Robin Xie, Kilimall Managing Director. (Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn)
In efforts to grow its Kenyan market share, Shanghai-based online shopping mall Kilimall is planning to offer shoppers huge discounts on products in five days of shopping festival.
Speaking ahead of the festival today in Nairobi, Kilimall management said they are planning to offer up to 70 percent discount for shoppers on Black Friday, which this year will be officially marked on November 25 under a campaign dubbed #ItsABigDeal.
Black Friday is the most important shopping season of the year during which most retailers slash prices and run huge offers and giveaways.
"We have signed deals with different manufacturers who have agreed to offer major price cuts on various categories of products on our website," said Victor Ma, operations director, Kilimall International.
The partners include local shoe marker Bata, smartphone markers Samsung, Infinix, Tecno and Cubot as well as leading electronic firms Sayona, LG Philips, Sony, Skyworth, HotPoint and Skymax Electronics.
Manufacturers who have already confirmed huge discounts on their products include smartphone makers Infinix and Tecno as well as Skyworth TV. Kilimall discussions are at advanced stages with more manufacturers ahead of the Black Friday.
Ma said Kilimall will stretch the shopping festival over five days to allow Kenyans more time to buy products at discounted rates. The Kilimall Black Friday sale begins on November 21, with bronze and silver deals of up to 50 percent discounts and climaxes with gold deals that will attract up to 70 percent discounts on "aspirational items usually unreachable for most customers."
With over 50,000 items on offer in its various categories of electronics and fashion, Kilimall is looking to record higher sales than last year when it sold 450,000 items in a single day, translating to five products per second.
"We have expanded our warehouse and human resource capacity to handle increased traffic during the Black Friday sale," he said.
The top seller during the Black Friday campaign will get a fully paid five-day trip to Kilimall headquarters in Shanghai, China, while top five sellers will walk away with Ksh150,000 ($1,474) each.
At the same time, Kilimall launched an affiliate marketing program, opening up new business opportunities for website owners and social media influencers who will earn commissions.
The Cost Per Sale (CPS) system is being rolled out in Kenya for online publishers and social media enthusiasts seeking to monetize traffic to their websites and is expected to create jobs for over 100,000 Kenyans.
Also known as pay-per-sale or PPS, CPS is an online advertisement pricing system where the publisher or website owner is paid on the basis of the number of sales that are directly generated by an advertisement.
Ma says, under the partnership, websites and social media users will be given a unique code to enable them display Kilimall banner adverts or links on their websites or social media pages. Any activity through the link is tracked and a sale conversion earns a commission.
"When you register, a unique code and an account are generated to monitor clicks and sales and earnings," said Ma during the launch of the CPS program. "Account activity can be tracked in real-time."
He said the CPS model will be a win-win partnership as website owners, bloggers and social media enthusiasts will earn depending on their traffic, which will in turn drive sales for online shops. He said many websites and bloggers have huge traffic but are unable to attract advertising from corporates and other organizations.
"This will create a new generation of entrepreneurs who can work full time on their websites to convert more sales and earn more," says Victor. "Signing up to the partnership is absolutely free and we expect many website owners to take up this opportunity."
