Selling on Jumia or Konga: which one is the best

TOBI OLABOYEDE

If you're here, you may be an existing vendor of either Jumia or Konga or both, or you're just an enthusiast looking to know what you stand to gain or lose doing business on these platforms.

With the rise in online marketplace business in Nigeria, Jumia and Konga may offer prospective seller a competitive platform and possibly worthwhile returns of expectations. But then, not without bits of challenges in their terms of service and doing business.

Now, here's the drift. We put both platforms head to head for you as a seller to know more, or be able to compare and contrast.

JUMIA

Registration

Free! Does not require a registration fee

Maintenance

Charges hosting fee at interval basis

Order fulfilment

Thorough quality check/control. You would be required to present your order for inspection before fulfilment. Your item may either be accepted after passing a quality check or rejected if failed.

Packaging

Packaging guidelines is rigorous, plus you spend more (on packaging your orders). Depending on the type and size of order involved, there's a variation for packaging materials and process.

Delivery

Much slower, not easy to track.
Jumia usually delivers between 3 to 7 working days after order fulfilment. On tracking, you have to log in to seller center>Orders>Shipped and click on a particular order to track.

Commission and fees

Competitive commission but other fees apply. Jumia charges between 5 and 15% commission depending on the product category. But then, they charge shipping fee between ₦600-₦900 to the seller for each delivered order. Penalty fee is also humongous -for cancelled orders and returns (being for orders delivered to customers but requested return)

Penalty

Gross. Jumia penalty ranges from cancelled orders to late shipment. They may limit the potential/ seller order volume due to cancellation and late shipment, after having charged a fee. They also penalise for orders which customer requested for return. More so, Jumia claims it penalises seller to the tune of $200 for order deemed as counterfeit.

Communication

Moderate. Jumia only alerts you of new order via email. But they may often patronise sellers with promotional emails.

Return

Seller may only be able to pick up a return at the hub from which they dropped off /fulfil the order. Return orders may be allowed to stay at the shipment hub for a period of 7 days. If not retrieved by the seller after 7 days, they are transferred to the Agege warehouse, to be due for forfeiture after 21 days.

Value added service

Promotions/Sponsored ad

From 8500 Naira, a seller can subscribe to sponsored ad for visibility but can join promo for free. Promo comes at interval basis/seasonal and usually prove massive sales for most sellers.

Loan

Jumia also partners with financial institution/lending companies. A seller may qualify to apply for a loan based on sales record/proceeds.

Customer care

Sound and knowledgeable. Agents appear to be well trained/or knowledgeable to attend to issues or concerns.

KONGA

Registration

Premium! Requires registration fee for stores enlisting over 20/40 products.

Maintenance

Charges subscription fee every month (gold 2,500 Naira, gold plus - 9,000...)

Order fulfilment

Basic quality check. You only walk into Konga store/drop-off centers with your package for shipping. Quality check is almost nil or not so rigorous. You can also choose to ship your orders independently if you can't drop them off at a designated KOS deliveries location.

Packaging

Easy packaging. Plus, you spend less (on packaging) in both time and efforts. You only use packaging flyer/ designated courier bag to ship items that are not in a carton. If your order/product is in big-enough carton, you ship directly by pasting invoice (generated from seller shq dashboard) on the carton.

Delivery

Much faster and easy to track.
Konga oftentimes does next day delivery for orders within Lagos, but 3-5 days delivery duration for orders going other parts of the country.

Commission and fees

Competitive commission but low fees. Konga charges between 2 and 15% commission depending on product category. Konga does not charge shipping fee to the seller, unless a seller put their store on free shipping mode (a feature which seller may opt to on seller shq). Also, penalty fee only applies to cancelled orders (which the system cancelled after having elapsed 48hrs)

Penalty

Reasonable. Konga only penalises sellers for orders which were cancelled by the system after having elapsed the given 48 hours for shipment. Asides that, Konga may suspend a seller with multiple cancelled orders or other irregularities.

Communication

Optimum. Konga alerts you of new order via SMS and email. They also email you upon shipment and delivery. Even return. They hardly communicate promotional content

Return

Much flexible. Sellers can select their preferred pickup hub for return orders, irrespective of where you ship. Returned orders are allowed to stay for a period of 3 days (in paper/but in reality, return orders stay at the location for over 3 days) before going to Ogba center, to be due for forfeiture after 21 days.

Value added service