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Why walk when fingers can do the shopping?

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 Buyers are lured with huge discounts and free delivery

The Kenyan retail sector has seen the rise of various online shopping sites like Jumia, OLX and Kilimall which have grown rapidly in recent years. Jumia estimates that about 2000 people visit its website daily, while OLX has approximately two million viewers a month according Cytonn.

These buyers are lured with huge discounts and free delivery and one buyer who rarely goes to shopping malls is Jolly Kerubo.

She works along Mombasa Road where a cellphone she had bought ordered the previous day was delivered on motorbike. She inspected, was satisfied by the Sony Experia which she paid and a receipt given as proof of purchase.

Jolly enjoys shopping from the comforts of wherever she is, be it office or home. And what's more, items in online stores, unlike walk-in retail ones, are competitively priced as there are hardly killer rental expenses besides a battalion of workers and high overheads like electricity, water, service charge and suffocating 'goodwill' to make them expensive.

Indeed, the same Sony Experia Jolly bought online could have cost considerably higher at a retail stall in a mall-targeting high end clientele for the retailer to recoup expenditure and stay afloat.

Jumia is an online store and whose Managing Director, Sam Chappatte told The Nairobian that "We have partnered with various distributors to give exciting offers to our online clients. We for instance, give 50 per cent offers off diapers every Friday on Jumia.

Chappatte says online stores boast of solid partnerships forged between them and the distributors and that is what gives them a competitive edge against walk-in stores. "On a daily basis, we list between 50,000- 60,000 items which draw more than 2000 views and thousands, of sales daily," he said.

According to Chapatte, the online market is however not going to disrupt the traditional ways of buying items. "You will still need to walk into a store when buying a diamond ring for instance, so there are still opportunities in the walk in stores," he said, adding that Jumia has introduced fashion items and beauty products to cater for its increasing clientele demands.

He added that the future of online shopping will see more partnerships with bigger players and "This will enable our clients to have a one stop shop for genuine quality products which can be delivered right on their doorsteps."

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