Selling online in Zambia: a practical e-commerce guide

Selling online is the same business with a new counter. The basics do not change: good products, fair prices, honest descriptions, easy payment and delivery that keeps its promises. What changes is that the customer cannot touch the product or look you in the eye, so everything on the page has to earn their trust.

This guide covers the ways to sell online, where to start, payments, delivery, product pages, trust and the legal basics.

Four ways of selling online

Your own online shop

You hold the stock and sell through your own website.

• For it: full control, your own brand, no marketplace fees, and customers who are yours.
• Against it: you bring the visitors yourself, and you need stock and somewhere to keep it.
• Suits: businesses that already sell and want to grow beyond their premises.

Selling for suppliers who deliver

You list a supplier's products and the supplier delivers to your customer.

• For it: little money tied up in stock.
• Against it: thinner margins, and you answer for quality and delivery you do not control.
• Suits: testing demand before buying stock. Choose suppliers you have tested yourself.

Marketplaces

You list products on a platform that already has buyers, such as Facebook Marketplace.

• For it: buyers are already there, and it is quick to start.
• Against it: fees or rules you do not set, competitors on the same page, and customers who belong to the platform.
• Suits: testing products and clearing stock.

Selling through social media and chat

You show products on Facebook, Instagram or a WhatsApp catalogue and close sales in chat.

• For it: free to start, and it reaches people who already follow you.
• Against it: orders, payments and stock are tracked by hand, which gets hard as you grow.
• Suits: small businesses starting out, and services.

A fifth way: the quotation store

Some businesses cannot show one price for everyone: wholesalers, building suppliers, medical and industrial suppliers. A quotation store lets customers browse your catalogue, build a list and ask for a price. You answer with a proper quote, and the customer accepts it and pays. It brings the convenience of a shop to businesses that price by quantity or by customer.

Where to start

Start where your customers already are, then grow:

1. Test demand with a WhatsApp Business catalogue and a Facebook page. If people ask and buy, you have something.
2. Move to your own shop when orders are steady and tracking them in chat starts to cost you sales.
3. When choosing a shop, check for: mobile money and card payments, stock that updates itself, order notifications, delivery options, your own domain, and invoices that meet ZRA's rules.

Taking payment

Offer the ways your customers already pay:

• Mobile money, such as Airtel Money and MTN MoMo. For many customers this is the first choice.
• Bank cards, for customers who prefer them and for larger amounts.
• Bank transfer, common for business orders. Confirm the money has arrived before you dispatch.
• Cash on delivery. It reassures first-time buyers but brings failed deliveries and fake orders. Confirm each order by phone or WhatsApp first, and consider a deposit for large orders.

To take mobile money and cards on a website you need a payment gateway. When comparing providers, ask:

• which payment methods they support for your customers,
• what each payment costs you,
• how quickly the money reaches your bank account,
• what they need from you to approve you. Providers commonly review your website for terms, a privacy policy and a refund policy, so have those pages ready.

Delivery that keeps its promises

Options:

• Your own delivery, with your staff or riders you trust.
• Courier companies, for wider coverage.
• Collection points, where customers collect at a place and time that suit them.
• Intercity buses, which many businesses use to send parcels between towns.

Whatever you choose:

• State delivery times honestly, then beat them.
• Show delivery costs before checkout. Surprise charges lose sales.
• Consider free delivery above a basket size to encourage larger orders.
• Send updates on WhatsApp: order received, dispatched, arriving.
• Have a clear policy for failed deliveries and returns.

Product pages that sell

Online, the photo and the description do the selling.

Photos

• Shoot in daylight, on a plain background.
• Show several angles, and something that shows the size.
• Use your own photos of your own stock.

Descriptions

• Lead with what it does for the customer, then the details.
• Give the facts: size, weight, materials, colours and what comes in the box.
• Answer the questions customers ask before they need to ask.
• Show the price and whether it is in stock.
• Show real reviews from real customers once you have them.

Earning trust

A first-time buyer is asking one question: is this business real? Answer it everywhere:

• your registered business name, and a physical address if you have one,
• a phone number and a WhatsApp number that are answered,
• clear returns and refund rules,
• secure checkout over HTTPS,
• quick, polite replies before and after the sale.

Marketing your shop

• Facebook and Instagram adverts aimed at your delivery area. Our social media guide covers them.
• WhatsApp broadcasts to customers who agreed to receive them.
• Search: product and category pages that answer what people search for. Read our SEO guide.
• Partnerships with local creators, with paid partnerships clearly marked as paid.
• QR codes on packaging, flyers and your counter that open your shop or a chat.

The legal basics

A starting list, not legal advice:

• Register your business with PACRA (the Patents and Companies Registration Agency).
• Register for tax with the Zambia Revenue Authority. ZRA requires taxpayers to issue their invoices through Smart Invoice; our free Smart Invoice guide quotes ZRA's own answers on who must use it and how to start.
• Treat customers fairly under the Competition and Consumer Protection Act, 2010: honest descriptions and prices, and fair returns.
• Protect customer data under the Data Protection Act, 2021: collect only what you need, keep it safe, and say in a privacy policy what you do with it.
• Know the rules for online transactions in the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, 2021.
• If you import goods, check customs duties and procedures with ZRA before you price them.

If you would like help

We build online shops and quotation stores. Payments go straight to your own payment provider, or by mobile money and bank transfer on your instructions, never through us, and invoices carry ZRA Smart Invoice once your business is set up for it. See selling online and quotes and invoices, or talk to us.