Jaza Supermarket’s approach to online retail starts with a simple decision: make it easier for customers to order through tools they already use instead of requiring them to adopt another application.
Founder Willy Kimani described the retailer’s use of WhatsApp for orders and M-PESA prompts for payment at Glovo Kenya’s Future of Commerce Summit. Jaza has also integrated its systems directly with Glovo through an application programming interface, a connection Kimani said was intended to reduce missed orders and cancellations.
The approach reflects the practical realities of neighbourhood retail. Customers may already use WhatsApp to communicate with family and businesses, M-PESA to make payments and a small number of other apps for everyday services. Asking them to download another app, create an account and learn a new interface can add friction before they have even placed an order.
For Jaza, the task is to make online shopping fit into those existing habits while ensuring that the supermarket can receive, process and fulfil orders reliably.
Why WhatsApp fits neighbourhood shopping
WhatsApp gives customers a familiar way to contact a business and communicate what they need. For a neighbourhood supermarket, that can be useful for everyday purchases such as milk, bread, diapers, soap and other household essentials.
The model does not require every customer to begin by browsing a dedicated digital catalogue. A customer can initiate a conversation, ask about items or place an order through a channel they already understand.
That familiarity can be particularly relevant where customers have inexpensive smartphones with limited storage. An additional shopping application may compete for space with banking apps, messaging tools and other services that customers consider more essential. The issue is not simply whether a customer has internet access, but whether a new application offers enough value to justify the additional effort.
A messaging-based approach also lets the retailer maintain a direct line of communication with customers. Yet it brings its own operational demands. Staff must interpret requests accurately, confirm product availability, manage substitutions where necessary and ensure that orders do not get lost in conversations.
As order volumes grow, manually moving information from WhatsApp into the supermarket’s operating process can become difficult. A familiar customer interface therefore needs to be supported by a dependable workflow behind it.
Connecting messaging orders to delivery operations
Kimani said Jaza has a direct API integration with Glovo intended to reduce missed orders and cancellations. The integration is important because the supermarket serves customers through more than one digital route.
An API allows separate systems to exchange information. In this case, connecting Jaza’s operations with Glovo can help reduce the gaps that arise when orders have to be relayed manually between platforms or staff members.
For a retailer, the challenge is not simply receiving an order. Staff must identify the items, check stock, prepare the basket and ensure the order is ready for collection or delivery. Any disconnect between the customer-facing channel and the fulfilment process can create delays, errors or cancellations.
The integration does not remove the need for accurate stock information or careful order handling. It gives the business a more connected way to manage demand arriving through different channels.
The payment process is another part of the customer journey. Jaza uses M-PESA prompts to support payment, linking a familiar digital payment method to an ordering process that begins in a messaging application. The experience depends on the customer being able to understand what is due, complete the payment and receive confirmation that the order is progressing.
For neighbourhood retailers, the combination of a familiar messaging channel, mobile money and a delivery platform can be more practical than building every part of the digital experience from scratch.
Online demand differs from one neighbourhood to another
Jaza’s experience also illustrates why digital retail strategies cannot be designed around a single picture of the Kenyan customer.
Kimani described different demand patterns across the areas where the retailer operates. In Utawala, parking constraints have affected the shopping experience, while demand from Nyayo Estate prompted the business to purchase two electric bikes. At Greatwall Gardens, online demand was lower, which Kimani linked to the availability of nearby shopping options.
Those examples show how online ordering can solve different problems depending on the local environment. In one neighbourhood, customers may value delivery because parking or access makes a physical trip inconvenient. In another, a nearby shop may already provide a quick and easy alternative.
The decision to order online also depends on what customers are buying. A customer may be more inclined to have bulky or routine household essentials delivered than to place every small purchase online. Delivery fees, expected arrival times, product availability and the customer’s proximity to a store can all influence the choice.
Jaza’s focus on essential products at prices Kimani described as comparable to or lower than supermarket alternatives is relevant to that calculation. Convenience is unlikely to be enough if customers believe they are paying a significant premium for routine items.
The business therefore has to balance the cost of preparing and delivering an order with the price sensitivity of the customers it wants to serve.
Online sales are incremental, but operations still matter
Kimani said Jaza’s online sales remain in the single digits as a share of the business, although they are incremental. That distinction matters. Online ordering does not have to replace most in-store purchases to provide value; it can serve customers who might otherwise postpone a trip, choose another retailer or buy only part of what they need.
But incremental sales are useful only if the cost of serving them is manageable. Each order involves staff time, product picking, payment handling and, where delivery is involved, fulfilment costs. Retailers need to understand whether digital orders add profitable demand or shift existing purchases into a more expensive channel.
The supermarket’s experience also suggests that digital retail is not a simple choice between physical stores and online shopping. A customer may buy in person on one occasion and order through WhatsApp or a delivery platform on another. The right channel can depend on time, location, basket size and the urgency of the purchase.
For Jaza, the task is to make those channels work together. WhatsApp provides an accessible way to initiate orders, M-PESA supports payment, and Glovo’s integration connects another source of demand to the supermarket’s operations.
The model is not a universal answer for every retailer. It is an example of designing online commerce around the tools customers already use, the products they regularly need and the local conditions that shape how they shop.
As neighbourhood retailers expand their digital sales, the question is not necessarily how quickly they can launch another app. It is whether they can make ordering convenient for customers and fulfil those orders consistently without adding more complexity than the business can sustain.
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