Yeah sure one of the biggest problems in kenya is the delivery to consumer homes. In the US they just leave the package at our doorsteps. You show up at home in the evening and find the package comfortably waiting for you. If it needed a signature and no one is at home they would return again the next day, and agree on a convenient time to deliver. Now in Nairobi I dont think it will be wise to leave a package on someones doorstep. Okay wait or worse. At the gate. Now the likes of Walmart, Best buy, Publix etc with Brick n Mortar stores, outsource delivery to UPS n Fedex etc or you can also specify a branch which you pick up your goods. Make the purchase online and just passby at a convenient time on your way home from work to pick up and save the hustle of lining up at the cashiers. Walmart calls it Site to Store. ----- "Peter Karunyu" <pkarunyu@gmail.com> wrote:
On Thu, Nov 24, 2011 at 3:28 PM, Paul Kevin < paultitude@gmail.com > wrote:
So what is stopping us from setting up an online store that provides goods and services from these supermarkets
@Paul, IMHO, for such a store to have a chance at success, it would need to have access to those Supermarket's catalogue database. Then, you need to find a seemless way for customers to pay and a delivery mechanism that works.
I think the reason such online stores have failed in the past is because they attempted to duplicate the supermarket's catalogue, i.e. you go to uchumi, get items and prices and re-enter them into your application.
The delivery mechanism has been proven, courtesy of the Pizza delivery guys, payment methods are quickly maturing, e.g. pesapal, so now its for a clever person to convince these supermarkets to open their data, which I think will not happen soon.
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