There is a huge opportunity in the Nigerian e-commerce industry. However, most players are struggling for reasons ranging from copied models to doing it their way without considering the market. We are Africans and we are unique for who we are. Understanding this fact as a player in the industry is key to success.

Jumia and Konga copied the business model from Amazon and now everyone coming into the industry wants to copy from Jumia and Konga. It means that 90% of the players are running the same kind of business without answering the key question “Do Africans behave like Americans?”

For instance, Nigerians are still skeptical about paying with their cards online let alone making payment for an item they have not physically seen and tested. If your model revolves around full payment online before delivery, you are only gambling with 15% of the qualified market. Do you know the only payment method for Nigerians? “We will deliver the item as you have seen it online, we will test it working, and you pay.” Do otherwise and you will continue to struggle.

Every e-commerce company wants to be everything for every customer. This does not work in Nigeria because we are a people with diverse needs. Play in a niche market and satisfy that market. After all, every niche is huge as far as the Nigerian market is concerned. Oraimo as a brand is doing great on this but there is still a missing link.

At Selligate, we have studied the market extensively and we have come up with a model that works better in Nigeria profitably and can also be extended to other African countries. One of the juicy parts of the model is that we believe, for us to achieve our goal of getting our products into every household in Nigeria, there has to be a clear decentralization of several units and good profit sharing between us and our strong network of distributors. Guess what? We would have solved another nightmare of e-commerce in Nigeria-Logistics.