Well it's actually Ecommerce for Nigeria but I guess it's still quite accurate if you extend to Africa. This article is my purely an expression of my views based my understanding of the market. I have 10 years experience working in Nigeria in both a Technology and Digital Capacity. The last few as Head of Digital at Insight Publicis.

1. E-commerce
for Africa
Stanislaus Martins

2. want to share a few thoughts about the
Ie-commerce space in Nigeria and offer
a nice option to help the space grow
not just in Nigeria but also on the
continent. I would like to call my idea an
innovation and not an invention because
what I am simply doing is looking at what
has worked successfully in other
industries and trying to adapt it to an
entirely different industry that looks pretty
stagnant right now. To help drive home my
points, I am including a few mockups of
what this would look like.
While I live in Nigeria, I still do most of my
online shopping in the US and China ; on
Amazon USA for small items and on
Aliexpress for large orders. Despite
shopping outside Nigeria, the shopping
experience remains second to none,
especially on Amazon.com - customer
service is exceptional.My last order was
for 22 copies of a book and somehow the
books found their way to Niger - the
country not the state o. A quick online chat
with an Amazon sales rep and the whole
issue was resolved, the books were
rerouted. The books were delivered and
despite being a few days late, I felt really
good and satisfied about the whole
transaction. It was just simply a
wholesome experience for me.
With the recession fully upon us now, I
seriously doubt I will be shopping in the
US or China anytime soon though ;-)
Away from the US and China and back to
Nigeria.
Things are not very “dandy” right now in
Nigeria, with the recession upon us,
everyone is getting creative with how they
shop; we want every value for every kobo
spent.
The e-commerce space in Nigeria and in
most developing markets remains a very
challenging one. Despite the recession,
the wholesale and retail trade sector
continues to grow but somehow it just
doesn’t look like it’s affecting the online
players.
The last time I checked, none of the major
players are doing too well with stories of
heavy financial loses and mass
recruitments all over the place. From
Jumia to Konga, the story is not so
different. Simply Google it and you will
...I am simply doing is
looking at what has worked
successfully in other industries
and trying to adapt it to an
entirely different industry
that looks pretty stagnant
right now.
E-commerce for Africa | 1 |Stanislaus Martins
ImageCredits:Freestock.comFreeimages.com
w w w . m a r t i n s . c o m . n gme@martins.com.ng

3. see what I mean. It’s all gloom right now. Amazon isn't
making profit too but that's a strategic decision.
Players in the space need to focus on developing the
category and not just their offerings alone. We simply
don’t have enough Nigerians online to justify the
investment made in some of the big e-commerce
players right now. With the sector still growing, players
need to focus on long term growth, they need to be
ready to play for the long haul too, there is simply no
quick wins in this space.
What if I said e-commerce doesn’t have to be limited to
the internet.What if we could introduce a solution that
automatically increased the potential market size to
everyone with a mobile device and not an internet
connection? The opportunities for growth simply
quadruples.
It’s tough to run a competitive e-commerce business
here in Nigeria for just too many reasons. I will not
bore you with the fine details but here are some of the
challenges faced by e-commerce players in the market
that players have to contend with:
With the sector still
growing, players need
to focus on long term
growth, they need to be
ready to play for the long
haul too, there is simply no
quick wins in this space.
E-commerce for Africa | 2 |Stanislaus Martins w w w . m a r t i n s . c o m . n gme@martins.com.ng

4. This is probably the number one challenge. You hear the
word “Logistics” used to stand for just about every
imaginable problem. Logistics covers everything from
operations to warehousing to road network and the post
office.
Most of the players are unknown. To become known, you
need to market yourself and build awareness for your
brand and offering. The cost to do this for small players
can be very prohibitive. Several of the players in the space
also end up doing a shoddy job about brand building.
Rather than hire professionals, they try to do it themselves
and this usually results in poor results. Hiring professionals
can also be expensive.
Business model of many of the players makes it
impossible to be able to compete on price and quantity
with the open market. The open market is almost always
guaranteed to be less expensive than the top players.
Notice how both the top players have switched to a
marketplace model? This helps them address a number of
issues while also being plagued with others. A marketplace
model helps increase your offerings and also reduces your
warehouse requirements.
Probably not as big an issue these days but thought to
mention it nonetheless. Everyone uses the same
underlying technology. While not a problem, every site
looks just like the other and user experience is simply not
top notch. You will know what I am talking about if you
have shopped on international sites. Magento and AWS
are the platforms of choice and understandably so.
This one na die. We probably invented “pay on delivery”
here in Nigeria. We had to. Nigerians don’t trust online
sites with their cards. This is a big logistic problem for
players. This model is extremely tough to sustainable. It’s
very expensive to maintain but we can make it work..With
only 200,000 ATM cards reported to be active in Nigeria, it
only makes sense to try to include those without the cards
in the mix. Payment on delivery is not going anywhere
anytime soon so we just need to get creative with how we
use it. I hear some players are planning to stop using it,
would be nice to hear how that is working out for them.
How do e-commerce players get their products? Do they
get them directly from the manufacturers, a major
distributor or in most cases do they just rely on a seller in
computer village?
Read my piece on the number of internet users in Nigeria.
With less than 200,000 registered debit cards in Nigeria
the number of people who can shop and pay online is
limited. We simply don’t have enough people online yet.
We need to bring new users “online” to shop.
Logistics
Marketing
Business Model
Technology
Payment
Product Sourcing
Users
E-commerce for Africa | 3 |Stanislaus Martins
Challenges of e-commerce in Nigeria
w w w . m a r t i n s . c o m . n gme@martins.com.ng

5. Everyone suddenly wants to play in this
space, banks are opening e-commerce
portals all over the place, as at my last
count, 5 banks had their own e-commerce
platform. The Telcos with all their financial
muscle are not being left out - MTN is
visibly behind the marketplace.ng. Can't
blame these guys though, barriers to entry
is very low for these players and
considering their business, it's pretty much
innovation to them.
In this article I won’t attempt to help solve
all these problems, rather I will focus on an
idea of mine which I feel can begin to help
e-commerce players design an e-
commerce offering that is better suited for
Nigeria and other developing markets. Not
redesign everything o but simply added
some small element to the mix.
As Africans, let’s attempt to rework what e-
commerce means to us. Let’s make it
easier for more people to shop :-) ok?
In developing markets, mobile penetration
is logically much higher than internet
penetration as mobile penetration
significantly fuels internet penetration in
this parts. Even with internet penetration
being high, not every online user shops on
e-commerce sites for some of the reasons
presented already.
If you look at some recent numbers
published by Jumia and Konga, I seriously
doubt Nigeria has up to one million e-
commerce users. That number may even
be significantly lower than 500,000 if you
look at recent Konga active users data
published in their 2015 financial results.
500,000 users from a user population of
170 million Nigerians? Not good enough.
How do e-commerce players make the
best of these mobile users? ( if you say
“mobile apps” I will shoot you :-), just goes
to show you are not paying attention) .
While mobile apps is probably a step up in
user experience, you are still relying on the
same “online” Nigerians.
How do e-commerce users take advantage
of these high mobile penetration numbers
in such a way that irrespective of your
mobile device you are able to make use of
their service to order what you need?
Who says e-commerce in Africa should be
tied to your desktop or even a mobile app?
E-commerce for Africa | 4 |Stanislaus Martins w w w . m a r t i n s . c o m . n gme@martins.com.ng

6. What if we could turn just about
everything into an online store and users
wouldn’t even need Internet access to
shop?
Low end technology like SMS and USSD
short codes have the potential to totally
redefine e-commerce as we know it in
Africa.
Just think of it for a little bit then come back
to read the rest of this article in
a few minutes :-)
E-commerce for Africa | 5 |Stanislaus Martins w w w . m a r t i n s . c o m . n gme@martins.com.ng

7. very product on a retailer’s
Ewebsite or store already
includes a unique SKU id,
what if we took it a step further
and added a unique sms
number(keyword) to all products
as well and made it easy for users
to order products and services
using the code and a simple
phone with sms capabilities, no
internet required? No
smartphone, no Internet required.
What if on every e-commerce
website, each product had an
option to order using a unique
code as shown in the visuals
below. With clear call to action to
order?
How would this work? Let me
break it down in a bit more detail.
Let’s assume we had an e-
commerce site call KONJUM for
fun ;-)
Welcome back :-)
E-commerce for Africa | 6 |Stanislaus Martins
*Allthemockupspresentedarejustforillustrationonlyanddonotrepresentanysortofendorsementbytheproductowners.
w w w . m a r t i n s . c o m . n gme@martins.com.ng

8. Ÿ KONJUM registers one unique dedicated short code
number with the NCC e.g 5000. Needs to work with
all telcos.
Ÿ KONJUM generates a unique “keyword” for every
product e.g Tecno Camon C9 - 1003, Samsung A6 -
1009 on their portal and so on.
Ÿ KONJUM builds a custom system to handle
SMS/USSD orders and integrates it into their
existing CRM and inventory system. System could
be deployed to support SMS or USSD.
Ÿ KONJUM uses the product with strong call to action
to order via sms in all it’s communication both online
and offline.
Ÿ User visits KONJUM’s website or sees offline
advertisement of Tecno Camon C9 and simply
performs the following task to place an order - SMS
1003 to 5000 or use a USSD option of *5000*1003#
Ÿ CRM and Inventory system picks up order and
confirmation of order is sent back to sender via sms
.
Ÿ KONJUM’s Customer service rep follows up to
confirm order and address. At this stage all the
vetting is done and a customer profile is built.
E-commerce for Africa | 7 |Stanislaus Martins w w w . m a r t i n s . c o m . n gme@martins.com.ng

9. E-commerce for Africa | 8 |Stanislaus Martins
KONJUM could easily partner with banks
for direct debits which user needs to
confirm via sms for direct back
deduction. On the other hand, pay on
delivery can also be utilized to simplify
the process for a start.
What do you think? This could easily be
implemented using simple SMS or an
USSD system, it’s totally up to you.
Smaller e-commerce players can even
deploy the SMS version using just a
regular number, no short code required.
There are many things to take into
consideration for this to succeed such as
who bears the cost of the SMS sent but
you get the picture. This idea instantly
begins to redefine e-commerce and
increases the potential e-commerce
market size to everyone in Nigeria. Who
said e-commerce had to be restricted to
a desktop or a mobile app?
To avoid abuse a token of 50 or 100
naira could be the order charge. This
could then be deducted from the final
order cost when customer pays.
w w w . m a r t i n s . c o m . n gme@martins.com.ng

10. Payment on delivery is a nightmare for all
players but a necessary evil. A central and
shared reputation management system that
could be called up by all players could help
here. This service tracks the reputation of
online shoppers using their phone numbers
and email addresses. Think Uber rating for e-
commerce.
Ÿ Turn every BRT bus into an e-commerce
site.
Ÿ Publishing and distributing free magazines
with e-commerce inventory included
Ÿ Billboards as e-commerce channels.
I think as Africans, we need to focus on our
unique circumstances to make the best of our
options. It’s great to learn from other markets
but it’s best when that knowledge is
implemented in the context of one’s situation.
I can’t wait to see the very first e-commerce
site on the continent that fully embraces this.
E-commerce for Africa | 9 |Stanislaus Martins
We could begin to
redefine e-commerce on
the continent, this way.
w w w . m a r t i n s . c o m . n gme@martins.com.ng

11. ...notes

12. With over 10 years experience in the Digital and Technology space in
Nigeria, Stanislaus Martins is a solid fusion of Technology and Marketing.
He is a professional photographer and creative at heart.
Stanislaus likes to talk Innovation, Technology, Digital and Marketing.
He is currently Head of Digital at Insight Publicis, one of the top marketing
communications agencies in West Africa.
w w w . m a r t i n s . c o m . n g
me@martins.com.ng @OlusegunMartins@StanDMan
E-commerce
for Africa
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