The physical location of a business was for a long time as important as the goods and services on sale.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic struck businesses increased their dependence on the internet to get linked to their customers.
It is on this premise that Shop Zetu, an online fashion marketplace, was founded.
“We were very passionate about solving the challenges that the local brands are facing in accessing markets online. We’re primarily an e-commerce business so we exist purely online and what we do is we connect buyers of fashion online to all of the different fashion brands that are available locally,” said Marvin Kiragu, Shop Zetu CEO and co-founder.
The company opened its virtual doors at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, where online shopping was the most viable method given the movement restrictions.
According to a recent global survey conducted by MARCO, a Madrid-based communications agency, the Covid-19 pandemic unlocked the growth of e-commerce opportunities, with millions of consumers preferring to shop online.
“We decided to meet the customer (online) and so we were a primarily online business, and we provided a platform where all of these different fashion brands could come onto the platform and access the customers who are not going into the malls and the shops,” Kiragu said.
So far, Shop Zetu has sold over 100,000 products to over 30,000 customers across the country.
In April 2023, Shop Zetu partnered with Safaricom to launch the Shop Zetu mini app on the M-PESA app.This has given the online marketplace access to more opportunities as customers can access their shop, place orders and pay without leaving the app.
“This is a very exciting development for us as a business because it allows us to provide our over 300 local fashion brands with access to over seven million customers who have the super app on their phones,” said Kiragu.
As the business continues to grow, Shop Zetu is set to add beauty and home decor to its portfolio, and to trial delivery services in Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, on the back of securing pre-seed funding of $1 million.
Watch their video below to know more about Shop Zetu.
