A strategic partnership with radio station Capital FM is helping Kenyan group-buying website, Rupu, reach greater numbers of customers, as it seeks to boost e-commerce on the African continent.

The site launched in December 2010 and has substantially increased its customer base and staff numbers since then.

Group-buying involves a minimum amount of people having to sign up for a deal in order to be able to claim the benefits, with Rupu offering approximately six daily deals at 50-90 per cent off the usual price. Retailers benefit from multiple orders while group members save cash. The site’s customer base grew at 50 per cent per month for its first six months and has now settled at 10 per cent per month.

With 87,000 people registered, Rupu has jumped to the front of the group-buying market in Kenya, and more than doubled its staff numbers. Aiming at a target audience of mainly middle class buyers who are already comfortable with the idea of e-commerce, Rupu is now looking to further roll out the idea beyond the relatively new companies that have typically marketed products on the site and attract more established firms.

The partnership with Capital FM allows the radio station to run its own deals under its local media brand names and website, powered by Rupu, while giving the site the benefits of the station’s wide reach and clout. Rupu sales representatives negotiate deals with local advertisers and produce the creative aspects for every promotion.

“Rupu is excited to partner with Capital FM and provide local merchants with a major alternative website where they can run additional deals,” said Ben Maina, Rupu’s Chief Executive Officer. “This partnership blends Capital FM’s and Rupu’s strengths to support local business marketing and pass on substantial savings and favourable experiences to consumers.”

Rupu’s business model is not too different from other established group-buying sites such as Groupon, but seeks to offer deals specifically aimed at the Kenyan market. “We try to localise what deals we are offering,” says Maina. “We tweak our deals to suit a Kenyan crowd. We cover food and beverage, recreation, health and beauty… It levels the playing field really, because though the Crown Plaza offers deals we also have smaller restaurants on the site.”

The current climate in Kenya suggests Rupu will only continue to grow. Kenya’s relatively high internet and mobile penetration, along with how comfortable many in the country already are with mobile payments as a result of M-Pesa, have allowed it to achieve a greater market penetration than it would elsewhere on the continent. So far the site has saved subscribers just under Ksh 5 million ($56,333). Social networking platforms have assisted group-buying as they allow people to easily share interests and meet other people with similar ones.

CEO Ben Maina says that in spite of the site’s success it is still early days for e-commerce and that it still has much to do if it is to become an established concept.

“We are using it to learn,” he said. “We are running experiments here and there, and making decisions about what to do next. We are now at the place where we are basically at the forefront, and looking to create an ecosystem. M-Pesa was first, now we are doing this, others need to get involved to push the thing on.”

Maina added that the majority of deals offered on the site come from aggressive, small businesses but that more established, “old school” firms were proving harder to persuade to market online.