Watch Maker Casio Set To Enter Kenyan Market

The Kenyan middle class income is growing at a steady rate and watch manufacturing company Casio is looking to capitalise on that.
Casio is looking for distributors to supply their watches in Kenya directly instead of independent merchants which has been the case in the past. The company, which is listed at the Japanese stock exchange, will concentrate on two brands; Gshock, which is a shock resistant watch and motorsports-inspired metal watch, Edifice.
“We would like to distribute our products directly to Kenya after contracting with local distributors,” said Casio in an interview. “We’ll mainly focus on two brands in Kenya and Africa; G-Shock, shock-resistant watch, and Edifice, motorsports-inspired metal watch.”
Kenya becomes the fifth market in Africa that Casio will seek to utilise having already established franchises in Egypt,  Nigeria, and Cote d’Ivoire. The company, which registered a 9.7 billion shillings net profit in the just concluded financial year, is concerned that its sales in Africa are still very low.
“Sales in Africa are still very small for entire Casio sales, which means, there are many markets we haven’t approached. So we consider Africa as a market that has great potential to grow much more.”
Casio announcement comes days after luxury car maker Porsche revealed it will be opening shop in Nairobi soon.