Firm finds profits in taking baby products online

Peekaboo Head of Operations Wilfred Kimani with director Mateen Premji. [File, Standard] You are scrolling online and notice a nice baby product, exactly what you wanted for your daughter or son. It is overseas but you can place an order and it will be shipped. The site you are buying from says within 30 or so business days. If it is a birthday present, how sure are you it will arrive on time? Or in case it is a product for a newborn, for the baby you are expecting in a week's time or two, will it be in your hands in time? This is the challenge retail store Peekaboo seeks to solve for such customers. Head of Operations Wilfred Kimani says this is a major challenge for customers who shop online for international brands. "You have to be very patient. You are not sure how fast it will get here. Being a baby product, when you expect a baby in three weeks, and you expect the product within two weeks, are you sure that product will get here within 14 days?" he poses. In his case, Mr Kimani bets he can have your desired product, sourced from international brands, at your doorstep within the set time just like the 'peekaboo' game. That when you uncover your eyes, the product will be there with you. Peekaboo opened its doors in November 2021. And the store has seen tremendous growth, says Kimani, the evidence being the 25,000 customer database. "We have created a huge database of customers. And these are repeat customers. We are very sure that a parent will stick to this brand until the end," he says. Apart from the store located along Rhapta Road, Westlands area in Nairobi, it has a vibrant online presence that is core for the business. The store is known for baby products from newborns to preteens sourced from international brands. It also caters to mother products during the nursing period. Kimani prides in it saying Peekaboo is purely a Kenyan brand. "Peekaboo is a Kenyan-grown company. It is not European and that is one thing we take pride in. What is happening in the retail sector, as much as they are local brands the people behind it are not," he notes. Own products Apart from selling global brands, Peekaboo also sells its own products. The goal, Kimani says, is to have a database of over 100,000 in the next three years. This will be done through the opening of another store at Westgate Mall in October as the retailer also targets Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 2024. The target is a growth of 20 to 30 per cent every year. "Even if you go to Uganda or the DRC or any other market we are eyeing, it is not that there are no other people in the same space. But what we are giving, what we are offering is something unique, that we want other customers in those countries to experience," says Kimani. Asked why the need for physical stores while the business is as strong online, Mr. Kimani notes that there are some customers who still want to touch and feel before buying. But he insists this is not because they do not trust online purchases, it is partly because they might have been disappointed when it comes to delivery. He calls the physical shops 'experience store'. "One of the challenges we realised in this market is that the delivery aspect is one of the things that used to discourage shoppers from purchasing online," he says. "Sometimes they (online stores) do not even communicate to tell you whether it is coming or not." He says this is the reason Peekaboo has built a solid e-commerce infrastructure that will ensure needs of customers who do not want to come to the store are met. "The efficiency in delivery is something we really wanted to get it right," he says. This then led the store to partner with The Standard Group, which provides courier services across the country through its subsidiary business Standard Courier. He boasts that it is only Peekaboo in that space where one can order something and get it within two hours as long as they are in Nairobi. "There is nothing so discouraging for any parent or customer to buy something and you are not sure when it will come or we promise it will come tomorrow or after two hours and it does not," he says.

Firm finds profits in taking baby products online

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