenya, you must list them on your seller center account. There are several ways to do this, based on their category and the number of products you want to sell in Jumia, Kenya.

You can list products one by one, sell your feature, do massive creation using bulk templates, or seek help on how to list them from Jumia’s content team. You must comply with Jumia product creation on the following for easy acceptance.

• Images : Besides only having high-definition product images, their specifications must be 680×850 pixels. The minimum resolution must be 500×500 pixels. If you want, you can have as large as 2000×2000 pixels if you may use the Jumia image tool to crop to. For better results, submit photos of various angles of the product. Vendors that do not have pictures of their product can go online and search for product images with unique model numbers.
• Title: Just fill in the product name without including the brand name in the field. You only feel the brand of the product only when the product contains no indication of brand use “Generic/Fashion.” If it has a brand, then indicate it.
• Description: Write a product description text for each product you list. The description should contain unique selling points that prompt the buyer to buy it. It should include only the information that relates to the product and how to use it. Avoid contradicting information everywhere, starting from the name, product attributes, and highlights, and also there should be no seller’s contact details.

9. Promote Your Product on Jumia Kenya

There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to the best method to promote your products when you sell on Jumia Kenya. For better results, it is advisable that you use as many approaches to promote them and sell more. Take a look at some of the methods you can try.

• Email Marketing: Sell your Jumia products to your customers directly via email. Sell weekly and monthly newsletters to your subscribers and promote your products. In the body of your newsletter, include links to various products of interest. Ensure you offer something to get email addresses.
• Write a Blog: As an affiliate marketer, you must have a blog. In your blog, write articles that relate to the products you are selling. Address the pain points your customers may be going through and how your products can help solve the product.
• Facebook Ads: For the longest time, Facebook ads have proved to be a great way to promote the products you sell on Jumia and any marketplace. You may incur some cost running facebook ads, especially learning how to set up effective Facebook ads.
• Jumia Advertisement: This is another paid method of promoting the products and services you sell on Jumia Kenya. Jumia advertisement Kenya converts like crazy if you choose this method. Jumia will feature your products every time a buyer searches for products that relate to yours.

10. Get as Many 5-Star Reviews on Jumia

Jumia is a marketplace selling what other ecommerce shops locally, regionally, and internationally. Customers choose to shop from any marketplace they like. Trust is paramount for the growth of any ecommerce shop in Kenya. Jumia, like other ecommerce shops, shows buyers the seller’s score in terms of stars.

• A 5-star means customers trust the quality of your products that are available when needed, and any other aspect surrounding your products such as warranty, etc.
• A 1-start, on the other hand, is the opposite. In a nutshell, a seller score demonstrates how reliable someone who sells on Jumia Kenya is.

The objective of your seller score is to grow your business by attracting clients and helping build a strong brand. It also allows customers to choose the right and reliable vendor.

Your seller score is found on the Seller Center homepage. It is very crucial to your buyers as they value it before committing to buy products from you. To be a successful seller on this platform, you must strive to score 5. Bestsellers on Jumia have this score.

• On the other hand, the Cancellation rate shows the reliability of your Jumia store. The cancellation rate is the percentage of orders you have canceled that have been canceled by the system due to late fulfillment over the last 28 days against the number of all types of shipments, such as Jumia Express, and drop-shipping.
• Return rate also can influence your rating. This is the percentage of items customers have returned over the past 28 days, citing vendor fault for the return. This number against the number of delivered products over the same period gives the return rate.
• There also is the average customer rating. The average stars have been rated and reviewed by buyers for confirmed purchases over the past 28 days on your seller profile on Jumia Kenya.

To be a successful seller here, you should strive to get only positive reviews from the onset. Strive to go the extra mile when selling products to your customers on Jumia. For example, issue a refund as fast as possible if a buyer is upset with your product.

Also, if you get a negative review, communicate with unhappy customers to sort the issue as fast as possible to see the negative review removed. If you have to offer a replacement, do so quickly and always provide your customers with top-notch service at all times to keep them happy over-delivering changes to customer reviews.

Is Selling on Jumia Kenya Profitable?

It is worth noting that Jumia Kenya is the biggest ecommerce shop in Kenya. The ecommerce shop has made it possible and easy for people to sell products through the online store. Jumia Kenya has over 4 million online buyers. They shop online anytime and have their orders delivered right to their doorsteps.

After COVID-19 hit Kenya in 2020, online shopping grew tremendously months later. Today, nearly everyone with a smartphone and internet has tried shopping for something online. At the same time, most Kenyans prefer purchasing products online.

Jumia Kenya is a trusted online retailer, so products perform well when sold on the platform. Jumia Kenya states that up to 40% of their sellers make 50,000 per month in profits which is way better than if they were selling on their ecommerce websites.

How Can You Increase Your Sales When Selling On Jumia?

Try out the following tips to increase sales when selling products on Jumia Kenya:

• Be competitive

Being competitive while you sell on Jumia Kenya is inevitable because you will be dealing with a couple more sellers selling the same commodities as yours. Only your price is what might differentiate you from them.

Always sell commodities with enough margins to give profit while still maintaining a competitive edge. At some point, you may all be selling the same commodity at a price; therefore, it will depend on the quality of services you are offering at the end of the day, which would make a customer come back for more.

• Get reviews and customer feedback

Let your customers review what you sell on Jumia Kenya is imperative. On your end, ensure you receive their feedback, including the negative feedback. You see, customers’ feedback are essential for a number of reasons.

For instance, they make you deeply understand your shoppers and allow you to make customer-centric decisions. Read and act on these reviews because, at the end of the day, they boost cross-functional collaborations and improve products and services.

Customer feedback also helps build customer trust and loyalty, improving client satisfaction and retention. If you want to attract the right customers, take your customer reviews and feedback seriously.

• Promote Your Products Online

Promoting your products on every social media platform is vital to ensure more people can find what you sell on Jumia Kenya. Social media platforms allow for easy and effective brand building. It puts your brand in front of people faster and more efficiently than traditional media. Your audience will start looking at your brand even when not thinking.

Other benefits of promoting your Jumia store on social media include engaging your audience, improving your brand, promoting customer service, and it impacts sales and conversion rates. Embrace social media in promoting the products you sell on Jumia Kenya. It helps you become a thought leader, boosts your web traffic, increases your serps, and allows you to better study the competition.

How Much Does It Cost to Sell In Jumia, Kenya?

Registration on the platform is free for all sellers. Nonetheless, you should be charged for every sale you make based on the delivery method chosen as well as the category of the product.

If you are beginning a start-up business in Jumia, you may want to consider the following costs;

• Product Research: Free

Though product research at Jumia is free, you need to have tips on how to do it. Product research is how a seller validates a product idea and determines its success. Product research is part of the product development process. It helps anyone who wants to sell on Jumia Kenya identify buyer needs and whether your product can address their pain points. For a better return on interest, this practice is a must.

It answers questions like if the product will be a success in the Jumia marketplace or not. You will investigate if there are other products like yours in the market, and the research will help you find the best way to create and sell your products. You need to perform regular product research to stay atop the competition on this platform, and it also helps develop innovative and high-value products. It enables you to know what is trending and the future of the trend.

• Product Samples: @Ksh 2,500 – Ksh 3,000

When you launch a product, offering your potential customers freebies is advisable. This is what’s called product sampling. Product sampling is a technique that works wonders in the world of fast-moving consumer products like food and drinks.

In essence, you get a version of your products in the customers’ hands to achieve a certain goal. Product sampling can help you spread the word about your products to the world, promote a new product or test the popularity of various options.

You can carry out product sampling in stores, supermarkets, or even as part of a collaboration with other brands. Today, most brands distribute samples digitally on their websites. You do not want to invest heavily in products that will not be accepted to sell on Jumia Kenya.

Therefore, product sampling is essential to make sure that your products are of high quality before you can do bulk orders and list them for sale on the platform. Depending on the product you want to sell, this process would cost anything from 2500 to 3000 KSH

• Domain Name: @Ksh 3,480

Your business domain name is your unique identity. If you are just venturing into online business as a brand or individual, you should invest in a domain name, website, and email for your business. These will give your brand a more professional look and help you protect your copyright and trademarks, increase brand awareness and search engine positioning, and build credibility. We recommend you buy a domain name from Creative Kigen Cloud.

Not many people who want to sell on Jumia Kenya know a lot about hosting. Therefore, we will explain to them. Hosting, sometimes referred to as web hosting, website hosting, or simply web hosting, entails housing, serving, and maintaining your website files.

A host is much more important than the computer space provided for your website files as it is much faster than your computer. Several host services offer their connection services on T-carrier system lines. It would be too expensive if you were an individual business looking to host your website files. This is why a hosting service like Creative Kigen Cloud  is recommended enabling many companies to share the cost of a fast internet connection for serving the files.

• Logo Design: @Ksh 6,500

A business logo is not one of those things you want to do yourself. A logo for your account, specifically if you want to sell on Jumia Kenya, should be professional to send the right message to customers. Customers everywhere will view you based on your store’s appearance, including your logo.

If your logo looks cheap and of poor quality, it will send an impression to your customers that your products are equally affordable and of poor quality. Therefore, you need to work with a professional designer as a professional is highly dedicated to your branding success and will assure you of a professional outlook.

If you are working with a professional logo designer for your Jumia store, they will charge you an average of KSH 6,500.

These professional logo designers take everything you tell them about your business store and logo. They will consider your target consumers’ values and turn them into something stunning. In most cases, a professional logo designer exceeds your expectations and overdeliver your store logo.

• Business Registration: @Ksh 950

It is crucial to make your business formalized in Kenya. A formalized business can benefit from certain corporate and government protection. It would cost you at least 950 shillings to register your business name in Kenya.

All you need is the proposed business name and business objectives, the directors’ names, and their contact details, such as phone numbers and emails. These are for accountability and transparency purposes. KRA requires these details to be included in the application for registration.

Proof of identity, whether valid or unexpired, for the directors, must be provided. You will need a Kenyan identity card for this. Along with this should be your passport photograph for each of the directors, if any, and a KRA pin.

Besides these, all members must sign and submit the form during registration CR-1. This is the company registration form. Form CR-2 is the memorandum of the company with share capital, and CR-8 is the notice of registered address form. Finally, a statement of nominal by all directors is required.

• Product Photos: @Ksh 800 each

As suggested earlier, you do not have to skim on getting product photos. You need professional images that will see your products stand out from the rest. Invest in professional product photos, as they are responsible for driving traffic to your products on Jumia.

They can convert visitors into customers. Product photography is an essential element of any ecommerce shop, which can make or break a sale. Your product photos are among the first things your customers will see each time they log into their Jumia accounts. A professional will charge you at least KSH 800 to produce high-quality photos for your products.

• Inventory: @Ksh 10,000

After you are through with the registration process and have done everything, including product research, it is time to start with your very first products. It is always essential to start with a few products to see how it fares and learn the ropes. With these few products, you will realize when you do one great turn that needs another even better than the first one.

Also, with your first few products, you will know where you are going wrong so that you do not repeat the same mistake with your second, third, and all subsequent sales. Most successful sellers who sell on Jumia Kenya started small and rose gradually. Even with a bigger budget, it is always advisable to start with an inventory of about 10,000. Always start with 10 to 20 units of each product and learn.

• Importing: Ksh 6,000

Find a pocket-friendly mode of importation. There are various modes of importation. Some people prefer flight, which is more expensive but fast.

The size of the shipment also may affect the cost of importation. The average cost for importing products from China to sell in Jumia, Kenya, is approximately KSH. 6000.

How Much Money Do Jumia Sellers Make?

There are no defined limits on how much money you can make as a vendor selling stuff on Jumia Kenya. Unlike traditional formal employment, where employees’ salaries are capped, and only marginal pay increases are made, this is not the case with a vendor who sells on Jumia Kenya.

When merchants sell on Jumia Kenya, they are building their own brands and income stream that only they can control.

This means that you can make zero to unlimited earnings when selling products on Jumia. As pointed out earlier, some merchants make at least KSH 50,000 every month selling on this platform.

You can make much more if you do what it takes to achieve and maintain a five-star rating. Also, making more on this platform depends on the effective marketing and product promotion techniques you utilize. Use the strategies well, and you shall be all smiles to the bank.

Final thoughts on how to sell on Jumia Kenya

Selling on Jumia Kenya is this easy. To this point, we are sure you have understood the process of selling on this marketplace, so why won’t you go ahead and start today?

The steps involved are “easy peasy,” just sign up as a seller on the Jumia website’s seller center, enroll in Jumia university, start to sell on Jumia, fulfill your buyer’s orders, and get paid.