{The face of shopping in Rwanda has changed over the years even as the numbers of internet users has maintained an upward slide. A number of internet cafes now dot the city of Kigali and others. These internet hub centres have become popular and widely embraced by Rwanda nationals.}
As the internet technology gained ample popularity, the e-commerce space started to grow. [E-commerce->http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-commerce] simply refers to the buying and selling of goods and services Online.
In the yesteryears, shopping in most parts of the world required physical contact with the product before its delivery.
There was no technology like ecommerce which allows for placing order for goods online from an array of items which are listed in different categories to give room for easy selection and make the shopping experience a convenient one for the shopper.
Currently there are over seven ecommerce companies in the country including Gemeya, [Kaymu->http://www.kaymu.rw/], Shop4Rwanda, [BeautyofRwanda->http://www.beautyofrwanda.com/] and Gurisha
In the past, shoppers were often sighted in long queues at malls, supermarkets and retail outlets waiting impatiently to be attended to – wasting a whole lot of time in the process. It may be safe to say shopping was a herculean task back then – stressful and time consuming.
Nonetheless, when ecommerce emerged, there began a gradual change in the way buying and selling took place. This involved the process of placing orders, adding items to the cart, checking out and validating orders via e-billing.
Shopping in the Rwanda of today is only a few clicks away for purchased items to be delivered to the doorstep allowing for 3 days delivery or less. Delivery time depends on the geographical location of the buyer.
Online shopping is fast evolving. Consumers around the continent are migrating online preferring to shop over the internet for a good number of reasons such as:
{{Time Saving: }}
The time an average shopper spends at the mall or retail outlets can be better put to use for some other personal activity. When buying is done online, it saves the shopper the travel time that would have been spent on visiting physical stores.
{{Variety: }}
For shoppers, the online stores offer a variety of products on sale category by category making it a lot easier to scan through items and filter search – again, saving the shopper some time.
{{Pricing:}}
It is more convenient for online shoppers to compare the prices of goods from the array of items listed online. In the end, the shopper will have made an informed decision before buying anything. Also, a lot of deals are regularly offered by stores such as Black Friday, Clearance Sale etc. These are some of the perks of shopping over the internet.
Also, the payment system is flexible allowing for cash on delivery, wire transfer via internet banking and also credit/debit card system.
{{Border crossing: }}
Before now, Rwandans that wished to buy goods from stores outside their states of residences would normally have to travel a far distance just to purchase such items. However with e-shopping, all that is needed is to locate the online store, log on to buy a product, find the item, add them to a cart, check out, input a shipping address and make payments either online or when the goods get delivered.
Amid various cyber security challenges with ecommerce in Rwanda, the technology has been hugely lauded for easing buy-sell operations giving room for comfort shopping and in turn attracting potential buyers and sellers. The growing number of internet shoppers in Rwanda keeps growing and is not expected to fall as the years roll by.
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