Tuesday 10 February 2015

TOP 5 ONLINE SHOPS IN NIGERIA

Shopping is fun, shopping elicits varying feelings among folks. Shopping have of late assumed a different dimension with the advent of the internet all over the world. Online shopping, e-commerce have become the rave of the moment.

As usual, Nigeria is not left out in all of the frenzy online shopping has created. Several online shops (websites) have evolved over the years making it possible for Nigerians to shop online from the comfort of their offices, sitting rooms, bedrooms and wherever you choose to be and pay in Naira with your bank's ATM card.

Previously you'll have to have a Dollar MasterCard or any other credit card before you'll be able to shop online but right now, it is possible to shop online and have your orders delivered to your doorstep and you know what? You can even pay on delivery in some cases.

So let's review a list of the top five retail shops online that operate in Nigeria courtesy http://www.money.aabnigeria.com

5. Taafoo.com

Taafoo.com is arguably the most popular fashion online store in Nigeria today. Starting as an online social messaging platform for Nigerian celebrities in 2009, Taafoo naturally diversified into fashion. Taafoo offers free delivery services within Lagos to customers with a minimum purchase value of N5,000; they also operate an offline fashion mall in Oregun, Ikeja, Lagos.

Taafoo almost doubled the size of their social media community (between June 2013 and February 2015) from 79k Facebook page likes and 3k twitter followers to 148k and 5k respectively. Its traffic stats also improved within this time frame from 14,000 daily visitors to about 15,000 daily visitors but that didn't stop them from going down the chat. Taafoo dropped 2 spots from number 3 in the 2013 publication: Top 5 online stores in Nigeria 2013 to number 5 on this list.
Their new website is more user-friendly and better looking but their photography is still poor. The low quality photos of the clothes gives them a cheap, faded and unattractive look and the use of extra glossy mannequin to display the creased clothes is also unattractive.
Taafoo, like Fouani above, display Google ads on their site as a source of alternative income. This is unprofessional, it devalues their brand and they risk losing businesses and customers by allowing competitors advertise on their online store via Google ads.
Read Taafoo's review..
Taafoo has a large collection of affordable fashion products. Its fast delivery is one of its biggest strengths.

4. Ojashop.com

Oja shop is Nigeria's fastest growing online store at the moment. It was launched in September last year (2014) and its already topping chats all over Nigeria. Ojashop is located in Ibadan, Oyo state but that didn't stop them from offering free delivery services to residents of Lagos (and Ibadan) on orders above N10,000.

Ojashop's rapid growth can also be seen in its social media community where it gathered an impressive 16k likes in barely six months. However, its twitter followership is far from impressive with just 6 followers. Ojashop.com can proudly boast of 25k visitors daily.
They have one of the best websites in the industry with beautiful graphic design. The image quality of their fashion products is good but needs improvement.

3. Slot.ng

Slot is the biggest offline phones, computer and gadget retailer in the country today and they are about to take that spot online too. Slot moves up to the number 3 position this year from it number 4 position in the 2013 list of the top 5 online stores in Nigeria.

They have a new and improved website design and their Facebook and twitter followership grew to about 130k and 16k respectively. Daily visits to their site also grew steadily from 14,000 to about 20,000 between June 2013 and January 2015.
With offices (shops) in almost all the major cities in Nigeria, Slot easily offers fast delivery services to their customers all over Nigeria (free for Lagos and Abuja).
They also offer credit facilities to their customers with the help of their partnership with Diamond bank and First bank.

2. Konga.com

Konga is the 8th most visited website in Nigeria (according to Alexa at the time of writing this article) beating popular news websites like vanguard, punch etc and the almighty lindaikeji.blogspot.com. Konga's growth in the eCommerce industry in Nigeria is quite amazing being the only Nigerian owned online store that has been able to give Jumia (an international online store) a run for its money.
Konga has been able to snatch some good international investments since its launch in 2012. Its contribution to the growth of online shopping in Nigeria is immense having launched an ongoing offline advertising campaign in a bid to encourage Nigerians to embrace online shopping.

Konga recently converted its online store to a market place where it allows merchants sell their products on Konga.com for a commission. This is obviously still a work-in-progress as Konga and its website presently lack the required structure needed for the smooth operation of an online market place. Some of Konga's merchants (and Konga itself) have been accused of displaying unavailable items as in-stock items; this increases delivery time and sometimes leads to the cancellation of orders.
Read Konga's review..
About 293,000 people visit Konga.com daily. They also doubled their twitter followers to 80k and tripled their Facebook page likes to 1.2m between June 2013 and February 2015.
Konga's redesigned website is beautiful with nice graphic design, good photography and high quality images. It is also user friendly and easy to navigate.

1. Jumia.com.ng

Jumia Jumai Jumia... Yea, almost everybody is singing the Jumia song because of their viral offline advertising campaign which is currently being used to encourage Nigerians to embrace online shopping and of course to promote their brand.

Jumia is reported to have secured about ₦8billion in funding since its launch in 2012 and according to Jumia, orders placed on their site in 2014 alone, when stacked on top of each other, will be 220 times the height of the tallest building in the world (Burj Khalifa).
Jumia is the 6th most visited website in Nigeria (as at the time of writing this) and it clings to the number 1 spot on this list up from number 2 on the 2013 list of the top 5 online stores in Nigeria beating its closest competitor: Konga. It attracts an amazing 377,000 visitors daily. Jumia's Facebook fans grew to an impressive 1.1m and twitter followers increased to 44k.
Just like Konga, Jumia also have delivery and sometimes integrity issue as regards displaying out-of stock items.


Jumia has one of the best website in the industry. Its graphic design is top notch and the photography/image of the products on display is of a high quality and standard.
15% of all Nigeria's online shoppers prefer DealDey while 25% prefer Konga and a good 38% prefer Jumia (according to Philips consulting's survey).

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