The Covid-19 pandemic has prompted more Kenyans to make online orders and increased digital transactions.
Delivery companies including Jumia, Glovo and Uber Eats applied a number of Covid-19 precautionary measures as part of their protocol during the period. The companies advocated for cashless payments increasing the number of card and mobile payments by 50 percent.
Grocery orders also saw a 30 percent rise as more people chose to stay indoors during the period. More Kenyans have become more adaptable to e-commerce and overall digital services since the first case of Covid-19 was reported in the country on March 12.
Glovo partnered with mastercard and Standard Chartered Bank to encourage more users to make electronic payments on their platform. M-Pesa also waived transaction fees for users sending Sh 1,000 and less and banks also waived transaction fees for users making electronic transfers between Banks and Mobile Money.
Global Management Consulting Firm McKinsey & Company in their report ” Meet the next-Normal Consumer” revealed that the ordinary consumer had changed their preferences towards e-commerce services and general digital solutions.
“With the increased consumption of digital services worldwide, we will continue to see a sustained momentum of Kenyans still embracing online delivery services and other e-commerce platforms going forward even as the economy now reopens. During this period, we have witnessed changes in shopping patterns due to the shift in preferences by consumers in the country hence this has helped us to focus more on addressing what the consumer needs.” said Priscilla Muhiu, General Manager, Glovo Kenya.
The e-commerce companies outlined various protocols to prevent the spread of Covid-19 including contact-less deliveries whereby their personnel would drop off the items at clients’ doorsteps, and create social distance before calling them.
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