By JONAHNWOKPOKU

Ahead of 2015 business year, operators in the e-commerce ecosystem expect astronomical growth that will be driven by increased conversion of the offline market.

The Wired World: A graphic representation of the Internet

Some of the operators who spoke to Financial Vanguard say the year 2015 will see among other things, large shift in moving offline users online. Conversely, operators and industry watchers alike also believe there will be major shift in marketing strategy as most of the online operators will make an incursion into the offline marketing space.

They also expect better payment infrastructure which will curtail the challenges of online payment and consolidate on the gains made on the space in 2014. In this regard, more collaboration between e-payment players and other online businesses will define the space this year.

They however argue that improvement in basic infrastructure like logistics, road network, and power are necessary to improve the gains made in the sector already.

E-Commerce is here to stay

“E-commerce in Nigeria, and Africa as a whole, is experiencing exponential growth. It is safe to say e-commerce is here to stay and will undoubtedly experience more growth. The Nigerian e-commerce industry, only second to South Africa’s on the continent, is projected to take the top spot in the coming years,” said Marek Zmyslowski, CEO of Jovago.com.

He added: “It’s a gradual growth; right now the major challenges are still the lack of basic infrastructure and the challenges/downtimes with online payment. Fortunately we have local and international players working hard to make this better.”

For Sim Shagaya, the CEO of Konga.com, the year 2015 would be a year of even more business growth.

“We have only seen the tip of the iceberg where e-commerce is concerned and we can look to the successes of global giants such as AliExpress, Amazon and the likes, for a rough preview of what the future holds.”

On what could be done better in the sector in 2015, Shagaya said the missing elements of basic infrastructure must be attended to by all stakeholders if the sector is to make as much considerable progress.

According to him, “The missing elements for ecommerce are the same that have been implicated over and over again, for keeping the power of commerce and entrepreneurship from being fully unleashed in Nigeria today. These include: lack of power, infrastructure, good roads and well developed transport system.”

“In the industry, there is still a big opportunity to improve the delivery fulfilment times- Konga already has plans in place to improve on this significantly in 2015,” he added.

“2015 will be a big year for Nigeria as a whole,” noted the Co-CEO of Jumia Nigeria, Nicolas Martin.

“Nigeria has become the biggest economy in Africa and we believe that it will keep on growing. We have great plans to serve Nigerians better, create more jobs, and expand our value proposition,” he added.