In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the rate of growth in e-commerce retail current value sales slowed slightly during 2020 but remained vigorous. While the economic shock of the pandemic led many local consumers to rein in their discretionary spending, the fact that many consumers found it much more difficult to shop in person due to restrictions on movement led some to try online shopping for the first time.
Last-mile delivery has long been a major pain point for e-commerce in Kenya, as the lack of a universal addressing system often makes it very difficult for delivery drivers to find the homes of their customers. Pick-up points – called ‘Mtaani’ locally – are increasingly being used a way of circumventing this problem: Rather than delivering an order directly to a customer’s home, the customer collects it from a designated pick-up point – often a local shop.
In 2021, marketplaces like Jumia Technologies AG and Kilimall International Ltd will continue to lead e-commerce in Kenya. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has intensified the competitive landscape due to the influx of chained stores like Carrefour which have adopted an omnipresence approach and have launched e-commerce stores.
The retail current value sales of e-commerce will continue to exhibit strong growth during the forecast period. Increased consumer interest in online shopping is likely to persist, even as the threat posed by COVID-19 begins to fade.
The competition between small and large players will intensify in the years to come. With supermarket chains like Naivas Ltd and Chandarana Supermarket Ltd increasing their focus on e-commerce, this will put pressure on incumbents, particularly leader Jumia Technologies AG, during the forecast period.
With the rising demand and popularity for e-commerce, there is also set to be more cases of online fraud in Kenya over the forecast period. As a result, it will be crucial for both online players and the government to implement tighter safety measures for purchases made online.
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Sales of consumer goods to the general public via the Internet. Please note that this includes sales through mobile phones and tablets (i.e. m-commerce). E-commerce includes sales generated through pure e-commerce websites and through sites operated by store-based retailers. Sales data is attributed to the country where the consumer is based, rather than where the retailer is based. The definition of e-commerce is agnostic as to where actual payment takes place; if an order is initiated online, it is considered to be an e-commerce transaction, even if the order is ultimately paid for in-store (or elsewhere). As a result, all ‘click-and-collect’ and ‘collect-at-store’ transactions are counted as e-commerce sales. E-commerce excludes sales of: (a) Consumer-to-consumer (C2C) and business-to-business (B2B) sales, although please note that sales between businesses and consumers (i.e. B2C sales) on sites such as eBay are included; (b) Sales of motor vehicles, motorcycles and vehicle parts; (c) Tickets for events (sports, music concerts, etc.) and travel; (d) Sales of travel and holiday packages; (e) Revenue generated by online gambling sites; (f) Returned products/unpaid invoices; and (h) Internet sales from direct selling companies, as these are tracked in Direct Selling market size/shares. Example e-commerce brands include Amazon.com, Zappos.com, Apple.com, iTunes, Rakuten, Tesco.com, Dell.com, Coles Online, etc. 3rd Party Merchant sales through online marketplaces, such as Amazon.com, eBay.com and Walmart.com, are included and split out in shares. 3rd party merchants are the summation of sales that come from businesses that are present on an online marketplace (e.g. Amazon, Alibaba). Marketplaces are websites that allow multiple merchants to sell on the marketplace website, with the marketplace operator processing the transactions, but many marketplaces provide offer other services as to help with shipping, handling, payment, and product storage. The marketplace is not the merchant of record legally, but for the sake of shares, sales from 3rd part merchants are attributed to the marketplace brand operator.
See All of Our DefinitionsThis report originates from Passport, our E-Commerce (Goods) research and analysis database.
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