miiriya is a free shopping application by Lamine Loco. This is an online marketplace that provides a platform for Black-owned small businesses. Here, you can buy various products directly from your mobile phone.

miiriya uses the buy-anything-you-need scheme that Amazon and other online shopping apps offer. You can search for a product that you want and conduct your transaction by following the procedure. However, as it is a nascent marketplace, it is far from perfect. Users will find it hard to navigate as you have to search using a couple of different keywords to see all the products you like. 

What is miiriya?

miiriya is a word in the African language Bambara/Dioula, which means thoughts or ideas. As mentioned, it is an online shopping platform like Amazon. Here, you can browse various products, ranging from fashion, beauty, and hair to art, home furniture, and other accessories. Like other similar apps, it allows you to search for products by category. There's also a search bar that indexes products across every vendor.

The process of buying is also similar to Amazon. You can even leave a product review once you receive your item. The difference lies in the fact that the app is for small Black-owned businesses. According to its developer, it does not charge vendors any overhead for their listing or transaction fees. With this, every penny you spend goes directly to the vendor.

However, as the app is relatively new, it could use a few improvements. For one, it does not have a landing page, prompting the user to choose a category as soon as the app launches. There is a search bar available, but you have to input a couple of keywords to find the item you want. It also does not help that the app is prone to glitching and freezing.

Should you use it?

All in all, miiriya is a good alternative to popular online shopping apps. Here, there are many categories of products you can scroll through and buy. However, as it is a new competitor in the market, the selection is smaller. The app is also unstable in terms of performance. There will be constant interruptions to your shopping due to the app freezing or glitching.