Can’t quite remember if it was from a Rocket Internet report or not but I know I read it somewhere a few months ago. I’ll check for it and get back to you with a link.
That’s what I’m saying, I don’t know the answers. That’s why I’m asking. It’s a general question.
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Yeah don’t mind me. I started reading your post with the impression that you were going to list solutions (because I think you’re 100% correct on the problems you pointed out).
I think there’s something that’s still missing. We’ve not even began to tap the surface of the sheer purchasing power of the Nigerian market and it’s mind boggling. It’s easily a multi billion dollar e-commerce market.
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With more than $75m in funding from its inception, Jumia now has 600 employees, and a market share of 70% of e-commerce in Nigeria, in this huge and fast-growing country. In 2011, the website boasted 100 000 visits per day, and they have served about half a million customers overall.
Still, it’s like Gambia population vs. Nigeria population – no one knows who you are. And the only reason I care to point that out is that you seem to be throwing buckets of shade at Konga while bragging about your metrics on what, a few hundred paying users, if that.
I’m no protectionist but in this crazy economy and indeed at any point, larger Nigerian-owned companies bold enough to be pulling through and not cutting-and-running should be applauded, not derided. Ok, now I’ma let you finish. You can post specifics of your 23% growth so we have apples to compare to apples.
Nothing went wrong. When last I checked, Jumia (don’t be fooled by the rocks/local name that I got…) was a Samwer Brothers venture. If you don’t know about the German Samwer bothers and their ‘disruptive’ copy-paste-and-hope-to-be-bought-out model, then, erm… I don’t know sha, maybe not qualified to give such high-level assessments?
Anyway, and Konga was started by DealDey founder. I think Konga is doing great – look at the Nigerian economy. Even electronics replacement, which is why I shop online, is now a luxury. And they are still posting 5%.
I’m pretty sure most people that contribute on Radar know who Samwer brothers are. It’s not exactly a secret. I don’t see how that answers the question of the Nigerian market still not being properly tapped into.
My mum always tells me I’m the smartest person in the world, even when I come 4th in class. Glad you got back to us on the source of your stats, but they were generated by the parent company of Jumia. Not, you know, a neutral third party like McKinsey or Consumer Reports. So, just no. We naijas are easy to deceive sha.
Well, until McKinsey or Consumer Reports comes up with independent figures, that’s what we have. I’d bet good money that the real figures, whatever they are, aren’t that far from that.
Two generalizations in just the first sentence of your reply: “I’m pretty sure” and “most people”. You’re backtracking in a big way. My question was directed at you. It’s not enough to know the name. Maybe reading some articles on their past investments and buy-outs, first in Europe and now in mostly South America and some of Africa, will help you understand their aggressive and une courage business/growth model. It will also help you understand the pool of funds they are working with vs a local company, i.e. Konga, even with its capital raise.
Btw Samwer have been making huge losses on their aggressive growth business model. Why? Political and economic instability in the countries they took huge bets on (India, Brazil, Nigeria… you get the idea) affect consumer spend on travel/hotel bookings; online ‘fun spend’, etc. And these are the industries they focus on.
But the cooler reason is that all the cool startups wised up to Rocket/Samwer’s copy-paste model and started to extend into emerging economies from get-go. Why else do you think you haven’t seen Rocket Internet try to create their own Airbnb or Uber?
Ya ya, no. Please don’t propagate misleading data. The industry needs objective data. It’s math not politics. I’d prefer to wait than be sold an unverifiable inaccuracy 
You’re…still not answering the question I initially asked. Why haven’t the current players in e-commerce properly tapped into the enormous potential of Nigeria’s e-commerce market? That has nothing to do with who’s backing who and how much money this person or that person has. If you ask Rocket Internet, they would LOVE to triple their current monthly customers. It increases their chances of getting selling Jumia to a bigger brand (perhaps Amazon), doesn’t it? So what are you saying?
I’m not even sure why you were picking apart “I’m pretty sure” and “most people”. It’s natural to assume people who contribute on Radar have at least some interest in tech startups. And if you do, especially in Nigeria, there’s almost no way you don’t know about Rocket Internet and what they do. So again…what are you really saying?
It doesn’t matter how much they’ve been losing here or there, that has nothing to do with what I asked tbh. That’s a different issue entirely.
And as for Airbnb, Rocket Internet already cloned it. It’s called Wimdu. Or at least was called Wimdu until it eventually failed (it’s still running but it’s essentially a lost cause). And they’re currently cloning Uber. That’s Easy Taxi. If I’m not mistaken, Easy Taxi is now in Nigeria as well.
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I have said (and will continue to say) that the biggest problem with Konga & Jumia is Merchant!!.
They jumped into the marketplace business model too early , when they were yet to fully gain the trust of Nigerians.
When a merchant fucks up , “Jumia” and “Konga” take the blame and their reputation suffers for a crime they did not commit.
My suggestion is that they
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Remove all merchants for now & sell products directly. This will give them more control over quality of products & also improve delivery time ; rather than wait for merchant X to bring the product to their warehouse before making delivery.
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If they cannot remove all merchants, then they should ensure that each merchant is properly screened and verified. Manual verification is the best in this case.
Now talking about Jumia Vs Konga. From an affiliate point of view, based on the number of sales & monthly commission I earn from both platforms, I will say that Jumia is far ahead of Konga.
Even though Jumia’s commission rate is 10x better better than Konga , my conversion rate is far better on Jumia with same traffic to both platforms.
But to be honest , Jumia gets a lot of declined sales. A LOT. My sale / commission Approval rate is around 55%.
But On Amazon (I am also an Amazon Affiliate marketer) , the case is quite different. My Approval rate is a staggering 95%. Products HARDLY gets returned or order canceled.
Now talking about Nigerians shopping habit. I have an interesting idea :
Is it possible to build an e-commerce platform where Nigerians can buy products based on negotiations?
I mean, since we all like to bargain before paying for good, I figured it will make sense to give Nigerians a chance to bargain for that product.
This will give them a more relaxed feeling that they’re not overpaying for that product and at least “THEY BARGAINED”
What do you think?
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That question was directed at @somtoifezue after his mic-drop moment, no? Not at me. I’m just a maths person, and interested in stats and numbers. Maybe I should give up and just buy into what you tell me that Rocket Internet told us all. I don’t know. But that seems shady.
Quick question – why isn’t Jumia included in Kinnevik’s report? I’ll hazard it’s because it’s more fun to be in charge of their own narrative. Reading that report quote again, does anybody really buy into those types of generalist reports? E.g. they have served about half a million customers overall." Served as in they answered a call from a customer inquiring about a product? Or served as in sell-through? And what is “about half a million?” As in, kini ballpark? 300,000? 800,000?
I’m picking apart your “I’m pretty sure” because at least one of your questions (on what Julia may be doing or having that Konga isn’t ) answers itself once you have a fundamental knowledge of the core of both companies. Actually, I’ll be bold and say that from my knowledge of Rocket internet’s ruthless business model, they could be pulling out of the Nigerian e-commerce market (i.e. Closing Julia or selling it at a loss) in the next 24 months. Warehousing electronics, and all those delivery logistics, are not a small deal. You already told us yourself how Wimdu is doing.
There’s an article from November last year where, I think Financial Times, interviewed the oldest Samwer brother asking what went wrong with their business model. Most FT articles are unfortunately behind a paywall. But it’s not news.
Again I think e-commerce is ruthless because it deals with physical product, and that all of these guys, Samwers, Sim… are champions in my eyes. Just correcting your statement so that 1. You don’t misinform the Nigerian tech and business ecosystem, and 2. Readers of this thread get a fuller picture of the other key players, and have more fully-formed opinions.
Lol no offense man but you keep saying a lot without answering the question I asked still. Granted, I didn’t ask you directly initially but you replied to the post. You’re nitpicking at tiny parts of the post and you keep egging away at them without actually focusing on the larger question. I don’t know how many times I have to point that out.
Trust me, I know Rocket Internet’s model. I’ve studied it a lot and I’ve also been in contact with one of their associates. So I’m very familiar with what they’ve done and what they still do. And none of that has anything to do with answering this question:
“Why haven’t we began to tap into the real potential of the Nigerian e-commerce market? As ‘successful’ as Jumia and Konga have been, they’ve still not scratched the surface. Why is that?”
You can’t say Rocket Internet don’t want to do better with Jumia than they’re currently doing. That would be counterproductive to their goal. The better the business looks, the more attractive it is for an M & A.
It’s a simple question. Leave whatever other bit you’re egging at and try to answer this question if you can.
You’re shifting focus. Or you’re narrowing focus, which is possibly more productive for the thread. I can’t answer your question. I don’t have the stats. You had 20 things thrown out and my goal was to try to clarify the misconceptions in them! So I can say that my work here is done 
.
This doesn’t solve anything .
So just because i bargained does that justify selling a low quality product?
Customers are driven by loyalty, customer satisfaction and value for money. Miss one of the three and sooner or later you lose customers
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Did you say that based on research or that’s just what you think?
I’m shifting focus? From the nitpicking you were doing yeah, maybe. Because that wasn’t my point. But hey, carry on.
[Quote]Is it possible to build an e-commerce platform where Nigerians can buy products based on negotiations?
I mean, since we all like to bargain before paying for good, I figured it will make sense to give Nigerians a chance to bargain for that product.
This will give them a more relaxed feeling that they’re not overpaying for that product and at least “THEY BARGAINED”[/quote]
If you tell me this will be a nice feature to increase the adoption rate, i will prolly agree. But telling me because i bargained for a lower price doesn’t give me the right to complain about poor service is totally wrong.
Pls DO NOT start an ecommerce business, stick to affiliate marketing.
I’m in the system so it’s safe to say i know a bit more than you do.
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