Senegal online food company, Club Kossam doubles sales amidst COVID-19 pandemic.
Senegal online food company, Club Kossam has doubled its sales due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This boost in sales comes after when coronavirus reached Senegal. Residents who live in the capital now ordered groceries online.
Club Kossam is a dairy home-delivery service sourcing fresh local Senegalese milk to serve customers.
Club Kossam now delivers vegetables, fruit, and meat to about 1,300 households in Dakar every week which has increased monthly sales since the beginning of the pandemic.
However, Club Kossam’s parent company, La Laiterie du Berger (LDB) and local suppliers have been hit hard by the pandemic.
The delivery firm expanded its services in March when normal shopping was interrupted by a dusk-to-dawn curfew, public transport limitations, and the closure of open-air markets to lessen the spread of the virus.
Founder of LBD, Bagore Bathily revealed that the company’s decision to offer weekly deliveries of vegetables and fruit in addition to the dairy products was a game-changer for the business.
Bathily in an interview with Reuters said, “With vegetables, it’s clear activity has exploded.”
Club Kossam’s sales have reached 62 million CFA francs ($103,000) in April, compared with a monthly average of 30 million CFA before the pandemic. It has also recruited 25 employees to cope with the surge in demand. In contrast, sales of LDB’s main brand Dolima fell 20% in the same period.
Manager of Club Kossam, Lucien Diedhiou, sees the trend lasting beyond the end of the epidemic.
Diedhiou said, “There is a new generation that is changing habits. Both men and women work now, so I’m confident Senegalese people will remain interested in our services.”
Currently, Club Kossam accounts for about 6% of LDB’s revenue, which amounted to around 5 billion CFA francs in 2018.
All over the continent, there has been an increase in online services.
This is attributed to the pandemic ravaging many countries of the world including African nations.