NAIROBI, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) — The downtown section of Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, was a burst of the classic red color Sunday as traders strewed their wares on every available empty space, eager to profit from Valentine’s Day sales.

Mercy Mwende, a long-time florist, confessed that she would not be selling her wares from the streets and for the second year in a row, online.

“Before moving to the digital space last year, I sold from my store in Nairobi’s Westlands district. When the health crisis came upon us, the importance of an online presence became apparent,” Mwende said.

She spoke to Xinhua as she selected bundles upon bundles of red roses and carnations from City Market, the single largest source of flowers for Nairobi residents.

A quarter of her stock has been preordered by her online clients. The rest will be sold from a temporary stand in the city together with her physical store.

Customarily, Valentine’s Day attracts vendors eager to sell endearing items to those committed to honoring their loved ones on this special day. And this year is no different; perhaps more striking is how much the online marketplace is teeming with these niche traders.

The giant Chinese e-commerce platform Kilimall has for instance been running Valentine’s Day sales since the start of the month, offering between 50 to 70 percent discount on a selected range of products. Similarly, online market entities such as Jumia, Jambo, and Jiji have comparable discounted items.

Furthermore, it is not just multinational platforms that traders are utilizing, social media sites are proving indispensable in creating visibility and making sales.

“Generally on such a day, a single stem of red rose will go for about 200 shillings (about 1.75 U.S. dollars) while a bouquet ranges between 13.19 and 30.79 dollars. I charge an additional fee for deliveries depending on the recipient’s destination,” said the adept florist.

In 2020, 16 million Kenyans shopped online and spent 1.1 billion dollars, according to country assessment by datareportal.

Similarly, e-commerce development across Sub-Sahara Africa registered a 42 percent growth from 2019 to 2020. The growth is poised to rise even further as the world becomes increasingly digitized.

Kenya was listed among the top three leading contributors of digital commerce in the report produced by Visa.

In a rather odd approach, goods that hold no romantic attachment by conventional standards are being sold online under the Valentine’s Day theme. Such goods include plots of land and home appliances such as gas cookers.

Back at the market where Mwende sources for her wares and vendors bring individual flower stems together to form bundles, wrapping each bundle stupendously. While some tend to the flowers, others are busy packing gift hampers complete with confectionery, artificial candles, and petals.

“Orders are coming in large numbers; we are getting phone calls left, right, and center. Most of the calls are from my social media clients with the rest being longstanding trading partners,” said Jonathan Murimi, a florist at City market.

For Murimi, he expects the sales to be impressive having amassed quite a following on social media through documenting his flower arrangement prowess.

Kenya’s flowers have positioned the country among the leading flower exporters in the world and according to Kenya Flower Council, the East African Nation is the third-largest producer of cut flowers in the world after Colombia and Ecuador.

Kenyan cut flowers find their way to more than 60 destinations globally, with the European Market accounting for 48 percent market share.