Despite the challenges of E-Commerce in Uganda, many start-ups and established companies are joining the pool in using the power of the internet to make E-Commerce in Uganda Possible. In a country where residential addresses are only in a few urban centres and the poor road network guarantees you traffic, not to mention the still developing payment systems, the likes of Home Duuka are braving all that to make online shopping possible.
In their own words, Home Duuka describes itself as;
“… an online shopping center that draws customers through computers and smart phones. Orders are placed and paid for online, and then the order is delivered to their address on the following day (unless otherwise specified).”
Home Duuka uses a pool of local vendors to bring to you a variety of products which you can order online on their website and the products are delivered to you in the comfort of your home or workplace. They use a network of delivery agents to efficiently get the products to the customers. “We are dedicated to the improvement of our community, and we are addressing head-on one of the greatest challenges we have here in Kampala: Traffic. Our goal is to reduce the volume of traffic through organized delivery.”
Our initial experience with the website showed limited categories of products or rather a difficulty in navigating and finding what you want. The search feature came in handy but product categorization and Navigation could be made better to enhance user experience. Other than that, the site is easy to use. An first time user has to sign up and create an account entering details like billing and shipping address, email and phone number among others.
You can shop by browsing through items and adding them to your shopping cart. After you done, You can update your cart by removing products you don’t want to take. After verifying your products, click “Place Order” to notify Home Duuk about your order. Home Duuka uses multiple payment methods including Paypal, MasterCard, Visa, Mobile Money or Cash on Delivery.
These are Brave steps in transforming the E commerce sector in Uganda and given the current Technological Climate and Forecast, this seems to be the future as is the case with South Africa and Nigeria among many other African Countries that are embracing E commerce.
