Competition for Africa’s ecommerce startups heats up as Christmas nears

Christmas is right around the corner and Africa’s ecommerce stores aren’t letting this opportunity slide without getting their fingers in the pie. The popularity of online shopping continues to grow in emerging markets (more specifically, West Africa) and startups such as Konga and Jumia are indicative of this. Both companies have won prestigious awards recently as they gear up for Africa’s end of the year shopping spree.

Claiming to be Africa’s largest online mall, the Nigerian ecommerce startup Kongo has been active since June 2012 and has since opened up a massive 120,000 square feet ecommerce warehouse and is believed to be the most visited ecommerce brand according to Alexa traffic rankings.

“Aligned with our strong technology base and the rapidly growing logistics/ Fulfillment operation, we are reinforcing the solid foundations of our eCommerce company. This is all about our customers,” Chief Operating Office Alex Kamara said.

In response to the retail spirits of the upcoming holiday seasons, Konga has launched a new sales campaign. The company touts the biggest price slash on phones and tablets this year. Together with the “What’s in the Box This Christmas” commercial, customers are encouraged to guess what’s inside the mystery box in order to stand a chance of winning a prize.

This week, the popular Nigerian online shopping store has won awards for Online Retailer Of The Year as well as the Best Emerging Brand Of The Year (Fastest Growing Brand) at Marketing World Awards 2013.

In response to the successful award ceremony earlier this week, Konga says in a blog post, “As a brand we dedicate this award to our customers, they are our innovation drivers and continue to inspire us to set new levels of service excellence in Nigeria”

Another Nigerian-based startup, the Rocket Internet-backed Jumia, has recently announced the launch of its new Christmas Store. The online store is meant to be the portal for everything related to Christmas shopping and is also offering discounts for early Christmas shoppers and the likes.

A blog post reads, “Jumia Christmas store is stocked with everything from ornaments to cloths, shoes, Christmas trees, Christmas games, toys for the kids, tickets to events you want to go and a lot more.”

Last month, Jumia became the first African company to win The Best New Retail Launch of the Year award at the 2013 World Retail Congress in Paris.

In a blog post Jeremy Hodara, Founder & Managing Director of Jumia said, “We deliver products to hundred thousands of customers in over six countries every day.” He further said, “We are number one in Nigeria now and we will continue to grow and deliver our products all across Africa.”

Both companies are relatively new but are expanding and growing incredibly fast and with Christmas being the most significant event for retailers across the globe, let’s wait and see what they bring us next year.