Amazon Targets Direct Shipping to Kenya Through Posta Partnership

Posta Kenya
Image Courtesy

Kenya’s online shopping uptake has been growing exponentially, so much so that the Communications Authority of Kenya has embarked on a mission to roll out a national addressing system, which will see the numbering of streets, buildings and houses to boost door-to-door deliveries by e-commerce platforms.

It has now emerged that the Postal Corporation of Kenya (Posta) is on a mission to entice Amazon and land a deal will see Posta become Amazon’s logistics partner in Kenya. Business Daily reports that Amazon officials will visit Kenya between October 17th and 19th to ascertain the possibility of a deal between the two firms.

On top of this, Universal Postal Union, the United Nations agency in charge of postal services is looking to establish a regional e-commerce hub through a partnership with Posta. “Amazon is the biggest e-commerce company in the world and they need a footprint in Kenya and in Africa. We want to be their logistics partner in Africa,” said Dan Kagwe, postmaster-general.

If the Amazon-Posta deal solidifies, it could slightly hurt third-party party logistics firms, such as Vitumob and Mall for Africa, that have until now offered Kenyans the option to ship goods from e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and E-Bay directly to them.

However, all is not lost, seeing how inefficient Posta has been in the past, it may be too early to count our chicks. If things work out, Posta will have an uphill task of regaining consumer trust alongside working on the taxes they charge because those things can be exorbitant.