Kenya’s Kilimall eyes growth in Tanzania and other E. African markets

The Star quotes Dickson Ng’ang’a, Kilimall’s Brand and Marketing Senior Supervisor, as saying partnerships with SMEs has been key in growing the firm’s operations and it will pursue other areas like logistics to aid in last mile delivery. 

A great opportunity for sellers to ship across the continent 

“From last year we started going to the larger East Africa, starting by Tanzania and then by 2044 all over Africa. This will be a great opportunity for our sellers to ship products across the continent,” said Ng’ang’a. 

“We have plans in the future to also have our own logistics company so that we can ensure rates are low and favourable to our sellers, which will contribute to product affordability to customers,” he is quoted as saying. 

According to Trendtype, the emerging markets consultancy, Kilimall’s plans to open a new warehouse in Tanzania are at an advanced stage and it expects to commence trials this year. 

“Kilimall will initially focus on partnering with small Tanzanian vendors to build a customer base in the country. Kilimall plans to expand into also covering logistics and deliveries, which will initially be outsourced under an asset-light model,” Trendtype says. 

“The Tanzanian market is much less developed for e-commerce than Kenya and has less developed supply chains.  

“But the port of Dar es Salaam is competing with Mombasa to become the leading point of entry for goods into East African markets, and the expansion of Kilimall into Tanzania opens up the possibility of also serving customers in Rwanda, Burundi and Eastern DRC indirectly.”