Electronic commerce (E-Commerce) offers numerous benefits for SMEs, including expanded market reach, reduced operational costs, increased efficiency, and enhanced customer convenience.
By leveraging online platforms, SMEs can access global markets, reduce reliance on physical stores, and automate processes like order processing and payment. This allows them to compete more effectively, grow their customer base, and increase profitability.
Several e-commerce platforms are fueling SME growth in Africa. Prominent e-commerce platforms like Jumia, Konga, Jiji, and Kilimall have established a strong presence, while emerging platforms like Bumpa, SokoSQ, Squarespace, and Shopify are also making waves.
Here’s a more detailed look at some of the key players:
Jumia:
CEO: Sunil Natraj
Jumia is a dominant force in the African e-commerce market, operating in multiple countries and offering a wide range of products. Jumia, a prominent e-commerce platform in Africa, has seen fluctuating results. In the third quarter of 2024, they had 2.4 million quarterly active customers, a slight increase from the previous quarter. Their 2023 revenue was $186.4 million.
Konga:
CEO: Prince Nnamdi Ekeh
Another major player in Nigeria and beyond, Konga offers a diverse selection of goods and services. In the year 2020, Konga, an online marketplace for physical goods based in Lagos, Nigeria, had 23 million web visitors. About 36% of these visitors were aged 25 to 34 years. Konga is considered one of Nigeria’s leading online marketplaces.
Kilimall:
Founder: Yang Tao
Based in Kenya, Kilimall is a significant player in the East African market. Kilimall, a Chinese e-commerce company, has a significant presence in Africa, with a strong focus on Kenya, Uganda, and Nigeria.
They offer a wide range of products and cater to local tastes and preferences. Kilimall has also implemented initiatives to support education and entrepreneurship on the continent.
Bumpa:
Founders: Kelvin Umechukwu and Adetunji Opayele
Focusing on the Nigerian market, Bumpa is a growing platform for SMEs. Bumpa has seen significant growth, increasing its customer base from 2,500 to over 7,000 merchants, with an average monthly growth of 50%. They’ve also supported over 200,000 orders and a gross merchandise volume (GMV) of $20 million. It is estimated that Bumpa will experience a 38% increase in stores created on their platform by the end of 2024.
Jiji:
Founder: Anton Volianskyi
Jiji is another popular Nigerian e-commerce platform. The marketplace provides buyers and sellers with an avenue to meet and exchange goods and services.
Jiji boasts 12 million monthly active users across seven African countries, including Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana. It also operates in Bangladesh. Its annual transaction value exceeds $10 billion USD. The platform had 10 million unique monthly visits and two million active ads with a combined worth of $10 billion as of this year.
SokoSQ:
Co-founder: Adaugo Ezeala
SokoSQ provides an easy-to-use platform to create high-converting retail websites equipped with business & AI-powered marketing tools in 5 minutes! SokoSQ gives small businesses smart websites equipped with 360° tools to manage, market, and grow — all from one place.
Built for the hustle, SokoSQ combines websites with sales channels and business operations into one simple, powerful platform — so entrepreneurs can sell smarter and scale faster. No tech skills needed!
This is definitely one of the e-commerce solution providers to watch in the coming years.
Squarespace:
Founder: Anthony Casalena
While primarily a website builder, Squarespace offers features for selling products, making it a suitable option for some SMEs. Squarespace is a popular website builder with over 4.9 million unique subscriptions and a $1.12 billion annual revenue run rate. In 2023, the company generated $1.01 billion in revenue, with a 17% increase in revenue compared to 2022. Squarespace is used by approximately 2.0% of all websites and has a 17% market share among simple website builders.
Shopify:
Founders: Scott Lake, Tobias Lütke and Daniel Weinand
Shopify is a popular platform for building online stores, with a strong presence in the African market. Shopify powers over 4 million online stores globally and has processed over $886 billion in e-commerce sales since its launch. The platform’s annual revenue reached $5.6 billion in 2023, a 20% increase from the previous year. Shopify supports over 175 countries and has a significant presence in North America, with 70% of its merchants located there. Mobile traffic makes up 71% of Shopify’s total traffic.
KudiGo Storefront:
Founder: Kingsley Abrokwah
This platform is specifically tailored for the African market, offering affordable pricing and features for SMEs. The freemium platform for e-commerce, saw a significant increase in merchant success in the last quarter, with a 260% rise in monthly transaction volume.
The platform offers features like payment processing, customer management, and inventory management, with a limit of 50 products in the free version and up to 5,000 in the full, paid version. In 2019, a high percentage (95%) of sales on the system were cash transactions, indicating the prevalence of cash transactions in some regions.
Other Notable Platforms:
Platforms like Yoco, Kalahari.com, and Bidorbuy.com also contribute to the growth of e-commerce in Africa.
These platforms are helping SMEs reach a wider audience, increase their sales, and grow their businesses by leveraging the power of online retail in Africa.
