Sendy Limited has launched a digital-enabled platform that relieves online sellers of logistics difficulties while insulating them from the high operational costs.
Dubbed Sendy Fulfilment, the solution is aimed at e-commerce and direct-to-consumer businesses that do not have storage or delivery systems.
It will pick, pack, and ship orders to customers for a fee of 13 per cent of the product's selling price.
The price also includes picking up the shipment from the vendor's location, three shipping attempts, 60 days of storage, and inventory tracking.
Businesses using the solution will be able to access quick and flexible financing to buy additional inventory and manage their cash flow.
"Online shopping is booming, and locally owned firms are increasingly focusing their efforts on packing and shipping them to customers rather than selling,” Sendy Fulfilment’s general manager for East Africa, Chris Nyaga said.
Nyaga added that they want small business owners to focus on selling and building their enterprise, customer service and repeat business while the platform takes care of logistics.
Without standard fulfillment and logistics capabilities, a large portion of Kenya's 1.5 million registered small enterprises and burgeoning online entrepreneurs face expensive logistics and storage costs, as well as a significant amount of time spent on logistics.
Fashion and electronic accessories, books, packaged food, beauty, baby products, and fitness equipment are among the first items to be sold.
Vendors simply register on the Sendy Fulfillment platform, upload their inventory, and send items to a Fulfillment center near them. When a consumer places an order with a vendor, Sendy ships it on the vendor’s behalf from the Fulfillment center closest to them.
Normal delivery within Nairobi costs between Sh300 and Sh1,000 per shipment measured per mile.
It will provide low and mid-priced items with affordable delivery pricing and tracking services, allowing businesses and customers to follow the exact position of their orders while they are in transit.
The customer can also choose a delivery time and location that is convenient for them.
"If e-commerce shops and other small businesses do not carefully manage their inventory, monitor, and estimate sales in the post-pandemic economy, they risk dead inventory and financial loss," Nyaga said.
He added that by combining retail storage and delivery as a service, these expenses are reduced, and supply chain efficiency is improved.
According to a McKinsey study, by 2025, half of Africa's population will have access to the internet, and online shopping may account for $75 billion (Sh8.4 trillion), or 10 per cent of total retail sales.
Innovative business models and better-optimized supply chains, including fulfillment, are projected to drive development in the face of infrastructural problems, tough operating environments for small firms, and a new crop of businesses.
