State decries low penetration of e-commerce in Kenya

Trade Ministry Permanent Secretary, Dr Chris Kiptoo

NAIROBI, KENYA: Jumia Kenya plans to increase the number of vendors from the current 10,000 to 15,000 by 2019.

The e-commerce company made this announcement during Jumia Black Friday launch event held in a Nairobi hotel on Thursday.

“To support the government’s Big Four Agenda on youth employment, we plan to invest significantly in training for small and medium size businesses in 2019. Through this we hope to continue playing a part in the digitization of the economy and job creation”, said Jumia Managing Director, Sam Chappatte.

Mr Chappatte noted that SMEs were critical to Kenya’s employment sector, already accounting for over half of the workforce population

The Black Friday Vendor Event held annually brings together over 500 vendors in Nairobi in preparation for the Black Friday sales campaign.

For the first time, the event was graced by Trade Ministry Permanent Secretary, Dr Chris Kiptoo, who spoke about the impact of e-commerce on employment in the country.

“Our role as State Department for Trade is the promotion of trade ensuring product diversification, and the availability of markets for business community,” said Kiptoo.

He, however, regretted that e-commerce in Kenya was at a low six per cent of all purchases made in 2017.

“Despite the low levels of e-commerce activity, Kenya is leading the continent alongside South Africa and Nigeria,” added Kiptoo.

This year’s Black Friday will commence from 2nd November and will last for the entire month dubbing it: Every Friday is Black Friday this November!  

Jumia announced their first deals during the event, including free delivery for customers who pay with Visa (up to 250 KES); free orders for new Customers to Jumia for Coca Cola bottles; and discounts of up to 70 per cent off on over 1 million products.

Jumia expects this year’s Black Friday to be twice as large as 2017, continuing e-commerce’s strong growth