E-commerce platforms are seeing an increase in demand for their services following the lockdown in Kigali City, which took effect on Tuesday, January 19.

During the previous lockdown, e-commerce was largely a new concept for most in the local market with most of the firms still in the beginner stage and clients unsure of whether it works adequately. 

This to an extent affected their performance and profitability.

Having operated under a lockdown previously, are Rwandan e-commerce firms better placed this time?

In interviews with The New Times, e-commerce business operators said that unlike the previous lockdown when most were unprepared, this time they have better capacities, resources and are well placed to respond to the demand.

During the previous lockdown, it was common to find instances of delays in delivery of orders as well as mistrust by users of the platforms.

Nicole Uwase, the Customer Support Manager at  Twohereze Delivery Company (www.twohereze.rw ), an e-commerce firm in food, grocery, parcel and drinks delivery, the previous lockdown served to provide insights on how service delivery has put them in position to respond to growing demand.

"This is our second time serving clients during a lockdown. We learnt a lot, for instance, we learnt how to serve a large number of clients and handle any pressure that comes with it,” she said.

She said that from the previous lockdown they picked out aspects to improve and adjust consequently increasing the number of their riders, adjusting their customer care experience as well as being able to know common challenges that often emerge and how to go about solving them.

Uwase added that the consideration that e-commerce platforms have been given by the government in accessing movement clearance is also part of the implementation of lessons from the previous lockdown.

The experience during the previous lockdown also enabled some firms to identify their niche and how to improve customer orientation.

Tadhim Uwizeye, the Founder and Chief Executive of Olado, (www.olado.rw )an e-commerce platform noted that while most firms in the sector are involved in delivery of groceries, they identified and stuck to their niche; electronics, sporting equipment, clothes, beauty products among others.

Uwizeye said that the previous lockdown was proof that there was demand for products such as electronics, exercise equipment, beauty products among others.

Uwizeye said that from the previous lockdown, they gained insight into demand patterns of clients and improved their ability to supply accordingly.

Uwizeye said that the firm also improved capacities in customer care, training riders on aspects such as using digital maps as well as warehousing systems to allow fast delivery of products order.

Remmy Lubega the Proprietor of the online grocery market, kimironkomarket.rw told The New Times that in comparison to the previous lockdown which found most players unprepared, this time it’s different with regard to market readiness.

"The previous lockdown found most of us quite unready and unprepared. It was then that we established platforms and worked on the quality of our platforms. It helped us do the right connections and create a supply chain of vendors. It also gave us a chance to test what is doable and what is not.  We were also able to learn the mannerisms of customers and also modify payment models which were previously hard to achieve,” he said.

For instance, he said that previously the payment process was somewhat complex as accessing funds from card payments often took time which affected their ability to pay suppliers on time.

This time around, Lubega said that they are working closely with telcos for fast payment processing.

He also said that during this lockdown, there has been facilitation by authorities to access movement clearance passes allowing them to make timely deliveries.

Increasingly, he said that the local market has confidence and trust in e-commerce platforms.

"All the partners in the supply chain know what works and what doesn’t. We have a better working environment compared to last time,” Lubega said.

For Vuba Vuba Africa Ltd (http://www.vv.rw/ ), a popular e-commerce firm that works with restaurants to deliver meals to client's premises, the previous experience last year provided insights to new demand patterns leading to new partnership with other stakeholders.

Albert Munyabugingo, the Co-Founder and Chief Executive of  Vuba Vuba, said that they added more services to increase options for Kigali based clients and entered into partnerships with firms such as Bralirwa, the country’s biggest brewery, MTN Rwanda, Kipharma for pharmacy products as well as more restaurants.

He noted that over time, they have also improved capacities through training new delivery riders remotely.

"We developed models to allow us to train new delivery riders remotely since we used to hold training sessions from the office…we increased our tech and fleet capacity so we are able to handle double the traffic,” he said.

Other market adjustments that have improved e-commerce eco-system include close partnership with telecommunication operators enabling clients browse e-commerce websites at no costs, easier payment models, market confidence among others.