On the surface, Africa’s economic development is relatively backward and various infrastructures are not perfect. Since it skipped the PC era, Africa’s mobile Internet has developed well. In addition, due to the lack of industrial manufactured goods, ordinary people have a high demand for daily necessities. is large, providing market opportunities for the development of e-commerce. However, due to the strong exchanges in the business field, online payment is not popular enough, and there is a large number of cash on delivery; as for small logistics, the postal service is the first choice, the four major express delivery is more expensive, DHL is slightly better, LCL aviation line and local Chinese customs clearance companies Also a good choice.
Nigeria is a small country with a population of over 100 million. It relies on oil exports and has strong national strength. It has the largest number of Internet users on the African continent. Online shopping is growing rapidly and e-commerce development is booming. There are currently several main types of e-commerce platforms in the local area. The first one is Konga, which has been funded by Naspers many times. It has a high market share and has cooperated with commercial banks to launch the KongaPay online payment service.
The second is Jumia, which currently expands its business from Nigeria to nine different surrounding African countries, basically maintaining a double-digit growth rate, and has begun to attract investment in China. In addition, there is also the Kaymu platform, which adopts a business model that combines B2C and C2C. Kilimall and Kikuu are B2C shopping platforms invested and created by Chinese enterprises for emerging overseas markets in Africa. They are pioneering and worth recommending.
Kilimall has developed rapidly and is recruiting investment. By building a self-operated logistics and third-party distribution system, it can achieve fast delivery and cash on delivery, and cooperate with local mobile operators to realize closed-loop mobile payment transactions. Kikuu is affiliated to Jiku, Guangzhou, my country, and has been connected to local African online payments such as MPESA and TIGO Pesa. The back-end investment promotion and supply of domestic products on these platforms are not a big problem. The key to success is front-end promotion. Traffic is the platform.
Another market is South Africa, which is relatively mature. Takealot is the leading local online retailer. After acquiring the Kalahari e-commerce website in 2015, its position has been unrivaled. In addition, shopping platforms such as Bidorbuy PicknPay and Zando are also popular among South Africans. eBay has also partnered with MallForAfrica to expand the African market.
When doing business in emerging markets, trade risks are a top priority. For example, in 2016, Nigeria’s economy was dragged down by oil, the foreign exchange market went out of control, and its currency devalued by nearly half. South Africa’s economy was in a slump, and anti-foreign unrest broke out. In 2015, the Angolan Tax Administration stipulated that due to the continued shortage of foreign exchange, the government allowed imported goods arriving in Angola to be released without a bill of lading. This kind of release of goods without an original bill of lading is a fundamental breach of contract in foreign trade practice.
Therefore, when doing business in emerging markets, you must pay first and then deliver the goods, otherwise you may face losing the money.