Daraz and Kaymu, the two leading e-commerce players in Pakistan, have agreed to merge their business, a press release said on Friday.
Both platforms will remain active with their current brand names, but the new entity, Daraz Group, will integrate the operations under one roof. The decision to operate the two entities together will give the group a 360 degree ownership of the e-commerce market in Pakistan, the press release said.
Daraz will continue to operate as a Business-to-Consumer (B2C) marketplace for branded, original products. It will continue to provide its customers with seven day return policy for its products from local and international brands.
Daraz is an e-commerce platform operating 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 electronics, home appliances, fashion and many other categories. Daraz is owned by the 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).
“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 capitalising 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,” said Daraz Group Co-CEO Bjarke Mikkelsen.
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 APACIG as well as a number of minority shareholders. It will continue to operate as an open marketplace for smaller businesses and individuals to interact directly with customers through a community-based trading platform.
Kaymu Pakistan Managing Director Ali Zain Sheikh said, “By uniting Kaymu’s expertise in C2C and Daraz’ B2C operations we will be able to achieve more together than we could ever imagine individually.”