Kenya – Carrefour Kenya, retailer operated by Dubai-based conglomerate Majid Al Futtaim, has launched a new product dubbed LipaVismart, availing an instalment payment plan for its customers.
LipaVismart, powered by a Kenyan credit service company Lipa Later, will be available in all Carrefour stores countrywide, enabling customers to purchase items within the retail chain, to include perishables, consumer items, electronics, gadgets, appliances, furniture, etc. and settle the payment later.
Providing a credit limit of up to a basket size Ksh 500,000 (US$4,500), customers will have up to 30 days to make their first payment, but are able to take the item home there and then.
This will be done once the client signs up online or at any outlet for the service, and they will receive an instant approval with their available credit limit that they can use at any of the Carrefour outlets.
“We understand shopping is an almost daily thing, we have therefore made sure that once you start making monthly payments, you get back part of the amount you paid to go back towards the limit you use for shopping,” said Claudine Gakundi, Country Manager Lipa Later.
Franck Moreau Country Manager- Carrefour East Africa said the partnership will help customers be able to get the products they need from all our outlets to help them improve their lives.
“We are very excited to partner with Lipa Later to roll out LipaVismart in all our outlets in Kenya and very soon across the region,” he said.
LipaVismart offers the lowest interest rates in town, at 2.3 percent per month, according to Eric Muli CEO Lipa Later, with no other fees charged.
Customers have an option of choosing the duration they would like to make their affordable monthly repayments for the items they have bought, and this ranges from 3, 6, 9 or up to 12 months.
Fostering seamless shopping experience, the retailer launched an online shopping app in January this year.
The new application dubbed MAF Carrefour App enables customers to shop for their essentials virtually and have them delivered to their preferred location.
Offering more than 8,000 items including groceries, fresh-food and light household products, the app is currently functional only in Nairobi with plans to expand to other cities across the country in the near future.
Meanwhile, Carrefour has introduced several digital services such as ‘Click and Collect’ which will give customers the chance to shop and have their goods ready for collection at the store.
This is in addition to the “Valet trolley” service which allows customers to shop online and then drop by the mall to have their shopping brought to the trunk of their car.
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