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| picture courtesy of econet website |
Econet wireless will be launching its first foray into e-commerce today with the
introduction of – you guessed it – EcoShopper.
It’s not your typical e-commerce. Or let me say it’s not your fully fledged
e-commerce operation but there are some key things that make it interesting.
1. They are starting with basic commodities, probably
because they are fast moving and therefore worth doing for a company their
size. Econet would only get into this if its going to have some visible
impact in the medium term, otherwise they would wait. The groceries are sold in
baskets starting with a $20 one, $30, $60.
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| picture courtesy of econet website |
2. They are partnering a manufacturer – National Foods.
They are looking to disrupt the Supermarket model. Econet are not the
first to try commerce on basic commodities in Zimbabwe. The others before
it have faced the problem of their prices being higher than the
supermarkets’ because, well, they are supplied by the supermarkets. Econet’s
strategy is to take the supermarket out of the chain and get direct from the
manufacturer. That way, the price may be better than the supermarkets. Those
who shop , please compare and let us know in the comments.
3. Econet won’t deliver. Yet!
The customers of EcoShopper will be required to collect their groceries from a National Foods pickup point. I hope pickup is 24 hours otherwise it’s attractiveness compared to regular shopping starts to get questionable.
The customers of EcoShopper will be required to collect their groceries from a National Foods pickup point. I hope pickup is 24 hours otherwise it’s attractiveness compared to regular shopping starts to get questionable.
On payment, Econet is requiring
the use of its mobile payment platform, EcoCash. This is ofcourse
brilliant but if Econet plans to make this big they’ll have to open it up
to everyone, Mastercard, Textacash, Telecash, Onewallet.
What impresses me is that Econet put
some thought into this and that they were bold to want to change the
way things work. Going via the supermarkets has made the e-commerce business
unviable – they are cutting out that fat.
Delivery logistics are a cost nightmare that
threatens feasibility – they are cutting it out for now and trying
without it. Buying separate units wouldn’t work so they are bundling the
groceries and doing it anyway.
The danger with the basketing
ofcourse is that the customer won’t want some of things in that bundle
and, in these hard times, will feel they are paying for stuff they don’t need.
Econet will be
launching EcoShopper later today, and we hope some of these issues
are already addressed.
In the e-commerce business, Econet are trailing other operators
like MTN on the continent who have indicated this is a key growth
area for them.
For more info visit www.techzim.co.zw
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