Interesting Article..

in my "opinion" the reason as to why m and e commerce in Kenya is closing shop is that it has not evolved. instead we all jump to online businesses without solid brick and mortar businesses. IMHO kalahari should have been started by the likes of Nakumatt. They can give great discount and know the market well, heck… they even know their customer habits from the smart card. surly the can offer me a product they know i always buy at great discount.

I blame the OverHYPE of Online and Mobile Business. Just because we are techies doesn't mean everyone is a techie.

My theory on how to be successful online in Kenya.

First build a "factory" (business that generates cash) understand it then move processes to an online business.. slowly pushing your customers to online.

It may take a while before you move from brick and mortar -to- hybrid -to- online thats why you will always need the factory to be running.

question for online classifieds ads:-

a) do we actually do Market Research to see if they work. What do people want.

b) How much is the return on investment. i.e. How long shall you keep running before you get tired of taking photos of cars?

c) Yes you have simplified the process but have lessened the the shopping experience. (Smell, Taste, Feel)

The recent closure of Kalahari locally and in other African markets put into sharp focus the current state of m and e commerce in Kenya. A number of conversations I had in the past week pointed to the need for a service that “breaks the ice” for consumers to appreciate buying and selling of goods online and on mobile. The service of choice was seen as classifieds.

A simple search for classifieds online will bring a whole list of providers, with all, more often than not calling themselves the number one destination. Cutting to the chase, let us look at those I consider major players and what they may or may not be doing right. - bit.ly/u4aeBk

@Njihia. A very nice and balanced article :-) I like the use of words "scraping", this is a real problem I faced early on, on the site I ocassionaly maintain. I had to block static ip addresses just to get around such content use abuses. For those who want to know the reality of online business, it requires a 100% commitment to such a project but financially the returns in our market are not worth the turnovers unless you are ready to put in a 3-5 year plan. How DealFish is going to pull through such remains to be seen, I'd still ask computer programmers to ensure that Nation and Standard media have the latest technology methods available to them to be effectively competitive.

Enjoyed reading your article.

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