Smartphone maker taps into Kenya's e-commerce market to boost Black Friday sales

In keeping with Black Friday's tradition and spirit, Chinese smartphone maker Realme and East African e-commerce giant Kilimall have partnered to reward customers with offers and discounts as people approach the festive season in December.

Realme is an independent mobile phone brand derived from Oppo. According to Mildred Agoya, the marketing director at Realme Kenya, the offer is part of the spirited activities the phone maker continues to make to create successful inroads into the Kenyan market.

"We entered the Kenyan market in a pandemic year and the smartphone industry has been affected a lot since demands from the consumer side have been affected. However, as a brand, we are trying our best to get through this crisis together with our partners by adapting and changing strategies from product line up to sales and marketing," Agoya said.

"We have successfully managed to upgrade our product line to fulfill demands from the consumer side and we are trying our best to maintain our sales and marketing communication with the Kenyan customer and consumer as well," she added.

Through the offer, which ran on Friday, Kenyan online platform Kilimall offered a flash sale on three Realme smartphones. During designated flash sale times, customers had a chance to buy one or two Realme smartphones at affordable prices. All one needed to participate in the offer was the internet to access the Kilimall platform.

Agoya said the Kenyan e-commerce scene is very active and is driven by a vibrant and youthful population; that is why Realme is proud to be a player on the platform.

"Indeed Kenya has one of the most vibrant e-commerce ecosystems in Africa and has shown steady growth, with prospects of further acceleration, especially with the pandemic. Additionally, e-commerce is popular among millennials, which presents a great opportunity for the brand since our products mainly target youth," Agoya said.

"The main aim of Realme is to use e-commerce platforms as a key selling channel to youth with a promise to empower them with innovative, promising designs at reasonable prices. The idea is to ensure our products are as accessible as possible," she added.

The Realme marketing director pointed out that they target youth who are embracing e-commerce, and they have achieved great results in e-commerce platforms in India, Southeast Asia and other international markets, a strategy they plan to replicate in Africa.

"We are trying our best to find a way to enter new markets since Realme announced its entry to the Middle East and Africa markets last December. This is why we launched in Kenya. In Africa, we are in Egypt, Morocco and Kenya. However, we have plans for future expansions to Algeria and Tunisia," Agoya said.

Having entered the market in August this year, Realme offers Kenyan customers an array of innovative gadgets. The company continues to redefine the Kenyan smartphone market with innovative brands whose focus is the middle class and young, urbane customers.

In a survey released on Nov 27 by Visa Consulting & Analytics, "Accelerating the Shift to E-commerce", a majority of small businesses in Kenya are counting on e-commerce to drive sales during the holiday season.

The survey also shows that 60 percent of small businesses surveyed had taken steps to prepare for the seasonal sales activity that kicks-off with Black Friday. The preparations include changing their infrastructure and digitizing their business.

"Small and medium-sized businesses that leverage e-commerce solutions and provide an excellent online shopping experience for consumers have the opportunity to benefit from high spending periods like Black Friday and the coming festive season," Eva Ngigi-Sarwari, country leader for Visa in Kenya, said during the launch of the survey.