Naivas invests Sh180m in e-shop with eye on tech-savvy clients

Naivas Supermarket will next month launch an e-commerce platform as it seeks to reach tech savvy shoppers. The firm Tuesday said it is investing Sh180 million in setting up the e-shop.

It has set a target to generate at least seven per cent of its annual revenue from online customers. The retail chain says customers will buy everything on its shelves online for delivery countrywide. “There is opportunity in the market.

There are people we cannot serve right now and we would deliver to them,” said Naivas chief commercial officer Willy Kimani.

The retailer already provides delivery services at some of its branches.

The supermarket said details on how much customers will be charged for delivery are still being worked out. “We are working with our partners to ensure that delivery cost is per kilo package. The final costs will be released,” said Mr Kimani.

Tuesday, the supermarket launched Naivas Pay, a new platform that integrates card and mobile money payments.

Naivas Pay will also provide the supermarket with an avenue to collect data on customers’ shopping habits and tailor its services to meet their needs. E-commerce is becoming a big part of the Kenyan economy, thanks to deeper penetration of the Internet and mobile money services.

An indicator of the growing robustness of local e-commerce is the number of parcels sent.

Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) data shows that courier items sent locally grew 59.3 per cent in the year to June on account of “the adoption of e-commerce services by consumers.”