If you had to buy or sell a mobile phone a few years back, the immediate place that came to your mind was the nearest mobile store. Times have changed and things are no more the same. It’s the age of the internet and e-commerce is the new supermarket.
I can’t really remember the last time I went to a store to look out for new gadgets or to simply check the price of a new gizmo. When it’s just a click away, why take the pain of driving to a store? Ya ya I know, the internet has made us too lazy, but isn’t that the reality? Shopping experience has been so simplified that it’s actually a pleasure now to explore stuff, not a trauma that it used to be. It’s not just about buying, the same applies to selling as well. With e-Bay starting the trend, e-commerce has just exploded into a huge global market with millions of online stores opening up, making each and everything available on the web.
Online shopping is already very popular in regions like America, Europe, Australia and parts of Asia. You can call it the preferred medium of shopping at these places. And it’s not just these parts of the world, the trend is catching up in other countries as well, including the African nations, and when it comes to Africa, Kenya is one country with a lot of potential in this regard. As per a CCK report, during the period July ’13 – Sep ’13, there were a total of 19.1 million internet users in Kenya. This number has only been increasing since then. Seeing the surge in the internet population, a large number of online stores have opened up in the country, serving customers with everything ranging from cakes to electronics. Services like Olx Kenya have also been foraying into the country’s online market, providing people with a platform to buy & sell through classifieds.
With the internet user base growing, more and more Kenyans are looking to shop from their homes. This presents an opportunity not just for the sellers, but also for the buyers, who’ll benefit from the increased competition by getting better services and cheaper prices.
