DHL Express has taken a minority stake in Link Commerce, the UK-based e-commerce platform that sits beneath MallforAfrica.com and DHL’s Africa eShop service. DHL is betting on a fundamental change in purchasing behaviours in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has seen consumers seek out hard to find products as a result of lockdown and supply chain disruptions.

DHL Express CEO for sub-Saharan Africa, Hennie Heymans, has said that the move comes after Africa eShop’s “massive growth”. Africa eShop, which was launched in April 2019, allows African consumers to purchase from more than 200 US and European retailers In September 2019, DHL added a further 13 countries to its ecommerce shopping platform, to bring its total coverage to 34 countries. DHL says that the service has “tens of thousands of users across the continent.”

DHL is betting on a fundamental change in purchasing behaviours in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. It says that it has seen consumers shift towards goods that are hard to source locally, and its most popular items include productivity and communications devices to support remote working, home and kitchen appliances, entertainment gadgets and health related products.

As part of the acquisition, DHL will take a board seat at Link Commerce.