What a Kenyan e-commerce website needs before launch

Start with the order desk

Before discussing colours, follow one order through the business. Who confirms stock? Where does the packing team see the address? Who calls the rider? How does accounts confirm an M-PESA payment? The website must fit that routine or replace it with a clearly agreed one.

A store can look polished and still create daily confusion. If website orders land in one inbox while Instagram orders sit in direct messages and walk-in sales change the same stock, customers will buy items that are no longer available. Map the work first.

Build a clean product catalogue

Every product needs a stable name, price, description and set of photographs. Add sizes, colours or pack quantities as variants rather than creating messy duplicate products. Use stock keeping units if the business already has them. They help staff match the website order to the shelf or accounting record.

Photograph the actual product where appearance matters. State dimensions, materials, warranty terms and what arrives in the box. For building supplies or bulky goods, explain whether the displayed price covers one unit, one metre, one bag or a full pack.

• Product name and internal code

• Current selling price and tax treatment

• Variant and stock rules

• Useful photographs with alt text

• Weight or dimensions needed for delivery

• Warranty, return or exchange conditions

Decide payment status rules

M-PESA STK Push, card payments and pay-on-delivery create different risks. The order system should distinguish pending, paid, failed, cancelled, packed, dispatched and refunded orders. Staff need permission to change those states without editing the database by hand.

Use the payment provider’s server notification to confirm online payment. Do not rely on a browser redirect or uploaded screenshot. If pay-on-delivery is allowed, define the towns, order values and products that qualify.

Delivery needs named rules

‘Delivery available countrywide’ raises more questions than it answers. Publish the areas you serve, the fee calculation and expected dispatch time. Nairobi zone pricing, pickup points and courier delivery outside Nairobi may each need separate logic.

Ask for a usable address. Estates, landmarks and a callable phone number are often more helpful than a formal street field. For high-value or bulky orders, the business may need to quote delivery after seeing the cart. The checkout should make that clear before payment.

• Pickup locations and opening hours

• Named local delivery zones

• Courier process for other counties

• Bulky-item quotation rules

• Who pays for a return shipment

Write the policies customers will use

Returns, cancellations, privacy and delivery terms should match the real business process. Do not copy a foreign store’s template and leave references to dollars, states or laws that do not apply. Have a Kenyan lawyer review terms where the legal exposure warrants it.

Put short answers near the buying decision as well. A customer should see delivery timing, available payment methods and the return window without digging through the footer. The policy page can carry the full detail.

Test on an ordinary phone

Run a full purchase on mobile data as well as office Wi-Fi. Search for a product, choose a variant, add it to the basket, enter an address, pay and read the confirmation. Check what happens if the page reloads halfway through.

Slow product images, tiny option controls and forms that fight mobile autofill cost orders. Compress photographs, use proper field types and keep the checkout focused. A buyer should not need to create an account unless the business has a real reason for requiring one.

Prepare staff for launch week

Give at least two staff members access and train them to find orders, change stock, resend notifications and record refunds. Decide who watches failed payments and customer messages. Write the steps down while the developer is still available.

Start with a controlled catalogue if the business has thousands of products. Fifty accurate items beat two thousand incomplete records. Add the rest once the order desk can fulfil website sales without improvising every afternoon.

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