Kenya sees increased demand for e-commerce amid COVID-19 pandemic
Kenya's e-commerce platform Gobeba has recorded a tripling of orders as more Kenyans shift to online shopping
Kenya sees increased demand for e-commerce amid COVID-19 pandemic
Online shopping has evolved rapidly on the African continent and it has become critically important during the on-going COVID-19 crisis.
In Kenya, e-commerce platform Gobeba has recorded a tripling of orders as more Kenyans shift to online shopping rather than visiting bricks and mortar stores.
Peter Ndang’ui, CEO, Gobeba, said in Kenya, there are two areas that are emerging in the market as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. “The first one is a shift by Kenyans to shop online and the second is working from home,” he said.
Ndang’ui added that the e-commerce part has seen quite a significant growth and here it’s vital to point out that the goods sold involve the essential goods. “This is the area of groceries, cooking gas, pharmaceuticals and health products like hand sanitizers and those kind of things,” he said.
He explained that the other area of e-commerce involving your traditional retail might not be seeing the same growth as the essential goods.
“If you look at our gross merchandise value from the first announcement of COVID-19 in Kenya, we have seen week on week the gross merchandise value grow three times of what we are doing,” he explained. “This is actually translated into revenue because gross merchandise value is a true measure of monetary activity in any e-commerce platform.”
Ndang’ui pointed out that given the manner in which the coronavirus spread and hit Kenya, Gobeba was not fully prepared for the demand that followed as it also works with other supply chain players in the grocery, cooking gas and industrial alcohol sector. “As a result of the high demand and panic buying by some consumers, about 20% of orders placed on our platform are unfulfilled,” he said. “The other thing that’s adding to the complexity is the fact that we have curfews now and it’s all nice to be seen as essentials services but then there are other services that impact our employees.
He added: “For example, when Matatu’s (taxis) have to leave early because there are no customers and they don’t want to violate curfew regulations, then we worry about how our employees are going to get home.”
