Supermart.ng: Nigerian ecommerce industry needs more players

Even though ecommerce platforms are springing up everywhere across Nigeria, an expert believes the country still needs more players in the indsutry. This notion is against strong concerns about the saturated nature of the ecommerce market in Nigeria with so many big players already competing for their share of the current online shopping boom.

According to Raphael Afaedor, the managing director of Supermart.ng, the ecommerce market in Nigeria is not yet saturated and there is need for more entrants.

Speaking on the state of the ecommerce in Nigeria, Afaedor said that it’s important for each of the businesses to carve a niche for themselves.

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He said Supermart.ng focuses on a very specific model: delivering groceries to households within three hours across Lagos. Other major brands, on the other hand, focus on broad industries like air travel or hospitality.

“I don’t believe the market is saturated already, there are still more needs to be met,” he said. “For instance, Supermart.ng came and saw the stress that people go through on a daily basis from one market to another in order to purchase their groceries.”

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“New brands need to also identify other needs and develop solutions for them. The market is very large,” the MD emphasises. The more entrepreneurs realise these gaps, the more jobs will be created.

Contrary to the Luddite notion that more tech in business will render people jobless, Afaedor said the reverse is the case:

In a typical ecommerce business, there are many stages involved. There are people in merchandising who go out to access and take the pictures of the products, there are those in logistics who ensure that the products are safely delivered and there are people in the customer service who handle possible complaints that may come up following the transaction.

Image by d26b73 via Flickr