eCommerce players renew rivalry with ‘Black Friday’ sales initiative

• Jumia targets customer, vendor experience
• Konga eyes N2.5b,Yudala plans discount  

Players in Nigeria’s electronic commerce sub-sector, estimated to worth over $10 billion, have renewed rivalry with ‘Black Friday’ sales initiative.

The BlackFriday initiative allows major retailers open very early (and more recently during overnight hours) and offer promotional sales within a particular period of time.

Operators including Jumia, Konga, and Yudala have stepped up campaign to woo customers to their sites.

According to Jumia, who Chief Executive Officer, Juliet Anammah, told The Guardian, on Monday that few hours into the opening of its BlackFriday sales by  12am, over 9000 customers have placed orders.

Anammah said Jumia’s BlackFriday sales will run for 12 days, starting from November 14 to 25, on all its websites – Jumia Mall, Jumia Food, Jumia Car, Jumia Market, Jumia Travel, Jumia House and Jumia Deals.

According to her, top brands like AXA Mansard, MTN, Binatone, Innjoo, Infinix, Poly Star, HP, Intel, Etihad airways have partnered with Jumia to bring to Nigerians the largest shopping event of the year.

She said Jumia would offer increased sales inventory in all categories including: fashion, electronics, phones, computers, home, baby, health and beauty – up to 70 per cent discount of regular prices with over 100,000 deals from 2,500 vendors.

She recalled that last year’s Jumia Black Friday that took place on November 27 2015 and over 2.3 million Nigerians visited Jumia.

The firm said following the impressive volume of orders during last year, this year’s sales event has been expanded to reach even more customers.

From Konga’s perspective, the firm, which described its own version as Yakata, said the main event will run from November 18 to 21st, when the online marketplace will slash prices on tens of thousands of consumer goods.

Konga, which said Yakata will run 24/7, stressed that it was targeting to generate N2.5 billion] during the period.

Amidst the challenging economic climate in Nigeria, Konga CEO, Shola Adekoya, remains optimistic for a blockbuster 2016.

“We are expecting a buoyant Black Friday or, as we like to call it, Yakata, 2016. Just like Black Friday in the West, Yakata kicks off the holiday shopping season for us retailers. As millions of Nigerians are feeling the pinch financially, we know that they will be looking out for the very best value for their money, and will be visiting Konga to source the best deals. Our customer service teams are already receiving hundreds of queries a day concerning what offers we will be offering this year, so we have strong indications as to what our shrewd shoppers are on the lookout for,”he stated.

Meanwhile, Yudala said it will distinguish itself from others by offering nationwide discounts with ‘Real Black Friday’ Yudala’s Real Black Friday will hold from November 24th – 28th.

The   company   is   also set to give millions   of bargain-hungry Nigerians a chance to get an early taste of its Black Friday discounts   through   a   week-long   promotion   known   as   Midday Madness scheduled to run from November 14th to 18th.

According to Founder/Vice President, Yudala, Prince Nnamdi Ekeh, Nigerians are in for a more rewarding experience with this year’s edition. “Last year, we re-defined the concept of Black Friday with the world’s first recorded drone delivery and by making it anonline and offline affair. That way, many of our customers were able to by-pass the huge traffic online by simply visitingany Yudala Experience Store nearest to them. “This year, we are asking Nigerians to – Wait for The RealBlack   Friday.”