In 2016 I was introduced to a mobile shopping app called ‘KIKUU’, after a chat with my sister on the challenges of getting a decently priced pair of sunglasses. Bear in mind we are ‘generations’ apart in our perceptions on the practicalities of life. She’s from Generation Z, which is defined as persons born from the mid 1990s to the early 2000s whilst I am from the millennial age. She is naturally quicker to look out for the cheapest and most convenient deals when shopping and this mobile application came to my rescue.

I found her recommendation very handy. The KIKUU app main objective is to cater for that customer who is looking for great discounts on mobile phones, shoes, clothes, bags, accessories, household items and the like.
During November 2016, AdAge.com published an article by Steve Newcomb on the ‘dirty secret of apps installations ads that nobody is talking about.’ It gave key insights on the dark side of the ‘App economy’.

For brands, customers are the cheese. When the mobile revolution peaked, brands found their ‘cheese’ within Apps. But now, a decade later, the deep, dark secret is that many household brands are spending tens of millions of dollars and in some cases, hundreds of millions of dollars — to find the ‘cheese’ that is no longer there.

Back to the KIKUU app story – I was intrigued at the great amount of discounts on various items. I was also little annoyed, but also intrigued, that I was just learning of this new way of convenient mobile shopping on a budget mainly because I had not seen any mobile, desktop or print ads pushing this app’s business value YET. It was mainly cashing in from a bigger percentage of the generation Z customer (currently in their university education) in Uganda.

Bearing in mind the operations and logistics of the app business in China, they clearly have understood their niche target audience (my assumption is the African markets) and structured out a business model that works for both the retailers and customers.
I have personally only had two cancellations from all orders I have made thus far i.e. from late 2016 to early 2018 and my money was refunded back into my KIKUU wallet (K-Pay) to use to shop from other stores. With 100% orders delivered in record time (between 2 to 3 weeks after payment confirmation) it’s as close to perfect for me as far as mobile shopping is concerned.

Mobile shopping for the most part has been a challenge for most business to implement and provide an integrated customer experience (online vs offline) thus the KIKUU app is evidently providing proof of concept for target audiences in developing markets like Uganda.