The b2b commerce solutions and the Kenyan Economy
Kenya is the largest economy in the Eastern Africa region with a fairly diversified and dynamic industrial production. It is also the point of entry to the largest portion of the Eastern African market. In such an economy, there is often a big competition between locally produced and exported products. But the most important and relevant issue would how do to help the final consumers buy the products at a fair price as possible. Given the current stage of internet penetration in Africa, a b2b commerce solution is definitely a powerful instrument that can help simplify the buying and selling process between producers, importers, and wholesale buyers. The simpler, easier, and more direct, it is for retail businesses to acquire supply the lower the overall buying and selling costs on both sides. However, not all b2b commerce platforms provide direct linkage between buyers and sellers.
The different b2b commerce platforms model present in the Nairobi market
Today if you google b2b kenya or the Kenya b2b you are likely to find the majority of e-commerce platforms with the same model. Most of them offer retailers options to purchase supplies directly from their b2b commerce platforms for either same-day or free delivery and sometimes they offer credit to the buyer. With these b2b commerce solutions business models the sellers add value by providing convenient delivery options and the “buy now pay later” to the buyers. These models are often described as b2b retail or digitalised distribution system or social b2b e-commerces. The idea behind these b2b commerce solutions is that they buy directly from the producers for locally made products and from importer's foreign-made goods. The inventory is then stored at their warehouses. The b2b or wholesale price charged on these e-commerce solutions is the seller's own.
The newly unveiled b2b commerce solution Zandaux has a very different approach. The main point of contention between Zandaux and all other solutions discussed above is the direct linkage approach. Zandaux provides local producers and importers with a digital interface to sell their products at their original price directly to the b2b shoppers. On top of reducing the buying and selling costs for both parties given the faster, shorter and the efficient sales process. The new e-commerce helps retail businesses and other institutional bulk buyers acquire supply at a lower wholesale price which has not been distorted. In this case, the most beneficiaries are the final consumers. In fact, if the retail businesses buy supply at a reduced price directly from the producer they are most likely to charge a better final retail price.
The second main difference between Zandaux and other local b2b commerce solutions is that the new start-up is designed to help local manufacturers and producers to sell their products across entire Africa right from their production home country. The b2b kenya is getting more diverse now.
