Ahead of its upcoming initial public offering (IPO), Kapruka, the pioneering e-commerce platform that has evolved into Sri Lanka’s largest locally owned global e-com platform announced its plans to develop ‘Kapruka Partner Central’ – a premier marketplace platform for well-established brick and mortar shops in Sri Lanka. The platform will connect buyers and sellers and allow sellers to choose multiple order fulfillment options, including fulfillment by Kapruka itself.
The platform will be similar in nature to the highly successful and popular business model implemented by leading international chain, Amazon, known as ‘Fulfilment by Amazon’ (FBA). ‘Kapruka Partner Central’ will differentiate itself from other marketplaces in Sri Lanka by handling the storage at seller’s premises, with picking and packing, island-wide delivery, returns, exchanges, and exceptional customer service, bundled together under one solution.
Kapruka aims to fund its growth plans through share issuance from the upcoming IPO, which will include upgrading existing technology and infrastructure to launching the ‘Kapruka Platform Services’ which will carry its new initiatives. The e-commerce site plans to launch the Partner Central initiative in 2022, which would be one of its kind in Sri Lanka – a timely intervention given the significant increase in public interest moving towards e-commerce platforms throughout and after pandemic.
The Partner Central project will be carried out via Kapruka E-commerce (Pvt) Limited which is a fully owned subsidiary of Kapruka Holdings Limited. The Company looks to invest LKR 200Mn of the IPO proceeds towards this, commencing next year, with development expected to be completed by 2024.
Commenting on Partner Central and the future of Kapruka’s services, Founder and CEO, Dulith Herath, stated, “We look forward to once again transform the local e-commerce industry through the revolutionary Kapruka Partner Central platform, which stands to have a significantly positive impact on Kapruka’s partners and the local economy in general. The platform is part of our long-term investment plan further to the IPO, with the central goal of optimizing partner and customer experience, thereby elevating our ability to create value for all stakeholders alike. Partner Central, based on the leading Amazon FBA solution, has the potential to not only transform local businesses, but contribute towards securing the country’s economic status as well.”
Having launched back in 2002 as a start-up by founder Dulith Herath, with a capital of less than $1,000, Kapruka has transformed into the largest locally-owned ecommerce Company. It is now a multi-billion-rupee enterprise, without any external investors, using a non-marketplace e-commerce model with fully integrated delivery, serving a wide variety of both local and expatriate Sri Lankan clientele. The company has since been benchmarked and recognized by global giants such as Amazon.com. Being the local e-com ‘master-seller’ in Sri Lanka, Kapruka has also enabled an abundance of aspiring local producers and sellers to vend their products on the site. Kapruka stocks over 135,000 products, has partnerships with 500+ renowned brands and serves over 1.1 Mn expat clients. The Company has over 32,000 sqft of warehouse space and 100+ delivery vehicles to support its operations.