Glovo used its first Future of Commerce Summit in Nairobi on Thursday to make a case to Kenyan businesses: shoppers are moving to apps, and small sellers are the ones getting paid. The delivery company said merchants on its platform have generated more than Sh20 billion in sales since it entered Kenya in 2019, and that about 80% of that went to small and medium-sized enterprises, according to TechTrendsKE.
Glovo's numbers
- Orders in Kenya rose 40% last year, a figure Glovo first gave when it opened its Nairobi hub in May.
- It works in 12 Kenyan towns and cities.
- More than 6,000 merchants and over 2,200 riders are active on the app each day.
- Earlier this year it committed a further Sh10 billion to Kenya by 2030 to expand beyond Nairobi.
All of these are Glovo's own figures; the company did not publish independent data. It competes with Uber Eats, Bolt Food and retailers building their own delivery services.
Search in plain language
The company also showed AI shopping tools, including an in-app assistant that plugs in language models such as ChatGPT and Claude so customers can ask for what they want in everyday words rather than scroll categories. Saixu Fan, a regional manager at consumer electronics maker oraimo, said the brand has gained visibility through Glovo's search tools. "It is no longer just about traditional retail," he said.
"The way Kenyans shop is changing, and businesses must adapt to these new consumer expectations," said Caroline Mutuku, Glovo's country managing director for Kenya. The Nairobi summit follows a similar event Glovo held in Lagos in April.
