Shmuggleit is a campus-specific online classified website that allows registered students from a specific varsity campus to post their unwanted items or services they would like to render to other registered students on the very same campus, at no charge.
The first-year student, Joseph Akinsola began his journey early in 2019 when he wanted to purchase a second-hand laptop from a store on campus which unbelievably price and fortunately, he already had one in his possession but that wasnât the case for his friend who was studying the same degree. âAlthough having a number of computer labs on campus has its benefits, it also has certain limitations.
His performance in modules that required him to make use of a computer/laptop was not up to par in comparison to the performance in his other modules says Akinsola. Isabelle Bilton from Independent News for International Students says âIn the past, parents and students may have had to foot the bill for textbooks, stationery but now, with the rise of technology inside and outside of the classroom, students are often expected to have their own laptop, too.
The friendâs dilemma led him to the following questions, âWhat if students still canât afford to purchase items at their second-hand prices on campus? And if they canât afford these items, could one of the reasons be due to the commission/listing fees charged by these âmiddle manâ stores on campus? I thought to myself, students deserve to keep 100% of whatever they sell to other students in the comfort of their own campusâ.
After seven months of doing extensive research the Akinsola, launched an official beta site at the University of the Free State Bloemfontein Campus and has been encouraged by 50 students who have registered on Shmuggleit. âThe first âShmuggleâ to be bought was a calculator which was sold by a female student on campus after posting the ad through Shmuggleit.
He mentions that one of the challenges of opening this kind of business was gaining exposure without a huge marketing budget as well as trying to show our credibility to students. âThe team and I have however noticed that engaging personally with students on campus yields a positive effect on the traffic and registration on Shmuggleit. We are currently fine-tuning Shmuggleit.com through the University of the Free State so that when we roll it out to the rest of South Africa in the coming months says Akinsola
