The EcoCash Shopping Revolution

Mobile money transfer or mobile banking is the modern medium to take care of all your expenses and financial figures, straight via your cellphone. You can pay bills, pay for social outings (such as lunch), pay for your groceries and/or shopping, take out items on laybye and even pay school fees! All these benefits straight through your cellphone (makes you wonder if you might need a bank account; which of course you do for transactions outside your cellphone). Mobile payment platforms have become easy, fast, efficient and affordable, with Zimbabwe having mobile networks branching into mobile money transactions. Popular being EcoCash, OneWallet (Netone launched mobile money first before Econet by the way), and just recently TeleCash and NettCash. Now this blogpost isn’t in anyway biased, but I’m more familiar with EcoCash services of mobile money transfer, which has prompted me to write this post.

Why mobile money and shopping? Well to start off we are increasingly living in a materialistic world, with the personal brand, shopping as a plus factor (that can make you gain more), and technological advancements increasingly creating new innovations towards our seriously globalizing world. With that said, shopping has become much more efficient with mobile money transfer; I’ve a scenario where I purchased a jacket straight through EcoCash! No fuss, no queuing and no service connection problems (well service disconnections cannot be entirely ruled out), but my point is if you are obsessed with your phone, and your life rotates around your cellphone then having either EcoCash, TeleCash or OneWallet should be something you should look into (if you haven’t already). Since I’m quite familiar with EcoCash, I’m able to deposit, withdraw and transfer money (send money to a registered or non-registered EcoCash user), and have the option to utilize EcoCash Save - which is a smart money platform to save cash, watch it grow and cut down on loans.

I remember I was quite naïve with the idea of applying let alone having something called mobile banking in my phone; I asked myself what’s the fuss all about? Err…you could still save and put money in a bank account. Another factor was I was a student, why would I want to chuck my pocket money, if my intention was to directly consume it?! But I had my ‘AHA’ moment when a former employer urged me to apply for EcoCash, that’s when I realized its relevance. Heck I can now buy airtime from my phone!

So back to shopping, major retailers in Harare have EcoCash biller codes to make it convenient for their consumers to shop; top of my list being Jet Stores, Edgars, Truworths, Wardrobe Mix, Passport; pretty much any clothing retailer you walk into offers their consumers the facility of mobile payment/mobile money transfer, with the two most popular being EcoCash and TeleCash. EcoCash agents are pretty much scattered around Harare, so making withdrawals and deposits is not limited - although best advice is to make transactions directly to the service provider for personal reasons or if you wish to be safe.

According to TechZim, there is now a EcoCash mobile Android app on Google Play Store.

Mobile money transfer/payment services is one of the many technological advancements we receive and enjoy today to cater for shopping, bill payments, withdrawals and saving. Rounding up the group with bank accounts, credit cards, debit order and laybye services (which is another blogpost in the works). The ability to pay for goods and services in Zimbabwe is increasingly becoming innovative for consumers.

With that said, have you registered for a mobile money transfer service with your service provider? Sound off, and have your say on The EcoCash Shopping Revolution.

Stay Gorg and Glam with,

Tendai Sophia

EcoCash Merchant and Biller at Topics First Street.

EcoCash Biller Code at Truworths Sam Levy.

Mannequins in Topics First street Harare.