ONLINE SHOPPING IN UK .......to Kenya

Online shopping in UK




ok....so shopping online in UK from Kenya just became easier, but not necessarily cheaper.



In the last couple of days I have come across a site that offers Kenyans the 'ease and convenience' of shopping online in UK market.



How does it work?



Well you shop online in UK as normal. I.e. you go online you load the basket in your name, you pay for your good and the shipping to the Kenyan guys address in UK. Then the goods arrive in the Kenyan guys collection point in the UK. This is standard process as if you were shopping online whilst in UK. The only difference is the fact that you now need the goods to get to Kenya.



The Kenyan guys will then notify you the receipt of the goods and you will then proceed to instruct the to ship the goods to Kenya.

The cost is £4.95 per kilo plus £35 processing fee.



The cost per kilo in itself sounds around correct. The Somalis in London charge £3.75 per Kilo, but then again they normally ship many kilos at a time. for instance 200 KG for each customer.

The flat fee of £35 per transaction is at least £10 higher than what the Somalis charge. The Somalis charge £25 per load. The load is described as goods coming from one person to another one person. so if you are sending stuff to 2 different persons, that is 2 loads.



For example. if you are buying a TV on Argos - it is most likely going to be cheaper to buy it in UK than to buy a similar one in Kenya. However the savings reduces thank to the £35 charge. Whilst this is too high on an individual level, it clearly is a business opportunity for someone to pool the orders together and only pay a single £35 and distribute the goods whilst they arrive in Kenya and make a small profit as well.





But the main issue I have with the online shopping in UK is the fact that you would need to pay for the goods online. Mpesa or M-zain is not going to do it.



you would need a credit card or debit card or paypal which would need a credit/debit card to open. obviously the UK address is provided, but if the order goes wrong you would need to resolve it yourself. These are just a few things that make this process a bit daunting, but that does not mean it is not doable.



whilst I do not recommend using this portal for business shopping, I think it might just work for buying small expensive gadgets if you need to avoid fake stuff. For instance game consoles, ipads and general techs stuff.



For business shopping, I think Somalis still offer the best and most economical service.



These are just my opinions, I don't know the Kenyan guys who own this site and my view is biased to my experiences and knowledge only, so buyer be aware!