Konga.com is a one-stop shopping website that provides the
shopper with a wide selection of products to meet their beauty, health and
lifestyle needs. Their mission is to make people unbelievably happy by
delivering an incredibly simple and convenient way to buy things online!They began with baby products, beauty and personal care
products and in less than two months of operations, they expanded their
offerings to school/office stationery, office equipments, home appliances and
groceries. Konga.com was launched in July 2012 by Simdul Shagaya in Lagos
Nigeria and to understand more about the ecommerce industry in Nigeria, we had
a talk with him.
What is Konga.com
into and what problem are you solving?
It is now Nigeria’s most trusted source of retail consumer
products. We provide the average shopper with all their shopping needs in one
place. We save the shopper the time he/she would have spent going to the store,
standing in line or finding out that the product is not available. Supermarkets
that boast some of our categories are few and far between and people find
themselves going a lot further for their shopping esp. if the store is not in
their area.
With Konga all you need is an internet ready device (laptop,
mobile phone, tablet, etc to start shopping. We bring the product to you, thus
saving you the journey. With the various payment options available, everyone
gets to pay in a way they are comfortable with.
What do think the
future of ecommerce Industry in Nigeria and how are you competing with Brick
and mortar stores?
There’s presently an e-commerce boom with all sorts and
sizes of ecommerce websites springing up. But eventually the giants will rise,
a head and shoulder, above the rest in virtue of stellar customer service,
service delivery and product offering. Our secret is not really a secret; give
the customer want they want and keep them happy. Our edge over the brick and
mortar stores is that we bring the store to the customer instead of the other
way around. There are no closing hours and no limits to your shopping
experience.
Which cities do you
cater to in Nigeria?
We’ve begun our delivery operations in Lagos and intend to
extend to all the major cities in Nigeria. Lagos is where we get to test our
prototype and iron out all the kinks in the system. So far, we have surpassed
even our own expectations and are very optimistic about extending our
operations to other states very soon.
What is the overall
response? How many visitors are coming to Konga.com and what is the conversion?
The response has been very favorable. Satisfied customers
tend to visit our social media platforms to show off their purchases and to
tout the “wonders” of our services. The site has many visitors and a high
conversion rate but we continually look for ways to increase these figures.
What are the product
lines you have and which are the top selling items? Any new product lines are
you adding in next 5-6 months’ time frame?
Categories you will find on the site include Groceries,
Health equipment, Beauty, Sexual Care, Baby Care and Office/School
stationeries. We stock not only imported goods but many, many Nigerian brands.
You’ll easily find it hard to get foreign products right next to Nigerian
brands we all grew up with. Each category has it top-selling products. For
instance, in the baby care section, diapers are best sellers.
Typically what payments
options do you have?
The payment options include Payment on Delivery, Online
Payment, Online Transfer and Bank Deposit. Everyone finds something they are
comfortable with. Payment On Delivery has been really popular because many
people are jaded about making payments online because of internet fraud.
Where do you see
Konga.com in next 2-3 years' time?
We see Konga as the giant of online shopping in Nigeria with
an eye on other African countries in the future. We see Konga as topping the
Nigerian chart as the most visited site online. We see every home making at
least one order every week.