Local e-commerce platform Kilimall plans to scale its operations beyond Kenya into the East African region.
This is among the initiatives the platform is pursuing in its 20-year pan-Africa expansion plan.
The firm is betting on the growing need for convenience to scale its operations in the local market and across the region.
Over the past year, Kenya has grown to be the third largest e-commerce market in Africa, driven by the increase in internet penetration making it an attractive investment market.
German data and business intelligence platform Statista ranks Kenya third in the continent's e-commerce market penetration at 46.7 percent.
Egypt tops at a 55.4 percent followed by South Africa at 49.4 percent.
Kilimall brand and marketing senior supervisor Dickson Ng’ang’a said partnerships with SMEs has been key in growing the firm’s operations and it will pursue other areas like logistics to aid in last mile delivery.
“From last year we started going to the larger East Africa, Starting by Tanzania and then by 2044 all over Africa. This will be a great opportunity for our sellers to ship products across the continent,” said Ng’ang’a.
“We have plans in the future to also have our own logistics company so that we can ensure rates are low and favourable to our sellers which will contribute to products affordability to customers,” said Ng’ang’a.
He added that Kilimall is at an advanced stage in setting up a warehouse in Tanzania as a plan to penetrate the east Africa market
In the long term the company says it is looking to attract one million businesses on its platform and reach on billion customers on the continent.
The firm’s logistics manager Yvone Maina hinted that the plan to establish own logistics would be undertaken within the next two years.
This is among the initiatives that Kilimall will be undertaking to navigate the challenging e commerce market in Kenya.
Over the past year a number of business-to-business e commerce platform have gone under despite the Kenyan governments’ move to lay out a goal to provide employment prospects for up to 3.5 million young people by 2027 through e-commerce and startups.
This was to be done through the National E-Commerce Strategy, a collaborative effort between the government, private sector stakeholders, and industry experts, aiming to harness the full potential of digital commerce in Kenya.
This plan is outlined in the Ministry of Information, Communications, and the Digital Economy's 2023-2027 Strategic Plan.
However, despite the framework some players in the space have experienced a rough ride.
Kenya’s e-commerce sector, which was once touted a picture of growth and innovation, has faced a harsh reality for businesses catering to other businesses (B2B).
The sector seems to be weeding out players, with many prominent names struggling recently.
MarketForce, a major player, shut down its B2B platform, RejaReja. Twiga, a company that connected retailers with farms for their produce, ran into cash flow problems and was forced to make leadership changes, including the departure of its co-founder and CEO.
Wasoko, another established name, executed a merger with an Egyptian firm, MaxAB, which resulted in over 100 employees losing their jobs.
Copia, a company a company that had previously secured significant funding, announced that it could potentially lay off staff or shut down completely if it could not find additional investment.