A habit that has not died after moving back to Nairobi. Now she hunts for bargains online and gets them shipped to her.
A hotel manager, Noreen returned to Kenya three years ago and has continued to shop from her favourite shops, especially bath and body works products.
“During bargain sales you get more for your money’s worth. I buy online and ask someone to bring for me,” said Noreen. Other times she goes to local stores that stock the preferred products or brands, though they cost a bit more.
Many Kenyans, including store owners, are now going online to buy merchandise from stores and working with shippers and delivery companies to get the products into the country.
Kenyans have quickly woken up to the convenience of doing shopping from the comfort of their homes, beating the cost and hustle that comes with physically shopping abroad.
Most international shops are now capitalising on shoppers unable to travel to their stores and opening up opportunities to do so on their websites. This has also opened up opportunities for exclusive online stores, both locally and abroad, where the investors offer different products from popular stores, at a cost.
With an internationally recognised card, which can be cleared in the stores host country, or PayPal one can purchase what they want.
Chain stores
Maureen Gitahi, a legal researcher, was a student in the UK for before moving back to Kenya two years ago.
Used to some of the chain stores including H&M, Debenhams, Warehouse and Dorothy Perkins, she has found a way to continue shopping in them online and has a shipping agent who delivers to her door step.
Using her Visa card, she purchases her preferred merchandise, mostly clothes, which are sent to the shipper’s office who charge her according to volume or kilogrammes, depending on the content, on top of the handling fee.
“I mainly shop during the sales, and have it all delivered to the shipper’s office who deliver it here,” she said. It costs her about £4(Sh520) per kilogramme and a handling fee of £20 (Sh2,600), upwards depending on the content.
Some of the local trendy shops in the country are using the same method to purchase their stock. This has seen an influx of trendy clothes from Europe and the US, away from the usual trade markets of China, Dubai and Turkey.
“The convenience of shopping online has enabled Kenyans to enjoy the best fashion that is offered abroad with ease,” said Global Venture manager at Jumia, Oscar Boré.
Jumia is an international online store sourcing most of its merchandise from Paris. It targets up market middle class and up mark shoppers aware of international shopping trends.Jumia has stores in four African countries, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Egypt and Kenya.
It recently opened a Kenyan branch to tap into the growing demand, mainly driven by the growing middle class who are exposed to international markets and are tech savvy.
Jumia charges Sh200 for shipment of purchases costing less than Sh5,000 and free for those above. Shoppers can either pay using Visa, MasterCard or mobile money.
“We will be having summer sale discounts at our store in the middle of July. The products in our store will be the same as what will be on sale in stores across Paris,” said Boré.
But the weather is not much of an excuse considering the cold in Nairobi is not as harsh as winter spells in Europe. This provides international fashion sellers with an opportunity to offer the same products to clients in markets like Nairobi, although Kenyans are not seasonal shoppers.
The biggest headache for shopping online is the shipping and clearing process, which sometimes can be daunting or expensive.
In 2009, international delivery company DHL launched its ‘Easy Shop’ service targeting online shopping, especially in the US.
Having seen an opportunity, the service offered consumers a solution of sourcing products from the States to Nairobi. At the point of collection, customers paid for the cost of shipping and any applicable customs charge.
However, frustrations by customs clearance saw the service get a slow pick.
Alan Cassels, DHL Express country manager, said the lack of a provision by customs on how to clear light purchases meant that even small goods have to follow the normal clearance procedure, which can be tedious and costly sometimes.
“Online shopping has fantastic potential and possibility to grow in Kenya,” said Mr Cassels. “International online shopping is a good experience with a lot of possibilities.”
However, the company has not lost hope on Kenya, as it plans to re-launch the service in the near future, when things have been streamlined, he said.
Most online shoppers are using importers mainly based in Eastleigh to get the goods into the market. However, these importers have in the past come under fire for evading the tax man.
The lack of a physical address system in Kenya has also been identified as a big challenge to online shopping.
Shopping festivals
“More often, online merchants find it difficult locating residential units to make delivery when handling new customers. This is because finding directions is often limited to Google Map app and phone calls,” said Kenya ICT board marketing director and deputy CEO Eunice Kariuki.
To address this, the Ministry of Information and Communications has partnered with city authorities to introduce numbering of buildings within Nairobi County to ease delivery.
This is expected to open business opportunities for courier firms such as G4S, Nation Courier Services, Postal Corporation of Kenya (PCK) and DHL, among others.
Buying goods online locally is a growing trend due to the improved telecommunication infrastructure in the country and online payment gateways which allow users to pay using credit cards or mobile money transfer services.
The trend has grown beyond individual shops to malls looking to capitalise on the opportunity. One of the world’s largest shopping malls, Dubai Mall, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The mall is home to the Dubai Shopping Festival, which is held annually in January, since 1996.
The festival, which is widely publicised in Kenya, invites locals to travel to the Middle East country at a subsidised cost.
South Africa is also investing in attracting Kenyan shoppers to their malls with its festival held in September.
With subsidized packages, which include airfare and accommodation, the country has been eyeing the growing Kenyan appetite for trendy merchandise.
- Business Daily
