Online shopping mall Kilimall Black Friday sale soared this year, growing three times more compared to last year. The leading online marketplace says in its Black Friday report that sales from the shopping festival marked on November 25th grew by 300% from 2015, as more Kenyans took advantage of huge discounts on various products.
Kilimall Managing Director Robin Xie attributed the growth to increased uptake of e-commerce by Kenyans and Kilimall’s quality products, affordable prices and fast delivery. “Trust in online shopping is growing and expanding e-commerce,” said Mr Xie.
He said the most popular items were smartphones, fashion as well as home & living products, which accounted for 90 percent of sales. Some of the top selling brands included Infinix, Samsung, Cubot and Gionee smartphones as well as Bata footwear products.
Most products achieve an average of 500 orders per day on Kilimall, providing a powerful retail channel for merchants. According to the report, 50% of the shoppers paid online, an indication that Kenyans are leading in embracing e-commence in Africa. “Online payment will benefit the entire supply chain and e-commerce industry in future,” said Mr Xie.
Mr Xie said sales were boosted by, among other things, more variety of products and faster delivery, noting that Kilimall has achieved the same-day delivery target. “It’s clear online shopping has become the best alternative for Kenyans because it’s convenient and provides products at very affordable prices,” said Mr Xie.
Mr Xie said Kilimall has extended the Black Friday offers to December, as part of Cyber Monday, another round of shopping deals.
“Shoppers who missed Black Friday or didn’t enjoy enough deals also have chance to gain crazy deals on Cyber Monday between 28th November and 4th December,” he said.
Mr Xie said Kilimall has planned more attractive offers for the Christmas festive season beginning the first week of December. “We will have discounts and other offers on various products to make Kenyans enjoy Christmas holidays on budget,” he said. “It’s the giving season and Kilimall will also be giving free items and vouchers to our shoppers.”
Delivery timelines depend on the category of item ordered, he said. Local products labeled FBK (Fulfilled by Kilimall) take 2-3 days to be delivered. Those from merchants, labelled Drop Shipping (with a water drop mark) take 3-5 days while those from global merchants (with airplane icon) are delivered within 30 days.
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Global shopping enables shoppers to buy products overseas via Kilimall and have them shipped a period of 21 days. With drop shipping, products are stocked by the merchants and our delivery team picks the product after payment. Under FBK (Fulfilled by Kilimall), products are stocked at the Kilimall warehouse and shoppers can pay on delivery.
