Kenya’s Watchdog Probes Online Delivery Apps

The competition regulator in Kenya is conducting an inquiry into online food and groceries delivery platforms. This will help inform its recommendations to increase competition, foster a healthy market environment, and enforce consumer protections.

The Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) has said an investigation is to be conducted on various aspects of the digital marketplaces, such as their “role of data”, data portability, customer acquisition methods, issues related to consumer protection, and redress mechanisms. Furthermore, it aims to review whether the current regulatory framework can be applied in these markets.

Regulation and competition enforcement in digital markets is one of the key areas of focus by CAK. It has in the past conducted similar market inquiries, a recent one being in the digital lending space where it made suggestions (including on pricing transparency) that informed some aspects of the new Digital Credit Providers law.

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“The market inquiry will seek to uncover how food delivery and groceries platforms work in practice and suggest regulatory and policy options for competition and consumer protection enforcement,” said CAK acting director general, Adano Wario.

“The inquiry will identify players and services involved in the food delivery and groceries platforms business model in Kenya and examine the relationships between the platforms and the users with focus on the competition parameters (market power and conduct) and concerns amongst the players,” said Wario.

The regulator declared that, in order to offer proper redress mechanisms for consumers shopping through the marketplaces, it must be aware of the consumer protection considerations.