Deacons chairman Peter Gichohi Njoka (left) with chief executive officer Muchiri Wahome. PHOTO | SALATON NJAU | NMG
Summary
- Deacons East Africa plans to start taking orders online and delivering them to customers’ doorsteps in the first quarter of next year.
- The retailer says the e-commerce platform, being developed at a cost of between Sh10.32 million and Sh15.48 million ($100,000-$150,000), will cut operating expenses by about 20 per cent.
Clothing and lifestyle goods retailer Deacons East Africa is set to open an online portal to tap tech-savvy customers with an eye
on boosting flattening sales and cutting operating costs.
The
NSE-listed firm plans to start taking orders online and delivering them
to customers’ doorsteps in the first quarter of next year.
The
loss-making retailer Wednesday said the e-commerce platform, being
developed at a cost of between Sh10.32 million and Sh15.48 million
($100,000-$150,000), will cut operating expenses by about 20 per cent.
Chief
executive Muchiri Wahome said the firm is drawing on lessons from
online shopping platform, Jumia, where its brands are digitally
marketed, in designing its own platform.
Mr Wahome was,
however, quick to add it may take more than two years for the system,
largely targeting affluent young clientele, to start driving sales.
“E-commerce
has to be convenient, easy to use and that’s what we are building. It
is just to make sure there’s easy access, quick transaction capability
and there’s quick delivery,” he said.
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“We
are presently on Jumia where we are learning interesting lessons. It
is going to take time. I don’t expect that in 24 months, online sales
will surpass 10 per cent but the opportunity thereafter is enormous.”
The
Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) traded firm is struggling to grow
sales in the upmarket shopping malls, which house 98 per cent of its
stores, due to falling customer traffic attributed to non-performance of
major supermarket anchor tenants.
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