KARACHI, Pakistan: Daraz and Kaymu, the two leading e-commerce players in Pakistan, have agreed to join forces in order to enhance the value proposition to customers and sellers and accelerate growth.
Both platforms will remain active with their current brand names, but the new entity, Daraz Group, will integrate the operations under one roof. Daraz and Kaymu have built unique expertise in their respective business models, and the decision to operate the two entities together will give the group a 360 degree ownership of e-commerce market in Pakistan.
Daraz will continue to operate as a B2C (Business-to-Consumer) marketplace for branded, original products, with premium fulfillment and value-added-services to help professional sellers scale their business. Daraz will continue to provide its customers with 7 day return policy for its wide range of original, quality products from local and international brands.
Kaymu will continue to operate as an open marketplace for smaller businesses and individuals to interact directly with customers through a community based trading platform.
Bjarke Mikkelsen, co-CEO Daraz Group, states: “Daraz and Kaymu have both built successful operations in their respective markets. The merger is now the next step to offer our sellers the best possible solutions to grow their online business, and to start capitalizing on the synergies between the platforms. In addition to the local benefits of a more integrated strategy, we are excited to build a best-in-class team in Karachi for our central functions like IT, marketing and Business Intelligence in order to unite the best practices from the B2C and the C2C world.”
Dr. Jonathan Doerr, co-CEO Daraz Group, adds: “We now need to closely analyze the local presence in each respective market and based on the operations and market structure, design the optimal individual strategies. Several cross-country task forces have already started their work to develop the most efficient plans for Daraz Group.”
Ali Zain Sheikh, Managing Director Kaymu Pakistan, said: “We are very excited to start building an integrated platform with our colleagues from Daraz. By uniting Kaymu’s expertise in C2C and Daraz’ best-in-class B2C operations we will be able to achieve more together than we could ever imagine individually.
About Daraz
Daraz is the leading e-commerce platform in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar. The company started in Pakistan in 2012 as an online fashion business, but since then has expanded its business model to a general marketplace for quality brands within electronics, home appliances, fashion and many other categories. Daraz is owned by CDC Group – the UK Government’s Development Finance Institution (DFI) focused on supporting and developing businesses in Africa and South Asia – as well as the Asia Pacific Internet Group (APACIG).
About Kaymu
Kaymu is an open marketplace for pioneer markets in Asia, where customers can buy any new or second-hand product from smaller businesses and individuals for the best prices. The company started in Pakistan in 2013 and is owned by the Asia Pacific Internet Group (APACIG) as well as a number of minority shareholders.
