The move comes amid PCK’s plan to ride on its new clearing and forwarding division and e-commerce services to breathe life into the struggling State firm's earnings.
Under the partnership, online shoppers in Kenya will buy from firms such as Amazon and e-Bay then Seagate will ship to Kenya. Once in the country, Posta will deliver the goods to homes.
The Postal Corporation of Kenya (PCK) has inked a deal with American logistics firm Seagate to enable Kenyans to ship purchases from international e-commerce companies to their doorsteps.
The move comes amid PCK’s plan to ride on its new clearing and forwarding division and e-commerce services to breathe life into the struggling State firm's earnings.
Under the partnership, online shoppers in Kenya will buy from firms such as Amazon and e-Bay then Seagate will ship to Kenya. Once in the country, Posta will deliver the goods to homes.
According to Posta, the deal will also help offset the trade imbalance as establishing a link between the two companies will allow buyers to procure goods from Kenyan merchants.
“Everybody is getting into the internet and buying stuff from China, the US and everywhere but nothing comes from us. Seagate brings in and opens the doors for Kenyan SMEs to access the market in the US,” said postmaster general Dan Kagwe on Wednesday.
“It opens that logistics presence for PCK into the US which is also an extremely big achievement,” the Posta chief said.
Technology firm BSK Global Technology is in charge of developing the IT solutions required to streamline the online processes so that the new shipping option is available to users as they browse e-commerce sites.
Posta and the Ministry of ICT have been pushing for the growth and development of e-commerce infrastructure.
Through the rollout of a national addressing system, sector regulator Communications Authority of Kenya is working on numbering streets, buildings and homes to boost door-to-door delivery.
According to 2018 data from UNCTAD, Kenya had 2,614,000 online shoppers, coming third in Africa after Nigeria and South Africa.
The percentage of internet users shopping online rose to 24 per cent from 16 per cent in the 2017 e-commerce index.
Last year, Posta indicated that it was engaging Amazon executives to create a working relationship which would see Posta become their logistics partner in Kenya.
Additionally, the United Nations’ Universal Postal Union indicated it was eyeing a partnership with Kenya to establish a regional e-commerce hub.
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