DHL Africa eShop platform rolled out to 34 additional countries
DHL's Africa eShop platform has expanded to an additional 14 countries across sub-Saharan Africa. The eShop app offers African consumers access to international retailers, and enables global brands to connect with a captive African market.
African customers can shop directly from over 200 US- and UK-based online retailers, with purchases delivered to their door by DHL Express. The solution was developed in partnership with Link Commerce – a division of Mall for Africa.
The eShop app was launched in April this year, and within the first three months of operation, it had been rolled out to 20 countries across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). DHL Express announced this week that the mobile and desktop platform is now available in 14 additional countries across the region. This increases the platform’s reach to 34 countries across SSA.
"User uptake on the DHL Africa eShop app has been remarkable over the last five months, not only from the number of downloads, but just as importantly, from an order perspective. This is why we’re excited to launch DHL Africa eShop in Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Chad, Ethiopia, Guinea, Lesotho, Liberia, Mali, Namibia, Niger, Sudan, and Togo," says Hennie Heymans, CEO of DHL Express sub-Saharan Africa.
“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.”
Heymans adds that while Africa’s e-commerce market is still lagging behind the rest of the globe in terms of annual turnover, it may well make significant strides to catching up in the near future. “A report by Statista reveals that e-commerce in Africa was valued at $16.5 billion in 2017. McKinsey adds to this calculation by predicting that this value could potentially reach $75 billion by 2025.”
“We are committed to driving e-commerce growth on the continent for etailers as they work to expose their brands to international markets and also for consumers, who want easy access to global brands,” concludes Heymans.
