Online retailer Heavenly garden has relaunched after a Kshs 250 million buyout from Lipa Later Group.
The Lipa Later Group-backed Sky.Garden investment has revamped its platform to introduce new features to its Ecosystem and aspires to connect 100,000 merchants in the next year.
The relaunch coincides with the rapid expansion of e-commerce markets in Kenya and other African countries, driven by factors such as increased internet penetration and more affordable data costs.
By The Numbers
Globally, social commerce is expected to grow three times faster than traditional commerce $1.2 trillion by 2025, up from $492 billion today. Growth is predicted to be driven primarily by Gen Z and Millennial social media users, accounting for 62% of global social commerce spending by 2025. Social commerce is set to capture a large portion of the e-commerce market as consumers are turning to shopping on social media apps.
Growing internet access is expected to boost the African e-commerce market in the coming years. By 2030, internet penetration in the region will average nearly 70%, according to Euromonitor — a significant jump from 45% in 2023. Much of the access revolution is driven by mobile connectivity with 83% of the African population right now covered by a mobile broadband network, according to the GSMA.
Digging deeper
Sky Gardens also imports products like Sky.Tickets, Sky. Logistics, Sky. Commerce and Sky.Wallet. Sky.Wallet will offer personalized solutions, giving merchants access to funding, real-time transaction tracking, instant bill payments (including utility and salary bills), seamless Mpesa or Bank deposits and withdrawals, and the ability to open a bank account.
What they say
From his side Lipa Later, CEO of Eric Muli Group emphasized that this investment is going to have a dual impact, empowering both businesses and customers. “Our team’s vision is to be a commercial catalyst for businesses and communities across Africa. We strongly believe that being locally owned and operated is essential to understanding the needs of our people, contributing to the prosperity of our nation and forging a true connection with our community. This local insight has enabled us to bring the vast world of e-commerce closer to Kenyans while creating opportunities for local entrepreneurs and merchants to thrive.“
Juliet Wanjiru, The head of e-commerce Sky.Garden said:Today marks an important milestone in Sky.Garden’s evolution as we embark on a transformational journey to improve and expand our offerings for both merchants and customer communities.‘
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