Jumia Begins ‘Contactless’ Delivery of Orders

By Dipo Olowookere

To ensure safer transactions for riders and consumers, leading e-commerce platform in Africa, Jumia, has commenced what it called contactless delivery of prepaid packages order from its platform.

The company said in a statement that this step was taken in response to the havoc caused by coronavirus outbreak, which has forced a lockdown of the global market.

In order to prevent its consumers, delivery agents and partners from contracting the virus, which still has no cure, Jumia, as a responsible organisation, came up with this initiative.

The statement said to drive the initiative, the contactless safe delivery option has been implemented on JumiaPay, the payment platform. This enables consumers to make prepaid payments for products online and get it delivered without a direct body contact or cash exchange with the delivery agent.

“The health and safety of our customers and delivery agents is our absolute priority. We are uniquely positioned to step up and be part of Africa’s response strategy in this challenging time.

“We have implemented a Contactless delivery option, which eliminates any possibility of physical contact. Convenience, social distancing and cashless measures are woven into one solution to combat the current situation,” said Apoorva Kumar, SVP Logistics at Jumia.

Jumia’s delivery agents have been trained to enforce necessary standards during delivery. They are instructed to call or text when they arrive at the customer’s place and drop off the package at their doorstep, then step back to the safe distance limit and will wait for the customer to take the package before leaving.

Consumers have been strongly encouraged to pay “cashless” on Jumia through JumiaPay. This will ensure fewer physical cash coming into contact with delivery riders and the wider population and will in turn help reduce the risk of coronavirus transmission.

Jumia Contactless delivery payment option is available on all JumiaPay/ Prepaid Packages and all cashless delivery modes that are contactless such as mobile money.