A business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce platform developed by global logistics company DP World in the United Arab Emirates has launched in Kenya, with ambitions to expand the service to other nations throughout Africa in the coming months. After establishing operations in Rwanda and announcing its next target, which is to expand into Ethiopia, this is Dubuy’s third market in East Africa in as many months.
The platform was established earlier this year to assist businesses in purchasing and selling commodities and is being managed by Dubai’s government. The supply network of DP World and its logistics partners ensures that purchased goods are delivered on time.
It is planned that the e-commerce site will take advantage of DP World’s ports (of which there are presently eight, with three more under development) and logistics network throughout Africa in order to expand its presence in the continent. Rwanda, Namibia, Mozambique, South Africa, Senegal (Senegal), Egypt (Egypt), Algeria (Algeria), Nigeria (Djibouti), and Somaliland are among the countries with DP World hubs in Africa, and the company’s regional expansion ambitions are likely to be informed by such hubs. By 2025, Dubuy intends to have a presence in every country on the continent.
AfCFTA is already in effect, and the world’s attention will be on Africa, Mahmood Al Bastaki, chief executive of Dubai Trade World and DP World, stated.
With Dubuy.com and other platforms like it, African firms are embracing the use of technology and digital channels to connect with their supply chain partners and develop flexible supply chains. According to him, our technology enables domestic businesses to become worldwide enterprises by providing access to new markets in Africa and the Middle East as well as other parts of the globe.”
So far, the site has attracted more than 500,000 visitors from around Africa, according to the retailers. The most in-demand items are culinary and automotive supplies. The platform has an agreement with the National Bank of Kenya for trade financing in Kenya since it works closely with governments, and traders utilising Dubuy are believed to profit from drastically discounted shipping tariffs.
Small and medium-sized businesses in Africa are increasingly turning to online marketplaces for growth, but the continent only makes up a small percentage of global e-commerce due to a variety of problems, including poor internet access and high data costs.
E-commerce in Africa is only about 25 per cent of users but this number is expected to rise rapidly as the cost of internet access falls and connectivity becomes more widespread. According to the GSMA mobile economy forecast for 2021, over 28 per cent of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa is linked to mobile internet, with this number predicted to rise to approximately 40 per cent by 2025.
UNCTAD B2C Commerce Index ranks Kenya as one of the world’s fastest-growing e-commerce countries. Nearly three-quarters of the population has a mobile money account, and more than a quarter of the population uses e-commerce to shop and pay bills.
Africa’s largest B2C e-commerce website, Jumia, is currently the most popular in the continent, beating out Chinese-owned Kilimall, Nigeria’s Marketplace Africa, and South Africa’s bidorbuy.
