Kampe vs Jumia: sell on a marketplace or on your own store in Uganda?

Jumia works a lot like Amazon. It brings the shoppers, and your product sits on a page next to everyone else selling something similar. For a seller in Uganda with no following yet, that can be a real way to get first orders.

I'll say my bias upfront because it shapes this page. I believe sellers should own their store and their customers, and I built Kampe around that. But I don't think Jumia and your own store are enemies. For a lot of sellers the honest answer is to use both, and this page tries to show where each one fits. I checked Jumia's pages on 17 October 2026. Kampe's numbers are on our pricing page.

The short answer

Jumia gives you access to people who are already shopping on Jumia. A Kampe store gives you a place where customers come back to you directly. If you have no audience yet and sell things people search for by name, Jumia can bring your first orders. If you already have followers on WhatsApp or TikTok, your own store turns them into orders and customers you keep.

Who owns the customer

This is the difference I care about most. On a marketplace, the buyer is shopping on Jumia. When they want the same thing again, they open Jumia and search, and the seller listed under you gets a fair chance at that order.

On Kampe the store carries your name and lives on your own link at kampestore.com, or your own domain on Pro and Max. Every order adds to your customer list in your dashboard. You can email those customers about new stock with Email Broadcasts, and Kampe automatically follows up with anyone who started checkout and didn't finish. I wrote more on why I think the independent store is underrated in the online store is still underestimated in Africa.

What you pay

Jumia's Vendor Hub says registration is free and there's no monthly fee. Jumia charges a commission and shipping fees on each successful sale. Its 2026 commission table, in effect since 15 January and including VAT, runs from 6% on mobile phones to 20% on fashion, with health and beauty at 18% and mobile accessories at 16%. There's also a processing fee per item. Jumia's own example is a UGX 50,000 dress: with the 20% fashion commission and a UGX 2,000 processing fee, it lists at UGX 65,000 so the seller still receives UGX 50,000.

Kampe's Launch plan is UGX 5,000 once, with no monthly fee until you reach UGX 1,000,000 in completed sales. We take 6% on mobile money sales, and that includes the mobile money provider's charge. Cash on delivery has no fee. Sell that same UGX 50,000 dress on your Kampe store and you keep UGX 47,000 on Launch if the customer pays by mobile money, or the full UGX 50,000 with cash on delivery. The difference is that on Kampe you bring the customer and arrange the delivery yourself. After the first million, Pro is UGX 35,000 a month (UGX 28,000 a month billed yearly) at 5%, and Max is UGX 70,000 a month (UGX 56,000 billed yearly) at 4%.

I set Launch up this way because a seller who hasn't made a first sale shouldn't be paying us every month. On Launch we only earn when you sell.

Payments and delivery

On Jumia, Jumia collects the money from the buyer and handles delivery to the customer. You pick one of two models. With Jumia Express, Jumia keeps your stock in its warehouse and packs and delivers each order, and it charges storage fees once stock sits there longer than 15 days. With Dropship, you keep the stock and drop each order at a Jumia drop-off station. Jumia then pays you every week into your registered bank account. The upside is that Jumia runs that whole process. The trade-off is that you work inside its rules and its timelines.

On Kampe the checkout is yours. Customers pay with MTN or Airtel mobile money and the order shows as paid, or they choose cash on delivery. You set delivery zones like "Central Kampala", each with its own fee and delivery time, and add pickup locations (1 on Launch, 2 on Pro, 5 on Max). Kampe doesn't deliver for you, so you send your own boda or courier. Your money pays out from your Kampe balance to MTN or Airtel mobile money, from UGX 10,000, with a UGX 1,500 charge on each withdrawal. Delivery is where a lot of trust is won, which I wrote about in delivery is where trust gets won or lost.

Competing on the same page

On a marketplace, the buyer sees your listing right next to similar ones, and I think a lot of the time the cheaper one wins. That's great for buyers. For a seller with a brand, it means the photos you paid for and the care you put into packaging have less room to matter.

On your own store, the customer only sees your products. Your photos and your prices are the whole page. I think product photos are a big part of why people trust a store, and I wrote about that in product photos are business infrastructure.

Kampe vs Jumia side by side

When Jumia is the better choice

If you have no audience at all and you sell products people search for by name, like phone accessories or small electronics, Jumia's shoppers can matter more than anything you'd get from a new store link. I'd start there and learn what sells.

Jumia also suits you if you'd rather not do any marketing of your own. On Kampe you bring the customers, through your WhatsApp and TikTok. Jumia brings shoppers to its own site for you.

For most sellers I'd still say use both. List a few products on Jumia, and send everyone who finds you anywhere else to your own store, where the next order is yours.

What I'd do

If you already sell to people on WhatsApp or TikTok, open a Kampe store on Launch for UGX 5,000 and send them there. If you want extra reach on top, list your best sellers on Jumia too. Our plans are on the pricing page.

Sources

• Jumia Uganda, checked 17 October 2026
• Jumia Vendor Hub Uganda (costs, requirements, payments, delivery models), checked 17 October 2026
• Jumia Vendor Hub commissions, 2026 table, checked 17 October 2026
• Jumia Vendor Hub fees, checked 17 October 2026
• Jumia Group, Uganda, checked 17 October 2026
• Kampe pricing, checked 17 October 2026