Masha: We’ve had to adapt our processes uniquely for Nigeria market
No doubt, online business is a booming economy all over the world. And with the rate the sector is going, coupled with available technology, time shall come when consumers would be able to shop for everything and anything online.
Though the introduction of e-commerce in the country wasn’t as swift as it were in Europe, America and even some parts of Africa such as South Africa and Kenya, for fear of fraud, Nigerians today, especially those in the big cities, are certainly at home with the idea of shopping online. And with the introduction of mobile apps that allows consumers shop via their mobile phone, the rate of online business transactions has remained on the increase.
But according to the Co-founder of Supermart.ng, Raphael Afaedor, for e-Commerce in Nigeria to really serve the masses, more online stores are needed, not minding the intimidating popularity of big players such as OLX, Jumia and Konga.
However, for an average shopper, the security of these platforms remains of utmost concern and the players seem to have braced up to the security challenges, as well as deploying innovations to ease the process.
In a recent interview with The Guardian to mark the company’s third anniversary in Nigeria, the Country Manager of OLX, Lola Masha described Nigeria as a very unique market in the e-commerce space, adding that the organisation has since come up with strategies to deal with the challenges.
“When we began our business, we said, ‘you know what, Nigeria has a perception or reputation for fraud; we have the 419 brand attached to us. But let’s not start business accepting that perception, let’s give Nigeria benefit of the doubt; lets use models that worked in almost every other country global.’ So, we began business that way and we realised very quickly that Nigeria is a very unique market. Unfortunately, reputation does have some reasons behind it. So, we’ve had to adapt our processes uniquely for the Nigeria market; things we’ve not had to do elsewhere, we are doing in Nigeria,” she said.
Masha observed that lack of accurate national identification system in Nigeria also contributed to the challenges in the sector, making it difficult to ascertain the true identity of shoppers.
“If we had an ID system of some sort, where I knew who you were and I had a sense of your reputation through various ways, we will be able to make better decision on who we should allow or not allow on OLX platform. Unfortunately, we don’t have that in Nigeria.”
To deal with the situation, OLX as a company had no option but to deal with the situation by building their private database.
“What that means is that we had to take up that task of building that database of verified users. It’s not trivia at all, because everybody now needs to be verified; we need to capture who you are and decide if we should let you continue using the site or not,” she noted.
No doubt, the high profile case of that nanny recruited on OLX platform, who kidnapped children under her custody in Surulere, must have prompted the resolve by OLX to tighten its security.
“We do realise that it’s actually important that we have a safe site that our users can trust and come back to. Our future in Nigeria depend in us maintaining a safe platform that users will feel comfortable transacting on. So, safety is our number one priority here and we take extra steps to ensure that we verify those adds,” Masha said.
Today, every single adert that is posted on OLX platform is properly reviewed by the team that works 24 hours a day to guard against fraud.
“Even if you post your advert by 2am, somebody is going through to check that it doesn’t violate our rules and regulations. We’ve also realised that we are not perfect and we can’t always catch every single error. We do make some errors, but we rely on our users to also report those bad items to us.”
Meanwhile, on OLX site, there’s a section where shoppers can report bad items or a fraudulent act.
“When you do that, someone on the team will investigate and would ensure that we take subsequent action. And not only do we delete the add, if we find it to not meeting our criteria, we actually ban the user to make sure that they are no longer able to transact on OLX ever again,” she said.
Aside from blocking offenders from the platform, Masha informed that the company has also come up with other actions again such people all to ensure that the platform is secure.
“We have an investigative firm where we work closely with the police and EFCC and we go after scammers; we go after them to the full extent of the law and we bring them to justice. I can’t disclose the details just yet, but hopefully in a short term, we would give you more statistics around specific cases. We also want to promote that as well so that it becomes a deterrent to someone, who may consider conducting illegitimate activity on OLX,” she said.
Masha further explained that within the e-commerce, there are at least three different models.
“You have the classic e-tail model, which is the translation of retail to electronic. For a retail business, you have a shop, you have inventory, which means you actually buy goods from the suppliers. The buyer comes to your shop, they pay you directly then you give them the good; you are at the center of the transaction. That’s what people like KONGA and Jumia do.”
The other model that also exists is the market pace model.
“It’s like someone that owns a shop, but each business comes to set up within the shop; they essentially rent space from you. So, there are brands that also do business using that model where they don’t own the inventory, but they collate contents from other small businesses,” she noted.
However, OLX runs the classified model, which is different in many ways. First being that users are typically not business, they are individuals.
“If you want to sell your car or your nice wristwatch, how do you do that right now? You either tell your friends or your family; there’s very few options online to sell those items from an individual point of view outside of classified platform. So, OLX is the number one classified platform; we enable individuals to trade with others.
“Secondly, we don’t hold the inventory; we just provide the platform for you to trade successfully. Thirdly, you can sell both new and used good; you can’t find used goods on KONGA and Jumia. We believe that we add more value to the economy by giving items the second life that they otherwise would not have. The fourth is that the transaction happens outside our platform; you are not paying OLX, you are paying the seller direct. You are meeting the seller outside OLX to inspect the product and make sure it meets your standard before you conclude the transaction. So, those are the key factors that differentiates classified platform from others,” she explained.
Describing the growth of e-commerce in Nigeria as impressive, Masha said, “it speaks to the entrepreneurial spirit that we have in Nigeria. For instance, if you think back to when smartphones came to Nigeria, you hear people say, ‘blackberry for life, I’m not going to change.’ But we started changing; most people now have touch screen smartphones and the rate of growth for that space is incredible. Similarly, when debit card/ATM cards came, people were like, ‘no, this is not going to work.’ But again, once you overcome those initial barriers, people will embrace it; everyone now has a debit card.”
Unlike the early days of e-commerce in the country when only big firms and banks have access to e-payment platforms, things have changed lately.
“I remember about two years ago, you could barely find a place that had POS machines. But today, even traders in Balogun Market have POS machine. What it speaks to is that, as long as the service is valuable for Nigerians and that we remove the barriers, Nigerians would jump onboard. We adopt technology very quickly as far as it’s valuable, makes life easier, safe, secure, continent and easy to use,” she said.
Get the latest news delivered straight to your inbox every day of the week. Stay informed with the Guardian’s leading coverage of Nigerian and world news, business, technology and sports.
0 Comments
We will review and take appropriate action.