The service, now available in Lagos and Abuja is set to be extended to other cities in Nigeria in order to allow shoppers buy as many orders as possible and get free shipping within the period covered in their subscription. Mrs Juliet Annamah, Jumia CEO said the Jumia is pushing the nationwide expansion of its last mile delivery hubs to accommodate 33 new ones. Others include the integration of 25 new logistics partners to its network of partners and the addition of 4 major local languages to assist customers to place orders by phone. “These are deliberate efforts towards expanding the reach of e-commerce in rural cities where prepayment had been the only payment option, thereby expanding the footprint of payment on delivery to these cities. We have also observed that some of our customers prefer to interact with our customer service agents in their various native languages. In response, we have integrated the 4 major local languages – Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, and Pidgin,” she said. The firm which runs a marketplace for online services such as food delivery, hotel and flight booking, classified advertising, and airtime recharge has also been an enabler of job creation and empowerment in the country with over 2,000 people directly employed in Nigeria and potentially another 850 through our ecosystem of partners. Jumia Prime’s unlimited free delivery service is open to any user who wants to enjoy FREE deliveries within a certain period or duration. Jumia Prime is a monthly subscription service with either a one month package or a three month package. For users in Lagos, 1 Month costs ₦ 1,999 while 3 Months cost ₦ 4,999. For those in Abuja, 1 Month costs ₦ 2,499 while 3 Months cost ₦ 6,499. Jumia Prime is important as these monthly membership fees will create a new and constant revenue for Jumia away from its online sales as they are non-refundable and non-cancellable and available through prepayment only. The Jumia Prime membership is also limited in quantity meaning you can’t be shopping for your whole village. The package can also not be used for professional usage which is more than 50 orders per month and a shopper cannot indicate more than 3 physical addresses on their account. Membership renewal is not automatic and does not include shipping fees of goods from overseas under Jumia Global. Though Jumia is more than five years late into the membership economy the Nigerian market after Supermart launched this four years ago. The membership economy is still important for Jumia and anyone producing or selling anything. Coined by Robbie Kellman-Baxter of Peninsula Strategies a best-selling author and expert on the Membership Economy, the term describes a massive transformation from ownership to access, from anonymous transactions to known, formal relationships and from one way messaging to two-way communications between the organization and its members, but also conversations among the members themselves, under the umbrella of the organization. According to her, while a subscription is a pricing tactic, the Membership Economy is a mindset for organizations to build long-term, formal relationships with their customers whether at a periodical cost or free. The Membership Economy provides companies with more predictable cash flow, and greater loyalty as well as give it an opportunity to learn from their customers through two-way interaction and evolve their offering. Members, unlike subscribers, feel like people because of the personal experience they recieve in Membership Economies because of community and open conversation from the customer to the company. Though we can’t say how much Jumia is set to invest in its Jumia Prime service, only companies that move beyond subscription to Membership Economies make the model successful. Membership Economies make customers to feel connected to the brand, are free to interact with the brand, online, in person and at forums or informal connections and for this, the company gains quick and honest feedback on its products. Firms should move beyond collecting emails and phone numbers and location of their customers to win their hearts and minds. With these, firms will be able to build trusted relationships with customers and plus that will create a sense of belonging and connection between the company and its customers. “It’s simple and bold as the core mission of the customer is more important than any product, or even the core mission of the organization. Too many organizations love their products more than they love their customers and their customer’s mission. Or they focus on their own, internal mission to “be the best in their industry” instead of “to help the customer achieve their goals”. Organizations that continue to evolve the products that they offer while increasing the value they provide, are going to be the winners of the Membership Economy. These winners stand to enjoy continued growth and profitability, which is ultimately what the corporations want, both near term and longer term,” Robbie Kellman-Baxter said in an interview with Aria Systems.
