How to start an online shop in Kenya

Selling online in Kenya no longer needs a developer or a big budget. You need four things: something to sell, a website customers trust, a way to take M-PESA, and a plan for delivery. This guide works through each one in order, with the settings to use on Menengai Cloud.

1. Decide what you're selling, and to whom

Before building anything, write down:

• Your products. Physical goods to deliver, or services you perform? Menengai Cloud handles both. Products have stock and variants, and Services are for work you do for customers.
• Your customers. Nairobi only, or all of Kenya? This decides your delivery set-up and your prices.
• Your prices, including delivery. Kenyan shoppers compare prices quickly. Work out what each order really costs you, packaging and courier included.

Start small. Ten products with good photos and clear prices sell better than a hundred half-finished listings.

2. Set up your store

Create a free site, then follow the order in the Overview:

1. General settings. Set your site name, a short description and your currency (KES unless you sell abroad). See General.
2. Look and feel. Open the Editor to set your colours and fonts and edit each section of your pages. A clean, consistent look builds trust.
3. Add your products. For each one, add a clear name, a description that answers buyers' questions, the price and good photos. Turn on inventory tracking if you have limited stock, and use variants for sizes and colours. See Products.

Write product names the way customers search. "Women's leather sandals, size 37–41" is easier to find than "Summer Collection Item 4".

3. Take M-PESA payments

M-PESA is how most Kenyans pay, so set it up before you launch. You have two options:

• Manual M-PESA. Customers pay your till or paybill and enter the code. It works on every plan.
• STK push. Customers get a prompt on their phone and orders mark themselves paid. It needs the Hobby plan and a Safaricom Daraja app.

Either way, the money goes straight to your own account. The M-PESA payments guide walks through both.

4. Plan your delivery

Delivery is where many Kenyan online shops win or lose customers. In Delivery options:

1. Add your couriers. For example, a rider for Nairobi and a courier company for upcountry. If the courier has a tracking page, add its tracking URL so customers can follow their parcel.
2. Add delivery zones with a rate for each, such as Nairobi CBD, Westlands or Mombasa. Enter 0 for free delivery.

Customers outside your zones aren't shown a delivery option at checkout and are pointed to your contact page instead. Once a courier collects an order, add the tracking number on Track orders.

5. Go live and get your first orders

1. Turn on Site active in General so visitors can see your store.
2. Place a test order yourself, all the way to payment.
3. Share your store link on WhatsApp Status, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook, with a direct link to a product, not just your home page.
4. Ask your first customers for a photo or a review, and post it.

When you're ready, connect your own domain such as yourshop.co.ke. It looks more professional and is easier to remember. See using your own domain.

What it costs

You can start on the Free plan for KES 0, with up to 20 products and 50 orders a month. Hobby (KES 795 a month) raises that to 200 products and 500 orders, and adds a custom domain, a blog, detailed analytics and STK push. Pro (KES 2,795 a month) removes the limits and Menengai Cloud branding. Plans are paid from your organisation wallet by M-PESA. See Plans and billing.