In Africa, the e-commerce sector is booming. Such solutions are multiplying by the day to offer increasingly interesting services and solutions to populations.

Copia is a business-to-customer (B2C) platform developed by a Kenyan start-up. It allows retail merchants and individuals to stock up on food, beauty, electronics, etc.

“Copia is designed specifically to serve this high growth but underserved consumer base who want access to high-quality products at the best prices,” explained Tracey Turner, one of the founders of the startup behind the solution.

Users can make purchases via the Android-only mobile app or on the web platform. They can create accounts on the platforms but, it is not a requirement to make purchases. “[…] You can shop without an account. You just provide us with your email and phone number at the time of ordering. You do need an account to view your Order History. This is to protect your privacy,” the platform states.

Copia also allows customers to have various products delivered to their families in remote areas. The platform serves several small towns and thanks to this service, residents in remote areas are not obliged to travel to big cities to get certain products. It created a USSD code that allows people with no access to the internet to order products on the platform.  For the time being, it accepts only M-Pesa payments. It delivers the orders to relay points for free, allowing users to collect them. Nevertheless, it plans to launch home deliveries, which will be paid services.

Currently, the platform claims a network of over 40,000 digital agents, nearly 2 million customers, and over 13 million orders. According to Play Store statistics, its mobile app has already been downloaded over 100,000 times. The startup behind the platform was founded in 2013, in Kenya. In 2021, it launched in Uganda with plans to expand to other African countries. Since its creation, it has raised $100 million to accelerate its growth.

Adoni Conrad Quenumv