And the battle continues heating up. EcoCash came first, InnBucks came in like a wrecking ball and now O’mari is making a go for it.
O’mari’s latest promotion, the For Mahala USD Wallet Promo, is a ‘sweet’ one as they put it. They slapped a big old ‘FREE’ on some transactions. You won’t be charged anything and not even the govt will get its grubby little hands on your money – i.e. there is no IMT Tax.
Do note though that Mthuli doesn’t play those games and so the tax will be paid one way or the other. O’mari will have to pay it for you. They can manage, they have the financial muscle.
Here’s what’s free:
Send money
Cash Out
ZIPIT
Bill payments and VISA transactions are not part of the promotion.
The promotion runs until the 30th of April and it is quite an aggressive one. For as long as the promotion runs, using O’mari will be the same as physically handing the cash to your loved one. No one asks for ‘yedrink’ for ‘carrying the envelope’ across the country.
This promotion will cost O’mari but can you put a price on customer acquisition? This is just how business is done, modern business especially.
Just the other week we were talking about ride-hailing businesses running 6-month long promotions where they charge neither the driver nor the rider. It’s the same aggressive move but it’s not for the faint of pocket.
We saw InnBucks run its “Send Money Home Free” promotion targeting Zimbabweans living outside the country. Oh, and how can we forget EcoCash giving us all a dollar each when we first signed up way back when.
You will note that none of these businesses are exactly your typical Zimbabwean startup. The ride-hailers are multinationals that are using their Silicon Valley-sourced funds to gain market share whilts O’mari is part of a multinational behemoth itself. InnBucks is a Simbisa product and EcoCash is part of the Econet group.
Of course, as consumers we can’t help but love these aggressive promotions, they lead to lower costs for us and Lord knows, our weary wallets could do with the respite, however shortlived.
However, one then wonders how startups with shallower pockets will ever compete. With most, if not all, startups complaining about how hard it is to raise funds, will they be able to match these crazy good promotions?
Food for thought, I guess. Anyway, enjoy your free O’mari whilst stocks last.
