World’s largest logistics company, DHL has announced the expansion of the operations of its e-commerce app, the DHL Africa eShop app to 34 countries.
The platform introduced an additional 14 countries to the already launched 20 making it a total of 34 countries.
The online retail app that enables consumers to shop directly from over 200 US and UK online stores, with doorstep delivery was introduced in April 2019 with operations across Sub Saharan African countries.
Speaking on the expansion, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of DHL Express Sub Saharan Africa, Hennie Heymans expressed his optimism on the expansion drive of the platform while highlighting the success it had achieved both on the number of downloads and the orders as well.
“DHL adopted a phased approach for the rollout of the platform on the continent, with the initial launch implemented in 11 countries to test the market’s reaction. Within the first seven weeks, the response from the consumer market was so impressive, that the second phase was initiated – which added 9 more countries to the list. Now we are once again able to build on that momentum, with the biggest single rollout phase so far,” he said.
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What you should know: The DHL Africa eShop app’s latest additions include Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Chad, Ethiopia, Guinea, Lesotho, Namibia, Niger, Sudan, Togo and Zimbabwe. The platform, which offers an avenue for African consumers to shop global brands with convenience and speed, uses fintech startups for payment methods such as Nigeria’s Paga and Kenya’s M-Pesa.
Nairametrics understands that DHL is poised to leverage its existing delivery structure in Africa (DHL Express courier service).
Why this matters: It is pertinent to understand that the e-commerce market has been making significant strides in Nigeria and Africa at large. With leading platforms like Jumia, Takealot and Konga, the industry is fast growing and at the same time, welcoming healthy competition. However, at the global level, the African e-commerce market is still arguably lagging behind, but with more platforms like the DHL Africa eShop opening up, the African e-commerce market’s laudable rise can be said to be imminent.
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