Thanks to technology and increasing penetration of the internet in Africa, e-commerce has become a major driver of the fashion and lifestyle market in Nigeria. Tunde Olaniyan, owner of Danami Fashion Store while speaking on the impact of the online marketplace on his business, stated that the company makes most of its sales from ecommerce market leader Jumia.
Danami is a fashion house located in Iju, a subhub of Lagos State. To reach a diverse audience and get more sales, the company is leveraging the Jumia platform to showcase its items. Commenting on his business and growth, Olaniyan said the company “started like six years ago, and right now we have 25 employees. Majority of our sales are online. We have a partnership with Jumia. From the online sales, like 80% of it is from Jumia compared to the brick and mortar shops.”
According to Olaniyan, Danami makes different kinds of clothes that meet the latest fashion taste for both genders. “We make clothes for men and women of different styles, colour and designs that people wear now that will make them look trendy and colourful all the time. We also do blanks for people to print and customize to their taste,” he explained.
On the inspiration behind the business, he explained that it comes from the vision to produce quality and affordable fashion products of global standard for the Nigerian market. “The inspiration comes from making fashion items that are comparable to any standard in the world and to make them affordable to every Nigerian.”
The sales on Jumia is also encouraging the company to source its materials locally. “We achieve this by getting our materials locally after which we take it to the factory at Iju, in the subhub of Lagos, where we produce them, sew them and put them through a lot of quality checks,” he said.
In recent years, Africa’s Lifestyle and fashion industry has experienced growth which is attracting global attention. A report by Euromonitor said Sub-Saharan Africa’s clothing and footwear market is worth $31bn.
