Buy Now, Pay Later products have been gaining popularity in Kenya and Africa over the last few years. E-Commerce platform, Jumia, has not had such a solution but that may change very soon. According to TechPoint, Jumia is working on this solution that could launch in Egypt soon. The company has already signed deals with 10 financial institutions in Egypt. The financial institutions will provide the credit to complete these transactions.
Jumia launching a BNPL solution makes sense as the company already has the buyers and sellers on its platform. Having an option for buyers to pay for products at a later date can help increase sales on the platform. Jumia needs these sales as the company has not had a good run lately. With so much competition from retailers, Jumia isn’t as popular as it was a few years back.
Jumia is also trying to increase the use of JumiaPay in the markets it is available in. The company revealed that half of its pay on delivery transactions in Kenya during Q2 of 2023 were completed using JumiaPay.
It is still not clear when the Jumia BNPL solution will be rolled out or how exactly it will work. I do expect to see a pilot run before the end of the year.
If successful in Egypt, Jumia will most likely launch this solution in other markets including Kenya. The Kenyan BNPL market is dominated by Lipa Later even as competitors spring up.. We recently saw the launch of Faraja that came up as a result of a partnership between Safaricom and EDOMx. Through Faraja, customers can make purchases ranging from Ksh 20 to Ksh 100,000 at Zero interest. Customers then have 30 days to complete payment.