Trade and commerce have been key contributors to the Nigerian economy. The internet has made it possible for people separated by time and space to trade through ecommerce platforms, such as the leading online marketplace in Africa, Konga.com.
Konga.com was founded in 2012 and started purely as an online retailer selling baby and beauty products. Its growth was rapid, rising 11X in its first year and 4.5X in the second.
In 2014, Konga opened Seller HQ – Konga’s Marketplace. Through the platform, business owners could display and sell their items on Konga.com. Since then, Seller HQ has witnessed a phenomenal growth.
Currently, orders from the marketplace accounts for over 70% of sales with over 30,000 sellers registered and trading on the site today.
According to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, NBS, ICT driven businesses contributes about 8.4% of Nigeria’s GDP, recording a 16.4% growth in 2014. The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, also claims that over 93.4 million people access the internet.
Nigeria has one of the fastest growing ecommerce industries, with an estimated 25% annual growth. This is certainly a source of revenue for the economy as several Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Africa now rely on ICT tools and platforms, such as the Konga Marketplace, to promote their businesses.
Konga’s vision to be the ‘engine of commerce and trade in Africa’ has driven it to take advantage of the increased internet usage across Nigeria and Africa in order to build an ecosystem that synergises all the elements involved in ecommerce, to bring Africans together.
Using a seamless value chain, the ‘Konga ecosystem’ has four basic elements – the customers, the sellers, a nationwide delivery & franchise network (KOS – Keep On Shipping), and a secure payment solution (KongaPay).
How Does this Ecosystem Work?
- Customers: Konga.com has about one million customers. The website receives an average of over 300,000 unique visits daily. Key attractions for customers include: the wide variety of products, affordable prices and an effective after-sales service by Konga’s trained customer care personnel. They are available to communicate via live chat, phone, email and social. With over 700 highly-motivated staff and an international in-house technology team, Konga is well and able to handle its increasing number of customers.
- Sellers: Konga currently has over 30,000 small businesses selling on Konga.com. The company supports these businesses by allowing them to leverage on its robust database to reach millions of customers spread within and outside Nigeria. Proudly admired by two million social followers on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+ and a high rate of daily traffic to the Konga website, Konga engages with customers and sellers alike, to promote the Nigerian digital commerce environment.
- Delivery & Franchise Network: Konga’s logistics network KOS has a fleet of over 200 branded vehicles, which comprises of vans, trucks and motorbikes. These value-driven assets are complimented by the pickup points/distribution centers in every part of Nigeria. To empower sellers and partners, Konga launched the ‘self-fulfill’ delivery model in 2015 allowing merchants on the site to deliver items purchased to a customer directly. A ‘same day’ delivery service for Lagos customers was also implemented in 2016, and KOS logistics began shipping for other businesses outside Konga at very affordable rates.
- KongaPay: This is a safe and secure payment system built by Konga.com. It works with all banks in Nigeria to ensure security of customer’s funds. The application ensures that the customer’s money is held in escrow until a sales transaction is completed successfully. KongaPay allows customers to effortlessly pay for products purchased on our website. It is the first non-banking payment system to integrate the use of Bank Verification Number (BVN) to validate payments. In April 2016, KongaPay became available for 3rd-party merchants & customers with unique features like recurrent payments, QR codes, API capabilities.
All these elements of the Konga ecosystem have made Konga.com a powerful force for economic growth in Africa by empowering businesses who in turn are able to grow, create jobs and improve the standard of living.
The Konga story continues, but the ultimate goal is to connect Africans with each other and the rest of the world through commerce and technology.
Did you know? Shola AdeKoya, CEO of Konga, will be speaking at this year’s eCommerce Expo to discuss how the African ecommerce giant engages with its customers.
