But he was responding to your post oga.
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Can we really compare social networks to ecommerce sites?
I will not sell if Jeff Bezos offer any amount for Konga or Jumia and I am the one making the selling decisions. First thing is that Amazon as a company need my company more than my company needs Amazon. With all ups and down that a Konga has gone through and they can still stand, I think it is a good sign that if the company hangs on and get more creative, the sky is not their limit. On the flip side, Amazon might not have survived if started from Nigeria with all the man-made and âextra-terrestrialâ problems that eCommerce companies face in Nigeria. Konga is currently valued at $200 million, the offer of $1 billion is tempting but it is too small from what Konga can worth in the next 4 years bearing in mind that eCommerce is still in its infancy in Nigeria and Africa in general. I would rather compromise for a partnership and a non-controlling shareholding structure with Amazon. Selling the company will in the end be a terrible mistake if for instance Amazon buys it and could not turn profit due to our âNigerian environmentâ or typical mismanagement. The company will be shutdown and all the memories and hard work will become pages of Wikipedia as a âdefunctâ eCommerce company.
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I believe a buy out is the exact scenario Jumia and Konga are playing for. With the loads of marketing spend both parties are throwing about I wont be shocked if neither is profitable at the moment. One thing is certain both will collapse without the constant flow of investors cash, a model that is hardly sustainable without a major buy out.
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absolutely. take the money and run!
I would advise them to sell. Itâs really not about the money. Itâs the potential of losing out entirelyâŚto the Nigerian factor!!
Consumer behavior studies (mine) show that Nigerians tend to westernize their buying habits. Amazon wouldnât even break sweat getting the traffic. As @akindolu says, buying from amazon will be the new cool (think KFC vs Local Food merchants).
BTW to me, eBay is to e-Commerce what MSFT is to SoftwareâŚLaidBack Pioneers.
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L o L. By who?
Sell and run for the hills. I wouldnât even bargain on price. Africans have shown too much affinity for western brands. Iâve bought a couple of things off Amazon. Iâm yet to buy anything off Jumia (Even with all the advertising done here in Kampala) and Iâm one of very many people. Plus the way Jeff purchased Diapers.com was almost cannibalistic. Amazon was willing to lose up to $100m per month in price wars just so they could undermine diapers.com to sell. In Africa, thatâs death for the competing company. This market is just not loyal!
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I would advise either to sell not necessarily because Amazon can outcompete them (in reality Konga and Jumia should still be able to hold there own), but because if either of them should sell, then you now have a local competitor that now has vast local knowledge in addition to all the resources that come with being acquired by Amazon. In this case, paranoia might just be a good thing.
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