Phone resellers in Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy by GDP, are developing new online platforms to stave off heated competition from electronic retailers, market observers have said. Nigerians, especially the country’s bustling youth population is at ease purchasing smartphones on the internet. E-retailers such as Jumia.com, Konga.com, Gloo.ng, and Buyam.com, are becoming competitive in terms of pricing, convenience and service delivery as many of them deliver these devices to customers’ doorsteps in one to five days depending on the location in the country. In view of this, executives of the Computer and Allied Products Dealers association of Nigeria (CAPDAN) are becoming more expedient in their efforts to preserve the marketshare of businesses in Otigba, considering the growing number of e-retailers. The Computer Village generates about $2bn to the economy annually, according to Omobola Johnson, minister of information and communications technology. One of such innovative initiatives by CAPDAN, MyComputerVillage.com, was set up for over 6,000 shops and an estimated 18,000 businesses at the popular computer and allied accessories market, reputed to be the largest of its kind in West Africa.
Phone resellers are of the view that this innovative platform not only affords them the opportunity to showcase products to a global audience, but improves customer engagement and patronage.
“Everybody is going online to buy things like mobile phones, cosmetics, clothes and even groceries. We also have to keep pace with the trend or risk been left behind in a fast pace economy,” Godwin Enamoh, public relations officer, CAPDAN, said in an interview with BusinessDay. According to him, the online platform gives phone dealers more visibility in the global marketplace. Speaking in the same vein, Muyiwa Alawode, managing director, eKnowvate, said the electronic commerce website developed in conjunction with CAPDAN offers “a unique platform to promote the company names and brands of the individual businesses that subscribe on the platform as opposed to other e-commerce platforms that serve as mere aggregators of products.” “eKnowvate does not share in the sales proceeds of shop owners for transactions that take place on the platform as the case in other e-commerce platforms.”
A virtual mall where firms in the market can own shops, subscribers to MyComputerVillage.com platform offers its users all the tools needed to enable their business go live on the internet without needing to worry about technical set-up skills, hosting and maintenance upgrades, according to him. All that a phone dealer has to do is sign up for the service and start trading, he further added.
MyComputerVillage.com is an affordable, convenient, effective and efficient online shopping mall. With a monthly or annual rental fee, entrepreneurs and businesses that currently have shops in Computer Village can effectively showcase their company brand, smartphones, computers and Information Communications Technology (IT) products to prospective buyers via an online shop. Nigeria’s Information Technology (IT) market is growing at a fast pace. Huawei, Chinese phone maker has projected an expected increase in sales to about 35 percent by 2015.
This implies that about 30 million smartphones will be sold in Nigeria within the period. Market analysts say that the average cost of a smartphone is about N40,000 considering that some high-end smartphones sell for as much as N100,000 while there are smartphones with price tags of as low as N20,000.If market expectations are that 30m smartphones will be sold in Nigeria between now and 2015, this would imply that a sum of N1.2trn will be spent on buying smartphones over the projected period. The Ikeja Computer Village is expected to be relocated to Katangowa Agbado Oke-Odo CDA in Alimosho Local Government Area (LGA). The relocation exercise may cost the Lagos State government an estimated N20bn.
This figure however is the estimated cost of building a modern and technologically advanced ICT park expected to accommodate businesses in the nation’s largest technology market cluster. The state government had conceived the idea of relocating Ikeja Computer Village few years ago in a bid to create a conducive environment for business at the market cluster which accommodates several businesses trading in computers, phone and allied peripheral and services. It was gathered that the phased implementation of the project may cost the state government in excess of N20 billion for the provision of the new site for business. According to the proposed project document, the partner company to the state government on the project plans a three-phase construction model ICT Park to be sited at Katangowa Agbado Oke-Odo CDA in Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos. When completed, the proposed project may see the relocation of Ikeja Computer Village being pushed under a public private partnership (PPP) arrangement by the state government. The future ICT park is envisioned to be located on 15 hectares of land in Agbado Oke-Odo CDA in Alimosho LGA but no definite date has been set for its completion, people conversant with the situation have said. The Lagos State government has in a previous announcement said that the project is being pursued under its ambitious mega city plan.
Ben Uzor
Join BusinessDay whatsapp Channel, to stay up to date
Open In Whatsapp
