The Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) has published a report of the food and grocery delivery platforms in Kenya. The report reveals that Glovo is the most preferred app for online food delivery at 33%. The report indicates that 23% of consumers prefer Jumia Food which ceased operations back in December 2023.
Glovo is also the most preferred platform for grocery delivery at 46%. 35% of online platform consumers preferred Jumia while the other platforms were preferred by 20% of the consumers.
CAK attributes the rise in usage of online food and grocery delivery platforms to the Covid-19 pandemic. “Kenya has been experiencing increased usage of online food and grocery delivery platforms post COVID-19 period. More consumers are making it the new normal to buy food and groceries online. Equally, more platforms are registering for online food and grocery delivery. To make the value chain complete, more retailers (restaurants and supermarkets) are getting their products listed on online platforms to meet the demand of this segment of consumers,” the report states.
The authority understands the need to be aware of potential and or existing competition issues as well as consumer protection concerns that may come with this new market segment. It also added that there have been complaints by consumers being witnessed in online food and grocery delivery markets. This is what encouraged the study to unravel consumer protection issues in the Kenyan online food and grocery delivery market.
According to CAK, Some of the factors that may affect competition in these markets include:
- Ease with which consumers can switch between platforms.
- Market power and conduct.
- Entry barriers for retailers, Platforms and couriers.
- Difficulty of start-ups to contest markets with incumbents.
The report concluded saying, “Based on the findings of the study, there are no explicit regulations for online food and grocery platforms in Kenya. Nonetheless, there exists regulations under the Competition Act, Kenya Information and Communications Act, Anti-Counterfeit Act, Kenya Standards Act, Data Protection Act, and Trade Descriptions Act that touch on various aspects of online food and grocery platforms activities.”
“The online food and grocery platforms do not have market power over retailers (restaurants and supermarkets). Retailers are responsible for setting product prices on platforms and are not restricted on the number of platforms they could register with, hence they competed favorably across the various platforms. Additionally, there were no exclusive agreements imposed on retailers by platforms,” the report added.
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