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Tag: e-commerce

  • Jumia: smartphones promoting e-commerce

    Jumia: smartphones promoting e-commerce

    The CEO, Jumia Nigeria, Juliet Anammah, has underscored the place of smartphone use in the expansion of the electronic or e-commerce ecosystem in the country.

    In a paper on the African Mobile Trends she presented in Lagos, she said about 71 per cent of website visitors on Jumia used their mobile phones. This is compared to 53 per cent of Jumia African customers.

    She said one of the main vehicles of this mobile trajectory was the adoption of the smartphone device by consumers. As predicted in our 2016 report, smartphone adoption has continued to rise in Nigeria.

    According to her, the mobile phone category continues to be the most popular among Nigerian shoppers on Jumia, in terms of the number of items sold, and revenue generated. The sales of smartphones jumped by 394 per cent between 2014 and last year, mostly driven by an increasing range of smartphones price points.

     

    Africa mobile subscriptions, internet penetration

    She said there are 960 million mobile subscriptions across Africa – an 80 per cent penetration rate among the continent’s population. Internet penetration is at 18 per cent with 216 million internet users.

    While Nigeria’s internet penetration is much higher at 53 per cent, it mobile subscription is similar to Africa’s at 81 per cent penetration (150 million mobile subscription, she said.

    Like last year, it was presumed that the unique subscription rate is lower as each subscriber owns an average of two sim cards, she added.

    E-commerce, smartphone diversification

    Anammah said the average price for a smartphone on Jumia is $117, down from $216 in 2014. Correlating with this is a drop in the share of sales of basic feature phones from six per cent in 2015 to four per cent last year, even as the share of smartphones on the website increased, she said.

    She said last year Chinese mobile brands held dominance and played a major role in introducing smartphones with lower price points. Infinix, Innjoo, Tecno, Samsung and Yezz are the top five smartphone brands in terms of sales on Jumia. Infinix continues to be Africa’s top smartphone brand across Jumia’s 15 markets. One of their entry level smartphones, the Infinix Hot4Lite was one of the best-selling phones across several African markets including Nigeria.

     

    High data costs, lower performance smartphones

    Anammah said: ‘’The increased access and affordability of low specification smartphones has also revealed a need for the mobile ecosystem to respond with data-efficient browsers and mobile apps that are optimised for performance and an easy user experience.

    ‘’Looking at the mobile internet browsers customers use to access Jumia, 50 per cent of customers in Africa come onto Jumia’s mobile site with Google Chrome. In Nigeria that number is just 28 per cent. Instead, the Opera mini-browser is much more popular, with 41 per cent of the mobile traffic to Jumia Nigeria coming from Opera mini.’’

    One reason for this, Anammah said, could be that countries with higher levels of income have been found to have more users accessing the internet with heavier browsers like chrome – which typically have higher system requirements.

    ‘’Opera mini is a lighter browser in terms of data usage and is popular among new mobile internet users who have lower incomes and can’t afford costly internet data packs. A recent report from Opera determined the savings on mobile data costs for Opera mini users in Nigeria has amounted to about $198 million (N39.5 billion) over a 10-month period, due to its data compression technology. This is a clear example of the ripple effect that customer enjoy when a slight change is introduced by one of the digital ecosystem players.

    ‘’In our end, an immediate key priority is to enhance the desktop user experience (which accounts for almost 30 per cent of Jumia’s traffic and almost 40 per cent of orders placed) by delivering a progressive web application that bridges the gap between conventional web pages and native mobile applications, to give customers a faster web and desktop experience that includes functionalities like push notifications and the ability to browse while offline.‘’

     

    M-commerce: beyond browsing on mobile

    Anammah said trend since 2013 was for people to use their mobile phones to browse and look up products and then purchase them on their desktop.

    ‘’Now customers are checking out and paying for orders from the mobile app or the mobile friendly version of the website. This is a trend we foresee growing in the future based on the current figures.

    ‘Mobile customers (both those who use the Jumia app and those who browse from mobile browsers) account for 63 per cent of all orders on Jumia Nigeria. Across the 15 markets where the study was carried out, that figure is at 47 per cent. With a whopping 2,236,000 Jumia app downloads from 2015 to 2016 (a 128 per cent increase), Jumia app users form a significant portion of the mobile traffic on Jumia Nigeria.

  • Quality and Nigeria e-commerce market

    The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the arm of the UN that deals with issues on trade, development and investment in its July 2016 report placed the worth of global e-commerce at $22 trillion. This is a huge market and with increasing penetration of internet and ubiquity of broadband deployment around the world, especially in emerging markets in Africa and Asia, this volume is bound for the sky in the coming years.

    In the UNCTAD 2016 business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce index which gauges the readiness of countries to engage in online commerce, no African nation made to it to the top 50 nations but the report did not fail to notice that e-commerce is on the bounce in Africa.

    Different studies by McKinsey and PriceWaterhouseCooper (PwC) among others have placed Africa’s ecommerce on a growth curve. The continent’s online sales are expected to top $75 billion by 2025, with Nigeria taking $10 billion of it, according to projections.

    This is buoyed by Nigeria’s fast-growing mobile internet market ranking seventh among the top 20 highest internet users in the world by country after China, India, US, Brazil, Japan, and Russia in that order according to Internet World Stats, June 2016 data. Such impressive mobile internet profile and the current zeal of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to spread broadband across the vast corners of the nation bode well for the future of ecommerce in the country.

    There are many drawbacks to online retail in Nigeria but they have not dampened the spirit of shoppers. This writer has patronized all the major online retail outfits. Yes, it gives a good feel factor doing the traditional shopping of walking into stores, seeing and feeling what you buy but online shopping frees you up, saves you time and the routine stress of moving through dodgy traffics. A recent Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report revealed that studies show 70% of 3,000 online shoppers prefer visiting their preferred retailer online. This attests to its growing popularity and the rising preference of shoppers to online purchases.

    Jumia, Yudala and Konga are top of the range among the crowd of ecommerce stores in the country. There are many more and all of them have made lasting impressions, for good or bad, on shoppers.  But there is an inherent risk posed to online shoppers. It is an ugly global trend that is being dealt with by various governments and consumer protection cum anti-counterfeiting agencies across the globe. It’s the critical matter of online retailers offering substandard products dressed and garnished as high-end products and showcased to consumers as such. In plain language, what you see is not what you get for the consumers. In some cases, product on display for the online buyer is not exactly what is eventually delivered to the buyer. Using Photshop and sundry technological morphing tools, substandard products are garbed and sexed up as original stuff; in some cases popular brand names are misrepresented and passed off by the retailers.

    OpSec Security, a division of OpSec Security Group, London, recently did a study to monitor the level of counterfeiting and vending of substandard products among online retailers. OpSecSecurity   is reputed to be a global leader in providing anti-counterfeiting technologies as well as solutions and services for physical and online brand protection to companies and over 50 governments worldwide. The study revealed a dangerous dimension to online retailing especially in the Asia Pacific region where online B2C retailers took advantage of the desire of consumers to buy cheap products to offer them substandard products. This online buyers’ nightmare is already trending in Nigeria.

    Countless consumers have complained of how they placed orders for certain items which looked elegant, top-of-the-range on display but turned awkwardly different on delivery. Most of the top 10 online retailers have been accused of engaging in this what-you-see-is-not-what-you-get bubble. But Yudala has continued to buck the trend, offering a wide range of products on a credit line of integrity. People are more comfortable with Yudala because what they see is what they get and the online-offline scheme gives it a head-start on the integrity curve.

    Launched barely a year ago, Yudala adopted a disruptive composite style of online and offline retail, a novel formula which has also become the preferred strategy of America’s  Amazon and Alibaba of China, the two dominant players in the world. Yudala debuted as the first true composite retail platform in Africa. What the continent has seen prior to its entry was at best a window-dressing of what modern, competitive e-commerce retailing should be. It is the first to combine a world class e-commerce platform with an offline chain of retail stores. This innovative model immediately set it apart from competition.

    Nigeria’s Yudala combines B2C (Business-to-Consumer) and C2C (Consumer-to-Consumer) models through its trademark Mobile Monday and Neighbour to Neighbour campaigns. These market-deepening strategies are now being deployed by Alibaba and Amazon to cut deep into the global e-commerce markets.

    This is the sense in which Nigerians should take pride in the evolving revolution of e-commerce across the nation. With obvious limitations of poor connectivity, bad road networks to enhance speedy delivery of orders, Nigeria has through the innovative spirit of a dynamic team at Yudala added value to the global ecommerce value chain.

    It is both humbling and intriguing that the offline-online model initiated in Nigeria has become the trending global model for major players in e-commerce. It is a model that is fast bridging all the gaps that have limited e-commerce in recent years by connecting business to consumers in a more direct manner.

    Recent studies on consumer behaviours outlined a few key factors that influence online purchase decision among consumers. Credibility and trustworthiness are at the root of these factors. This is where Yudala towers above the pack. In barely one year, it has redefined the nation’s e-commerce space with integrity of products and credibility of processes.

    But no matter, the relevant agencies should be alive to their responsibilities to keep substandard products away from consumers. With more people having access to internet, Nigeria looks good to drive her big foot into the lucrative global online market. But first, she must deal with the issue of substandard products.  Standard Organisation of Nigeria, the Ministry of Trade and Investment through Consumer Protection Council (CPC) and other relevant agencies must rise and arrest this seeping miasma of substandard goods being forced on Nigerian consumers by some of the online retail stores. Nigerians deserve better than this.

    • Umukoro, a blogger, writes from Lagos.

  • e-commerce firm Ninbiz launched

    An online e-commerce platform, Ninbiz, has been launched to offer ideal online market where customers’ needs are met.

    Ninbiz is a fusion of social network and the traditional e-commerce.

    At the unveiling in Lagos, Chief Executive Officer, Ninbiz e-commerce, Oboye Olutoni Olutobi, said the platform provides an avenue where buyers and sellers can actively interact and get better product delivery rate.

    According to him, “The Ninbiz idea came about the need to create ideal e-commerce environment that will actually make business grow, and not just help Nigerians sell their products online, but to completely redefine what is previously known about e-commerce, because it is a fusion of social networking and traditional e-commerce.”

    He said: “Buyers and sellers don’t have to be big before they are seen on the platform. It is designed in such a way that buyers and sellers will always come up on the top search results when customers around your store location are searching for their products and services.

    “The registration to Ninbiz is free; what this means is that you can create your store on the platform, sell, make profit and get your business to grow and get to know without having to pay.

    “A businessman on Ninbiz can create poll, send notification to customers, have a discussion forum to relate with customers, advertise events, send invites and its business page is seamlessly integrated with other social networking sites,” he added.

  • FG projects N20b VAT from e-commerce annually

    FG projects N20b VAT from e-commerce annually

    The Federal Government hopes to generate a total of N20billion from the e-commerce subsector annually.

    Making this disclosure at the weekend was Mr. Segun Ebozoje, Chief Executive, Gention Global Resources Limited, he spoke at a public forum in Lagos.

    Ebozoje, whose firm has been engaged by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to design an automated system to aid the collection and remittance of Valued Added Tax from the e-commerce businesses, said it is part of the Federal Government’s strategy to generate revenues from every sector of the economy in order to boost the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

    According to him, the Federal Government will generate a total of N20billion revenue from e-commerce businesses when the automated remittance system kicks off.

    He however stressed the need for the signing of a tripartite agreement involving the e-commerce businesses, the banks and FIRS in making the process of automated VAT remittance possible.

    Gention’s legal representative led by Miss Nkem Okuoyibo also gave an overview of the tax laws with special emphasis on VAT as it applies to a company’s obligation in the collection and remittance of VAT to the Federal Government.

    Ebozoje further explained the roles of each party which include the need for the operators to submit a direct debit mandate to its bank to enable the latter debit the operators’ account at source as applicable, and the FIRS obligation to providing information on the amount due as VAT on a daily basis through the help of the automated VAT remittance system.

    As part of efforts to achieve this, a stakeholders’ forum was called to entertain concerns of stakeholders ahead of the implementation of VAT deduction at source from the e-commerce sector.

    At the maiden stakeholders’ forum representatives from FIRS, Jumia, Konga, InterSwitch, eTranzact, KPMG, NIBSS, and Gention were in attendance as they proffered solutions to foreseeable challenges that could impede the process.

    Mr. Ikenna Amanje of KPMG stressed the need to take into account the input and output VAT of the operators when developing the VAT automation system. Other speakers raised issues as to what proportion of VAT collected should the operators remit to government stating that the sector is not like the service industry, and as such remitting all the 5% of transaction to government would amount to short changing the operators. Mr. Sam Awogun of FIRS however insisted that 5% per transaction should be collected, and that the operators may apply for refund of their input VAT as is currently practiced.

    Mr. Olajide Adamolekun of Konga , Miss Adedamola Jaiyeoba and Mr. Seyi Oni of Jumia, all raised concerns about the refund policy of the FIRS. Mr Olajide emphasised the impact withholding or delaying the refund of input VAT would have on their business operations. Members were undecided as to how VAT should be computed for the automated VAT remittance system.

  • NIPOST floats e-commerce platform

    The Nigeria Postal Services (NIPOST) has called on Nigerians to make use of its e-commerce platform to conduct businesses and increase their income base.

    The Ekiti Area Postal Manager, Mrs. Ijeoma Akinwumi, who made the call at a briefing to mark the first anniversary of its creation, said the agency also operates e-banking services as part of measures to diversify its operations.

    The NIPOST chief further explained that entrepreneurs can avail themselves of other opportunities offered by the agency which include EMS, haulage and logistics as well as “Post-Cash”, among others.

    Mrs. Akinwumi said many Nigerians have failed to take advantage of some of the newly introduced services by the agency, because they have not tested the effectiveness of these services.

    She, however, appealed to Ekiti State government to assist the agency to complete its administrative office, which is undergoing renovation for efficient service delivery to the people.

    Mrs. Akinwumi said: “The advent of telecommunication in Nigeria has helped Postal Services to diversify its operations extensively.

    “As a result of the coming into operation of telecommunication, we now have e-banking and e-commerce almost in every area of life.

    “When doing e-commerce, you must have a physical place where items can be sent and collected; the Nigeria Postal Services offers this opportunity.”

  • Made-in-Nigeria e-commerce platform inaugurated

    MinCommerce Solutions Limited (MIN) has launched an online marketplace, www.min.ng, which is focused on indigenous products and businesses.

    The platform, which was launched in Lagos recently, will enable registered merchants have access to personalised web store, have logistic support for the delivery of goods purchased online, inventory management system and a secure payment platform for goods.

    It will also enable Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) operators of made-in-Nigeria products to sell and market their goods and services to a wider audience locally and internationally.

    At the launch, the founder min.ng Mr. Kelechi Ogbonaya, said: “In every crisis, there is an opportunity and with the current economic downturn it is important to look inwards and looking inwards means we patronise and support our local industries, thereby reducing the demand for forex.”

    “This is a good time to patronise made-in-Nigeria. In our researches, we discovered that Nigeria spends billions of dollars importing food items we can produce here. Also, more people are patronising indigenous fashion designers, more entrepreneurs are involving mind blowing products. With this, we saw the need to create a one stop shop of everything made in Nigeria and hopefully in the nearest future we would be an exporting country because we have the ability and resources to do so,” Ogbonaya added.

    He also added that merchants can enjoy all the benefits that come with having an online store by being able to sell their products to customers all over the world. Businesses that sign up to MIN’s Marketplace will have a free microsite provided for them, and MIN will provide additional value-added services including but not limited to marketing, customer service and logistics partnerships to cater for customers in all 36 states in Nigeria as well as Abuja and any other country from when sales request come.

    MIN will also provide dedicated account managers to all merchants; Merchants can greatly increase sales and revenue by partnering with us, while Min.ng worries about getting their products to customers all over the world. We also provide convenient payment terms for the proceeds of merchants’ sales. MIN offers its customers both prepaid and pay-on-delivery payment options for goods purchased.

     

  • E-commerce space untapped, says Shopsmart chief

    The e-commerce space in Nigeria is still largely untapped in spite of the coming of several online malls, the Chief Channel Officer, shopsmartdiscount.com, Mr. John Ekwueme, has said.

    Speaking on the sideline during the launch of the online and offline platform in Lagos, he said e-commerce, a relatively new development in the country, if well developed, will promote  job creation and grow the national gross domestic product (GDP).

    He said the new platform just launched will deliver the promise of discount-wholesale and value-pricing to bulk buyers and consumers across the country, adding that the firm will take advantage of its indigenous partners to change the face of online shopping in the country.

    He said it is the first-of-its-kind in the industry as it offers discount-wholesale pricing model for bulk buyers and end-users of fast moving consumer goods (FMCGs), electronic and fashion accessories, among others, across Nigeria.

    He said: “Shopsmart is an online and offline discount-wholesale enterprise; with a business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) model designed to provide a discount-wholesale pricing regime in the retail space for value-pricing benefits to both bulk buyers and end-users of FMCGs, electronics and fashion accessories. To deliver on the promise of discount-wholesale pricing, we have invested in corporate distributorship relationships with manufacturers such as Dufil, May & Baker, Promasidor, Procter & Gamble, Reckitt Benckiser, LG, Samsung, Panasonic and others.

    “These strategic partnerships will strengthen Shopsmart’s position and boosts its capacity to provide deep discounts to all categories of customers. Our objective is to continuously deliver value pricing as a means to sustainable customer satisfaction.”

    According to him, the value offering of the platform include 90 per cent made-in-Nigeria goods and discount wholesale pricing.

    He explained that cooperative societies have been earmarked for special membership cards that will enable them receive benefits such as credit sale (buy now, pay later), discounts on select hotels and airlines and additional membership discounts.

    General Manager, Foods Division, May & Baker, Valentine Okelu, who spoke on the occasion said: “When the Shopsmart value proposition was presented to us, we were excited by its compelling nature.  It is new and innovative, and we want to be part of that story. As such the decision to partner with Shopsmart was an easy decision for us at May & Baker.”

  • Driving e-commerce with cashless banking

    Driving e-commerce with cashless banking

    In Nigeria, e-commerce is growing, and with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)-driven cashless policy which has eased and simplified payments by consumers, more firms are joining to create platforms to enhance payment for goods and services. One of them is Konga.com which offers consumers, who pay electronically via its KongaPay platform, five per cent discount, writes COLLINS NWEZE.

    One thing consumers across markets want is quality service, and at this time quality service includes a seamless electronic payment plan that makes it easier for them to buy, pay and even get a discount on their purchases. Acting Chief Executive Officer, Konga.com, Shola Adekoya, said the cash-less policy introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2012 has made payment easier for his customers.

    He said his company was giving consumers a good deal and providing them quality  service on KongaPay.

    The Konga boss, who spoke at the last Economists Conference, in Lagos, on the theme: “Meeting the Consumers’ Needs”, said the cashless policy framework and its implementation by the CBN motivated his firm to develop KongaPay, an e-payment platform that enables online shoppers to buy, pay and take delivery of their goods, at a five per cent discount.

    KongaPay is similar to what is seen on Amazon platform with its one-click payments. The payment option has been integrated with commercial banks and it has strengthened the trust between Konga and its customers. Konga’s online platform protects shoppers against fraud when they release their bank details online.

    On the business environment, especially with the foreign exchange crisis, Adekoya said the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) segment would continue to thrive as long as operators are serving people’s daily needs.

    “What we saw in the foreign exchange and in the economic decline was just a resetting. People that used to buy Iphone now buy other middle-tier phones. People are probably less brand sensitive. I think it is most of a reset than downturn for the FMCG sector. Even where revenues have dropped, consumers will continue to buy because they are actually daily needs.

    “Except you have to go into luxury goods, that is where you will see a possible drop, but in our category, we are servicing daily needs and people will continue to buy, but what they buy may be different when they become less sensitive to brands.”

     

    Online payment deepens

    Adekoya said online payment is becoming a popular decision for shoppers because his company also delivers the goods to their destinations. “You will find out that when you have lower propensity to spend in the economy, people look for places where they can get real value for their money and the online at Konga is one of those places. We are seeing more people come online to make purchases. We are seeing more people buying because they are looking for deals they will not readily get in other places,” he disclosed.

    He said when customers buy at Konga.com, they are presented with several payment options, adding that KongaPay is another value-proposition the company is giving to Nigerians. Buyers that pay through the platform get five per cent discount of whatever product they buy.

    On how it works, he said: “Consumers need to link their cards to the KongaPay account and make the payment. Be it a phone, laptop, foods, anything that you buy and pay with the KongaPay, your five peer cent discount is guaranteed.”

     

    Payment security

    Adekoya said trust and security of customers’ transaction is a very big item on the firm’s agenda. “We always monitor customer feedback. So, there are few ways we manage that. Firstly, we have a whole floor of agents working on safety. Anything that sounds dodgy, anything that does not look right, we bring it down very quickly. Then we follow up with merchants, we follow up with even the shippers of the goods,” he said.

    Konga, he added, has a team that ensues that customers do not lose out on the platform. “You will never lose your money on Konga. That’s what we put in place now. On top of that, we have also come with KongaPay. Aside the discount that goes with paying on KongaPay, which is a prepaid plan, the delivery of the goods is quicker.

    With that payment model,  we do not have to start worrying about cash, but more importantly, the money is held in escrow Nigerian bank account. “So, we do not take the money until the deliveryof the goods is made,” he said.

    Besides, customers that pay electronically get extra guaranty, including opportunity to get back their money if they are not satisfied with the products. “So, one of the benefits of KongaPay is that if there are any problems, to return your money will be within hours,” he said.

    Adekoya said pricing is right for customers that buy from Konga. “When I compare prices, I know this for a fact that we are cheaper than what obtains in the local market. Pick up a few goods and compare. When we are doing deals, we find out that some of the customers in those areas come to buy from us for resale. I know for sure that our goods are cheaper than what obtains in the offline market. And we are particular about giving value to our customers,” he said.

    He explained that the e-commerce industry has a long chain of stakeholders. But his company ties as far as possible to get closer to the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), through the chains and deliver value to the customers.

    “We try to cut the long list of sub-dealers by going straight to the OEMs to deliver value to the customers. If we do not get directly from them, we get from their first distributors in Nigeria, selling straight to the customers,” he said.

     

    Cashless banking

    Adekoya said the cashless policy is beneficial to the e-commerce industry. The policy, he explained, was meant to ensure price stability through effective monetary policy; sound financial system and efficient payments system. It was a critical part of the payment system modernisation, designed to promote the use of Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), Point of Sale (PoS) terminals, web payment, online transfers and even mobile money in banking transactions instead of relying on cash.

    “The more we go cashless the better it makes e-commerce. Most people do not have alternative that even when you go offline you have to do payment through e-payment. It means that we do not work too hard to convince you to pay online. One of the challenges we have is that even in offline transactions, people do not trust their bankers’ different types of electronic payment. So, the government is pushing towards cash-less policy helps us as an industry,” he said.

    “I think for us, is that what we found most impactful is that with KongaPay proposition has taken a good chunk of our payment delivery, orders. The beauty of that is that as people get more comfortable with the KongaPay solution, they see how easy it is and if you want your money back, you see how easy it is.

    “People are just adopting it more and more,” he said.

    He explained that at present about 10 per cent of the orders were coming through KongaPay. “There used to be issues about people seeing something online and clicking on it only to buy and goods delivered for them to see that the quality differs. In Konga, we have 40,000 small merchants that list their products on Konga. And we manage process with technology, as people come online they are buying, in some cases, order from the merchants.

    “We always want e-payment so that customers can hold their money until they are satisfied with the quality of the products, we don’t actually pay out to the merchants so as to protect the customer,” he said.

    Secondly, Konga looks out for items that do not look right. “We have team of reviewers going through your pictures and descriptions to ensure that it is right. We also vet the merchants. You go through training on e-commerce to ensure they understand better. The fact that I have a black phone and have ran out of red one, does not mean I should give the customer black when he has requested for red. All these are the ethics. So, we build our own logistics network. So, you have to give it to us to ship it. At that point we will ask is it the right items? And if they are not, we will compensate customers either by replacement or through other means of compensation if they experience that,” he said.

    The merchants, he said have been trained up to a point where the company feels very comfortable with what we have on the ground.

     

    Market share

    He said the company’s share of the market is difficult to say, because transaction figures are not public. “One of the challenges is that in the FMCG sector is the prevalence of lots of informal trading. There re not much research in the sector that will enable operators know their total share of the market but we are doing very well,” he said.

    “What drove us into the KongaPay are the issues we have seen with bank cards. People were trying to make payments online but some of their transactions were declined and we cannot get back to the customer to explain why. But now, with KongaPay, we can tell exactly what is wrong, why it is wrong. Konga has to get a mobile money licence to do this. So, we understand when there is an error, we tell the customer and that helps with coming up with a solution, unlike what we used to have in the past where payments fail, and we cannot tell why it failed. We used to have higher percentage of transaction failure but that has been fixed with KongaPay. We have little or no payment issues at present,” he further explained.

    He said the integration to local banks is very easy because there are  gateways that act as international standards that the company complies with and expects the banks to also do the same thing. So, there are international languages that you use in integrating the technology.

     

    Same-day service in Lagos

    Lagos is one of those states where Konga is very prominent in terms of its delivery capacities. “In a few weeks, we will be launching same day services, where if you order by Konga, there will be some products that will be delivered to you same day. So, in terms of delivery, we have a very strong network in Lagos. That is what Lagosians want same day service.’’

    Continuing, he said: “There are just very few countries where you find this number of people using data on their phones. In terms of the future, when you look at the demography of Nigeria, we are a very young country. Nigerians are savvy and know how to use technology. I see a brighter future for Nigeria as the young population get older and get into work, and have more purchasing power, it can only get bigger and better.’’

    “Acquisition is not big in our agenda. As we mature, no at this point in time, we are just focusing on giving the consumers the best value. Nigerians are the consumers. Anybody that wants to buy anything, to us, is the consumer. We believe we can make Konga the destination where consumers can buy their daily needs. So, consumer for us is as wide as the whole of Nigeria, and ultimately, Africa.  We do not just think about Nigeria, we think about Africa. So, everybody is a consumer,’’ Adekoya added.

     

  • Jovago boss rues misfortunes of e-commerce

    The biting credit crunch remains a disincentive to most e-commerce businesses especially as the fate of the local naira goes on a downward spiral, Kushal Dutta, Managing Director of Jovago Nigeria has said.

    “For a dollar-denominated economy, access to foreign exchange is critical to personal and institutional financing especially in the light of the prevailing economic realities in the country,” he said.

    According to Dutta, “Early performance indicators show us that the e-commerce sector is observing a sharp drop in cashflow. At the moment, investors are seeking instruments that can accommodate dollar receipts but if the restrictions on FX trade continue and the value of the naira continues to spiral out of control, businesses will be faced with significant risk and engagements in offshore transactions will be limited.”

    It may be recalled that the Monetary Policy Committee of the CBN had on Tuesday hinted that the country should look forward to long periods of harsh economic downturn following low receipts from oil revenue.

  • Gtext boosts e-commerce with new solutions

    Gtext Media and Investment Limited has unveiled eight new IT startups solutions into the market to further boost e-Commerce and allow seamless electronic economic transactions in the country.

    The Chief Executive Officer of Gtext Media and Investment Limited, Stephen Akintayo, at the press conference and launch of the new products held recently introduced the latest new start-up of the company which includes smeshouse.com.ng, dms.com.ng,

    onlinetradefare.com.ng , gstore.com.ng, trendingbooks.com.ng, trendingproducts.com.ng, trendingevents.com.ng and gtext.com.ng under the umbrella of Digital Marketing School, now a subsidiary Gtext Group.

    He pointed out that digital marketing as an online platform of marketing products and services and a big name encompassing email marketing, blogging or Web marketing, social media marketing and so on.

    “Digital marketing school and SME house empowers and train people in the digital marketing business. The knowledge of digital marketing school would enable people to earn more money than they have invested,” he said.

    Akintayo also pointed out that these products would help anybody who wants to set up his or her business and assist them to grow. He used the opportunity to urge everyone in any field to utilise the digital marketing methods as the best way towards boosting their income and bring about development as well.

    Speaking at the event Mrs. Moyo Jogunosimi, who is a facilitator, noted that digital marketing helps to foster better and stronger business relationships with people.

    She said digital marketing is not restricted to a specific location or persons, describing it as a necessity for every business as it earns more money than orthodox method of marketing.