The first of the three common ecommerce approaches utilised in Kenya, is the third-party aggregated applications, e-stores or e-marketplaces, that provide a trading platform on the web for sellers; either consumer to consumer (C2C), business to consumer (B2C) or business to business (B2B).
As established in the 2016 National ICT Survey, 39 percent of private enterprises in Kenya are engaged in e-commerce and 71 percent buy or sell goods and services via mobile phones.
Other recent initiatives include reforming the legal framework, including Companies Act, Law of Contract Act, Stamp Duty Act, Kenya Information and Communications Act to facilitate digital economy.
The 2019 Kenya Digital Economy Blueprint report shows that 70percent of all e-commerce payments are through mobile money platforms.
Businesses participating in e-commerce, like traditional brick and mortar businesses, need to comply to licensing standards, intellectual property protection and consumer protection requirements as well as other regulatory aspects that are critical for digital trade including data protection, cyber security interventions and compliance to packaging standards and requirements, especially as relates to storage and transportation of food.
