Delegates follow proceedings during the United Nations Conference on
Trade and Development meeting at KICC in Nairobi on Monday. PHOTO |
SALATON NJAU
By Sandra Chao-Blasto
Kenya’s growing shift to e-commerce is set to receive
a fresh impetus as United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
(Unctad) begins to rally developing countries to exploit the potential
of online trading.
Under its initiative eTrade for all launched on Monday
during the ongoing forum in Nairobi, Unctad hopes to promote use of
online platforms as part of efforts to boost participation of developing
nations in global trade.
Unctad Secretary General Mukhisa Kituyi said the
current trends of e-commerce was skewed in favour of developed countries
with only a small percentage of the population in emerging nations
trading online.
“A huge divide is opening between countries that
are exploiting those opportunities and those that are not. The global
community now has an effective platform for helping developing countries
access and benefit from e-commerce,” he said.
Online shopping is becoming increasingly popular in
Kenya, because of the convenience it brings and the wide selection of
products it accords buyers who do not have to leave the comfort of their
seats to buy whatever they wish.
The online bazaar is dominated by classified listings such as Rupu, OLX, Bidorbuy, Cheki, BuyRentKenya, and BrighterMonday.
Africa Internet Group (AIG), a subsidiary of Rocket
Internet recently rebranded their portals to adopt the Jumia brand like
Kaymu, Hellofood, Lamudi and Jovago in a bid to increase sales based on
the trusted name.
Unctad estimates that the global value of ecommerce
platforms has increased by 38 per cent from 2013 with the worth of
business to business transactions being estimated as $19.9 trillion
while the value of business to consumer markets growing to $2.2
trillion.
Emerging economies
China, America, UK, Germany, Japan, Brazil, Korea,
France and Russia are among the countries ranked highly as e-commerce
markets according to new Unctad data though there is evidence that most
of the global rapid growth is being witnessed in emerging economies.
The initiative will focus on seven policy areas of
e-commerce assessments, ICT infrastructure; payments, trade logistics,
legal and regulatory frameworks, skills development and financing for
online trading.
Among the goals is to be able to mobilise and
rationalise financial resources from development partners and the
private sector to enable the implementation of e-commerce projects in
the eligible member countries.
The entry of global e-commerce companies and the start of local online-based firms has fuelled demand for warehouses.
The companies use the depots to store their
merchandise and run their operations online because orders are placed
online and deliveries are done through courier services.
According to a survey by property Management
Company Knight Frank, warehousing and logistics sector grew by 24 per
cent over the last 10 years in Africa, and given another decade it will
experience a 41 per cent expansion rate.
E-commerce is expected to go a notch higher following implementations of positive policies by various government organisations.
Kenya Network Information Centre (Kenic), the body in charge
of the .ke domain, has cut by a third the cost of acquiring the domain
and plans to make it compulsory for new companies seeking registration
to have a website as part of efforts to get at least half of local
enterprises online.
The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) has
started a process to have a nation-wide numbering and addressing system
to boost uptake of e-commerce and improve service delivery.
The regulator notes that the timely and efficient
delivery of goods to customers making orders online or through telephone
calls has been slow as most homes and small businesses lack proper
addresses.
The 14th Unctad session currently ongoing at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre is expected to close on Friday.
schao@ke.nationmedia.com
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