Rwandan startup GroceWheels has launched its online grocery delivery service in Kigali, aiming to help Rwandans save time and money by buying their food items online.
Formed in February, GroceWheels has formally launched after a trial period with 25 customers was successful. For now it only operates in Kigali, but founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Gael Murara told Disrupt Africa it plans to expand further within Rwanda and elsewhere in Africa.
“People don’t easily have access to informations on where to find the best products at the best price and they have to make multiple stops to fill a shopping cart,” Murara said on the reason for launching GroceWheels.
Self-funded so far, GroceWheels is seeking investment to scale its business. The startup makes money via commissions, and also plans to add advertising to its site once traffic is sufficiently high.
GroceWheels is a similar product to Nigeria’s Supermart.ng, founded by former Jumia managing director (MD) and chief operating officer (COO) Raphael Afaedor and Gbolahan Fagbure. Supermart allows customers to shop for groceries from leading supermarkets, such as Park ‘n’ Shop – SPAR, MedPlus, Office Everything, Mega Plaza, 9 – 7 and Chi-Shoppe, and delivers to all areas of Lagos.
The company recently launched a new delivery option called Supermart Prime, allowing customers to pay a one-off fee of NGN1,500 (US$7.50) and receive unlimited grocery deliveries free for 30 days with no minimum basket size, but is facing competition in Nigeria from the recently launched Householdmax.com.
