By Morenike Taire

From the day it became possible to shop by the click of a mouse, Retail Therapy got a new definition.

Once upon a not-too-distant time, it used to be 2-4 girlfriends hooking up and pounding the highstreets, trying on dresses, shoes and underwear until their legs could no longer carry them and then collapsing into a fast food joint for a drink and a shopper’s analysis session.

All worries are forgotten in the time being. Adrenalin is pumping for the next few days and memories- as well as the smell of lovely new apparel- keep you going through the drudgery of the next couple of months.

Not anymore.

The first few internet consumer commerce sites sent a wave of excitement through communities all over the world which had internet access, creating new possibilities that had not existed. But the excitement was soon to wear out, with teething problems getting in the way and unforeseen circumstances including problems of logistics.

And due to the inability to gain considerable audiences prior to the social media revolution, engaging in a direct relationship with a brand required a fairly substantive investment on behalf of the customer to find the brand.  Supporting the Direct Communication trend, the customer associated a brand with a particular retailer and was accustomed to, comfortable with that retailer for the brand.  Therefore, the brand’s website (and subsequently the E-Commerce business) had insufficient traffic to signal an area of material concern.

And so, after years of languishing in the single-digits, most brands finally “get it” and have made building their direct businesses as a core new growth opportunity. Furthermore, the ability to harness a direct dialogue and engage the customer in a long term relationship (through the massive adoption of social media) means that this represents a huge opportunity for most brands.

In Nigeria, the mobile revolution it was that turned things around. No fewer than 33 million Nigerians access the internet through mobile hand held devices. One in two Nigerians – a whopping 80 million- owns a mobile phone line. By any standards, Nigeria is not only a modern nation in terms of communication; we can even be accused of having extensive regional affluence.

This was all Tope Folayan and his brother, Chris, needed as foundation upon which to build what has been referred to as the world’s largest mall.

For the brothers, the technology end was the easy part. Chris, who acts as CEO, boasts over 15 years experience in technology development, and acquisition roles in various High-Tech companies, and startups. Prior to MallforAfrica Chris was the Founder and CEO of OCFX Inc. a globally recognized, award winning Software and Web Design Agency serving clients such as SONY, LSI, Cisco, HP, EPSON, TYCO, US Government, Visa, BestBuy, CapitalOne Finance, and many others.

Co-CEO Tope also has over 15 years of experience in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT). Prior to Mall for Africa Tope was the CMO & CSO of the Suburban Group in Nigeria. He has worked his way from engineering through management at ICT firms from startups in Silicon Valley to Fortune 500 companies, and has a breadth of local and international experience from Raytheon and Hitachi in the US to MTN (via HIP), and Suburban Group in Africa.

A graduate of Kellogg School of Management, Tope also attended Stanford University where he received a BS in Mechanical Engineering.

Mall for Africa has been in no way contrived, and has been 100% organic in its growth and development, as the whole idea was originally birthed from the quest to meet Tope’s own consumer needs. Thus, he had come face to face with the limitations of the average Nigerian consumer seeking to simply make a purchase online.

Telling MallforAfrica’s story at the launch last week, Tope Folayan speaks of how the gulf between cyber-consumer and the cyber-retailer led to the concept of MallforAfrica, a platform through which a shopper can get their hands on items from more than 80 top rate department stores including Nigerian fashion favourites such as Macy’s and Russel&Bromley; as well as other home items and lifestyle solutions.

Having recognized challenges of willing buyers as those of merchants unwilling to sell to Nigerians, merchants specifically blacklisting Nigeria, merchants unwilling to accept Nigerian credit/debit cards, or merchants that have specifically blocked out Nigerian transactions, MallforAfrica’s value proposition

in this regard is to act as conduit between the online shopper and the merchant in the United States of America and the United Kingdom. In all, prospective buyers can select from more than 8.5 million items

“The consequence was that online retail alternatives are limited to shopping at the local open market or mall or from a few select online stores, where they run the risk of settling for overpriced purchases, fake/inferior purchases or just managing what is on offer,” Folayan said.

“Another option is to keep a list of items you want and wait until you get a visa and travel abroad to purchase your items on your trip and bring them back with you.

“Or to look for a willing friend or family member living abroad who will purchase the items for you. Then you find another friend or family member to bring them back when they travel. This, with the attendant excess-luggage nightmare.”

“We pretty much built what I believe is the world’s first virtual mall,” Folayan said

With the option of door-to-door delivery, he says the safe delivery of items ordered through the shopping application is assured as customers can also receive their goods from pick up points in “city centre” locations within capitals and other important cities.

Statistics:

30%

E-search takes up 30% of e-retailers’ marketing budgets

$14b

Forrester Research predicted that Social Commerce would reach $14b by 2015 from $9b in 2014 and $5b in 2013. Experts say $14B is fairly muted when compared to overall theme.

99%

99% of brands are aspirational in one form or another regardless of the market segment, but fashion is the industry that leads tech trends in terms of marketing & branding – leveraging online tools to craft a relationship with customers that facilitates & fosters dialogue and aspirational affinity for the brand

850m

Over the past 5-years, 850m+ people joined Facebook, a massive boom in tech startups building & refining solutions for workflow process problems (i.e. email marketing), and a drastic reduction in the cost of implementing these solutions.

$2b

The countries that have received the most e-commerce investment during 2013 are USA ($2b), China ($800m) and India ($680m).

52%

Percentage of tablet users who say they prefer to shop using tablets than PCs.