Kilimall has expanded its operations to our neighbouring country Uganda and Nigeria, all the way in West Africa. The move comes after the company running trials in both markets during Black Friday. The firm intends to place itself as the leader in e-commerce in the continent. Just for the record, Kilimall is a Kenyan-Chinese backed online store.

It has been close to two years since Kilimall launched its operations in Kenya. Its biggest competitor in the Kenyan market is Jumia. In a move to gain an edge over its competitor, Kilimall partnered with Fargo Courier to deliver goods to customers, doorsteps across Kenya.

The company first ventured in Uganda in May this year. The Uganda market seems to have picked well prompting further expansion in Africa, with Nigeria being the next stop. Not that Jumia has its own branches in Nigeria, India among other countries.

“We launched in July 2014 and our mission is to become No.1 E-commerce platform in Africa. We serve a retail customer base that continues to grow exponentially, offering products that span various categories including Phones, Computers, Clothing, Shoes, Home Appliances, and Books, healthcare, Baby Products, personal care and much more.”

-Statement from the Firm

“We realised that there is a high demand for various products by Nigerians and went in to fill that gap. Since May, visits to the Kilimall website in Uganda have grown to 500 orders per day.”

-Larry Liu, Kilimall International Regional Marketing Director

This is the second Kenyan company to eye both Uganda and Nigeria as their next expansion markets. Little Ride, the taxi hailing service courtesy of Craft Silicon and Safaricom Limited, has plans to do the same in the first quarter of 2017. Craft Silicon plans to find partners in these two countries since Safaricom Limited does not carry operations there.