BY JONAH NWOKPOKU

Co-Chief Executive officer of Supermartng.com, Raphael Afaedor has called for localization of solutions by e-commerce operators in the country in order to achieve maximum impact and succeed in the business.

Afaedor made the call while speaking at this year’s edition of the Mobile West Africa conference held in Lagos.
Speaking on what is driving development in e-commerce and retail in Nigeria and on whether African version of Amazon can emerge from Nigeria, he explained that the key to success is to start from a customer and that it is not so much about the model than about good solutions that will serve a customer’s needs.

“Ask yourself, who is this customer that I am serving? Design a solution for that customer. It is not so much about the model. It is not so much about e-commerce. It is not about an Amazon or e-Bay model, it is about who is this customer and how are you going to fulfill this customer’s needs? Also remember that the winning solution will reflect the African situation,” he said.

He further explained that the e-commerce space is large enough for anyone to play profitably and that despite challenges and cultural influences of retail in African societies, opportunities still abound for people to provide solutions using the internet medium.

“Lagos is an interesting market to play, because it is very big. If you find a customer and design a solution for that customer, then the customer will pay you for the services you are providing, and then you stand a good chance of succeeding. Then also, if you have an overview of the market opportunities, then you will understand that it is to serve customers conveniently. Retail is not what retail should be and so you have customers always asking for solutions. And so anyone who will design such solutions also stands a chance of winning.

“It is also important to note that our traditional retail markets will not disappear anytime soon. As a matter of fact, it will never disappear. This is because the markets are as African as the people in the continent. Also they serve a significant part of the market. The brick and mortar shops will continue to grow but there will still be room for opportunities in the e-commerce space. There will still be room for partnerships and collaborations,” he said.

He noted that having been a major player in the e-commerce space for awhile now and tried different models, he has been able to learn that anyone delving into the space should have a deep appreciation of what retail and e-commerce mean and how they play interchangeably.

“What I have been to learn over time is that the concept is e-commerce and the reality is that retail is what is being solved. People have retail needs and e-commerce operators should be able to provide that option for people to shop for what they need using the internet medium. Whatever you do, you have to localize the solution. You have to be certain from the start what retail solution you want to provide. You can succeed if you identify a key customer needs, focus and make sure you serve the need of that customer.”