My Website Makes $350K/Mo Selling Electronics All Over Kenya
Hello! Who are you and what business did you start?
My name is Boniface Kuria. I founded Techovant Solutions in 2019, an e-commerce retail store that deals with computers and electronics.
We deal with the sale of laptops, printers, networking accessories and sound-gadgets. Our main target customers are students, business professionals and corporate companies enrolling.
We currently make roughly $350,000 in revenue monthly.
What's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?
Soon after high-school I studied graphic-design for my under-grad. After finishing my studies at university, I was lucky enough to get employed by a company that distributed IT products. While working there my entrepreneurial spirit started to manifest. I always used to ponder how I could build a side-business around something I was passionate about.
So one day as I was delivering a computer to a customer, he realized that the PC didn't come with an OS although it was brand-new. Since most of the computers came directly from the manufacturer some of them had no OS installed. Customers also complained about this, especially those who bought on platforms like Jumia and Kilimall. That was my Aha ! moment.
I saw this as a gap and almost immediately I registered Techovant Solutions. To differentiate myself from other vendors, the laptops I sold/posted had pre-installed operating systems.
I listed the products on Jumia and after just a week I got my first sale. Once the sales started trickling in, I would sell almost 20 PC’s in a week. This motivated me to even think about leaving my full-time job and putting all my efforts to grow my side-business.
After 3 months I called it quits on my full-time job after surpassing my salary by ten-fold.
One of the biggest lessons learned from the process of starting and launching is that you should not wait to have everything in place to start and launch.
Take us through the process of building the first version of your product.
We source products from distributors in Dubai and here locally. We sell, but not limited to, the following brands: hp, Lenovo, asus, dell, canon, epson, kyocera products ranging from laptops and printers.
In our line of business, a supplier has to be reliable and offer good credit terms. We work with 2 reputable suppliers who sell on behalf of the brands mentioned. This ensures our customers get the best quality. We are also able to get goods at wholesale prices.
A snapshot of our current team members:
Once we get the list of items we desire from our vendors, we then upload them to Jumia, Kilimall (third-party vendor websites like Amazon) and currently on-going on our website. These third-parties handle all the logistics and payment of our goods once they reach the customer.
Describe the process of launching the business.
I timed our launch to coincide with the Jumia anniversary campaign since I started selling my products on their platform. Jumia anniversary attracts huge traffic hence we started seeing a lot of customers instantly.
I had some savings from my previous job. My parents also chipped in when I shared my idea with them. This really boosted my starting capital as the money was to be returned interest free.
Below are the detailed costs:
- Company registration – 2,000
- Office space – 10,000
- Furniture & office equipment – 5,000
- Inventory purchase – 150,000
- Employees – 30,000
- Miscellaneous – 3,000
After six months selling on Jumia I decided to create my own website. I opened accounts on different social media sites e.g. Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
Unfortunately I had no idea on how to sell on these platforms. At that time I felt like I needed to hire an expert. I was handling all aspects of the business by myself, learning how to sell online was therefore not a high priority. This taught me a lot of lessons especially in terms of delegation and time management.
One of the biggest lessons learned from the process of starting and launching is that you should not wait to have everything in place to start and launch. When you're selling a physical product like electronics, you don’t need any stock.
Secondly once your business starts to grow, it would be a good investment for a company to add in more talent. At that time since launching for instance, If we had doubled-down on our online efforts we would have reached far.
Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?
Like I said after launching I believe one should keep thinking of ways on how he/she can grow the business. Investing in personal education also helped me in learning how to retain and acquire new clients.
At the start of this year is when I decided to go full-out on digital marketing and we are trying several strategies to increase traffic and sales. Our primary strategy now is using SEO and google ads. I also use Facebook and Instagram ads to boost our online presence.
I use a point-based system to track our frequent clients and issue vouchers for clients with a certain number of points.
The true test of character is not in the beginning but in the end. It's not about being perfect, it's about being persistent. It's not about being talented, it's about being disciplined.
How are you doing today and what does the future look like?
Today the company is profitable. We have been able to achieve steady revenue at (30% Gross). Majority of the sales (70%) come from Jumia (a leading online multi vendor platform) and Kilimall much like Amazon.
The other 30% comes from referral clients and businesses that we trade with.
Our current marketing costs on a monthly basis is USD: $1,000 which we use on Facebook and google ads. Google Ads being our biggest spend since the space is very competitive.
We now wish to increase our profits through our website and last month, I made the choice to add an in-house SEO and PPC employee who is experienced in the industry. Our long-term goal is to reduce marketing ad-spend on all platforms and rely heavily on organic reach.
The dynamics of business in Kenya also requires one to always have a back-up in case a partner decides to close its operations. In our case having our own website will help mitigate that. As competitors continue to increase, ad-spend on platforms like Google also increases which might not be sustainable for the business.
Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?
The biggest mistake I made when starting out was doing everything. I was the marketing guy, the accountant etc. This hindered me from focusing on aspects that would make the company grow. I learned how to delegate tasks and automate tasks.
The best decision I made was utilizing Google and Facebook ads. They really helped during the initial stage. The majority of our clients learned about us through ads.
The timing of launching helped us since it coincided with the Jumia anniversary which boosted our sales.
The biggest lesson I have learnt is to delegate work and focus on things that help the growth of the company.
I am relentlessly stubborn to achieve my goals. I commit 100% to my targets and goals and I do not give up easily when I run into challenges.
What platform/tools do you use for your business?
We use WooCommerce, uber suggest, MailChimp, Moonlit Platform
1) Woocommerce: We have built our website using wordpress CMS, therefore woocommerce was the best option. It’s been around for a while, it's easy to use and has a large community of users
2) Uber suggest for all our SEO and PPC efforts
3) Mailchimp for processing all our orders and quotations
4) Moonlit Platform - Content, SEO AI powered tool. Highly recommend this for any SEO enthusiats.
5) Meta Business Suite - For all our social media efforts.
What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?
The books that had the biggest impact on my journey are Finishing what you start by Peter Hollins and Think big and grow rich by Napoleon Hill. Think big and grow rich emphasizes on whatever the mind can conceive and believe it can achieve.
Finishing what you start made me realize that the true test of character is not in the beginning but in the end. It's not about being perfect, it's about being persistent. It's not about being talented, it's about being disciplined.
Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?
You do not have to have everything before you launch, it's all about the process (journey) and not the destination. I started the company with no-stock, my expenses at the time were just only rent. 3-months into the business is when I started considering having little stock and as sales started growing we were able to purchase more stock.
In today’s tech-driven world, you only need an online profile where one can sell his/her products. Here in Kenya however trust is a big factor and clients a-times might want to come for a site visit. If you only operate online this might hurt your sales.
Finish what you start and you will be rewarded for what you can achieve.
Where can we go to learn more?
If you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!
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