Founded in 2012, Konga.com has a customer base of between four & five million clients/shoppers, and offers products spanning various categories, including consumer electronics, fashion, home appliances, books, children’s items, computers and accessories, phones and tablets, healthcare and personal care products. 

In addition, the company also has a third-party online marketplace where merchants can sell their goods.

“We needed a reliable cloud-based messaging platform to bundle transactional and promotional messages, personalise communication, and enhance the customer experience in order to generate greater awareness and increase the conversion rate on the website,” says Kunle Ajani, Omnichannel Digital Campaign Manager at Konga.com.

The company engaged Infobip to provide a solution and Infobip implemented its omnichannel platform that includes SMS, Rich Communication Services (RCS), email and WhatsApp for Business Application Programming Interface (API) channels, as well as its Moments, Answers and Conversations platforms.

Unique products

“We found that Infobip’s products are not only unique, but also reasonably priced. We are now able to reach customers on their preferred channels and the analytics built into the omnichannel platform allow us to leverage customer data for personalised and targeted communication,” says Ajani.

He explains that with Answers – Infobip’s Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven chatbot platform – Konga.com is able to provide 24/7 customer support over WhatsApp for basic processes such as signing up to the website or asking FAQs. Conversations is a digital-first cloud contact centre solution that enables seamless omnichannel interactions in a unified and simple workspace.

“With Moments, we are now able to launch targeted campaigns based on unique customer profiles, using personal data, past behaviour and engagement history. This also enables us to segment our audience to ensure that messaging is targeted and relevant,” says Ajani.

“We also rely extensively on mobile messaging channels such as SMS and RCS, which enables us to send order confirmations and for customers to track their orders, from the moment they place an order through to delivery.”

Notable improvements

Since the implementation of the solution, Konga.com has seen an increase in customer retention rates, an increase in order value and conversion and a reduction in cancellations, as well as an improved clickthrough rate to the website.

“The improved customer experience has seen increased sales and greater customer satisfaction, as we are now able to have deeper and more personalised engagements with customers,” says Ajani.

Isaac Akanni, Account Executive at Infobip, says the company’s strong relationship with Konga.com ensured a smooth and efficient implementation of the omnichannel platform, with Infobip also providing marketing advice and general best practice guidelines.

“Having identified Konga.com as one of the major players in the ecommerce space, this was one of the early strategic relationships that Infobip built in Nigeria and we have been honoured to be a trusted advisor for many of their customer experience and marketing initiatives since then,” says Akanni.

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In partnership with the Whitefield Foundation, the project aims to accelerate educational outcomes for students in Lagos.

The project delivered over 650 specialised textbooks and essential library infrastructure to Wesley Girls Secondary School and Ladilak Institute Primary School, representing the latest milestone in Infobip’s long-term commitment to supporting Nigeria’s educational landscape and local communities.

The initiative builds on Infobip’s broader engagement in Nigeria, where the company has previously worked with local businesses to scale and serve their customers more effectively.

This project moves beyond traditional donation models by focusing on sustainable infrastructure.

In addition to the textbooks, Infobip invested in new library shelving and the restoration of existing units to create high-functioning learning environments.

To ensure the longevity of the investment, the Infobip team committed to ongoing training sessions for school staff, focusing on modern library management and resource optimisation. 

Addressing the educational gap

The urgency of this intervention is underscored by recent data from UNICEF, which identifies 18.3 million Nigerian children as currently out of school, the highest figure globally.

Furthermore, 74% of children aged 7-14 in classrooms lack foundational literacy and numeracy skills. By providing direct access to quality learning materials, Infobip is bridging this “learning poverty” gap as part of its sustained social and economic contribution to the country.

“At Infobip, we believe that communication is the foundation of progress, and education is the ultimate form of communication,” said Isaac Akanni, speaking on behalf of Infobip Nigeria. “This initiative is about more than just resources; it is about catalysing the next generation. We are committed to providing the tools and the inspiration that will empower these students to navigate and lead in an increasingly digital world.”

Empowering students through career mentorship

To complement the physical infrastructure, the handover ceremony featured a career mentorship session.

Final-year and graduate students from the University of Lagos and Babcock University, including Deborah Ayinla, Tobi Lateef, and Inioluwa Olukuade, shared insights on the transformative power of quality education, aligning with Infobip’s vision of supporting local talent and fostering professional excellence from the ground up.

Representing the beneficiary schools, Mrs. Jegede, principal of Wesley Girls Secondary School, highlighted the strategic value of the partnership:

“A library is the intellectual heart of a school, and Infobip has breathed new life into ours. This infrastructure does not just provide books; it provides our students with a structured environment to think, research, and excel. Infobip’s commitment to the Nigerian community and its education sector is evident through this partnership, which significantly supports our mission to deliver world-class education despite local challenges.”

Dr. Funmi Johnson, executive director of Whitefield Foundation, noted that the project is a testament to the power of public-private synergy in reducing poverty through “economically viable skills and quality education.”

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The program included Morolayo Igeleke, country marketing manager at UPS; Isaac Akanni, customer growth manager for Africa at Infobip; Omolara Olarerin, founder of PocketFood; and Success Ajilore, business analyst and founder of the Success Transformation Network. 

The session, which was moderated by Imoh Anselem, IT product manager and customer success specialist, highlighted methods for customer engagement, cost management and leveraging technology, among other topics to enhance business sales.

Understanding Customer Needs and Managing Costs

Morolayo Igeleke stressed the importance of understanding customer needs while balancing discounts and profitability. He noted flexible payment options as a strategy, explaining, “To help you sell during this season while maintaining your discount and profit margin, consider offering customers instalment payment options. Although it carries some risk, allowing customers to pay over time—say, in two or three instalments—could make a big difference. Many SMEs can benefit from this approach. You could even offer a 10% discount as an incentive, which would be appreciated and help stimulate their payment structure.”

This approach, he stated, allows businesses to attend to customer affordability without sacrificing margins.

For customers focused on affordability, Igeleke gave the option of alternative products rather than discounts. “Why don’t we look at a cheaper alternative product? That way, your customers will run to you better,” he said, adding that UPS had introduced a more economical shipping service for price-sensitive Nigerian clients.

Boosting Value with Product Bundling

Isaac Akanni highlighted the effectiveness of product bundling during peak seasons. He gave an example: “What can I add to these shoes just for this December period to increase my sales?”

He also illustrated how Infobip customises tools like SMS and WhatsApp chatbots to enhance product value. “At the end of the day, you’re not just selling your product; you’re providing a service,” he added.

Personalised Marketing as a Key Driver

Omolara Olarerin, founder of PocketFood, stressed the value of personalised marketing. “You can’t really go far without marketing,” she stated, advising business owners to utilise Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp ads and to build community connections. 

“As a business owner, you should be able to have a community where you can share your product and get your feedback.”

Olarerin further highlighted the power of personal branding, noting that customers “always trust the business that has a face to it.”

Data-Driven Decision-Making for Future Success

Success Ajilore of the Success Transformation Network emphasised the importance of data and feedback in refining sales strategies. 

“You cannot succeed in the future without understanding your past. We learn from hindsight,” she stated, urging businesses to gather feedback using tools like Google Forms and SurveyMonkey to measure satisfaction.

Ajilore further advised on tracking customer ratings to identify popular products and improve marketing and inventory decisions. “Encourage customer reviews and ratings… You can start a strategy, maybe invest more in what satisfies the customer,” she advised.

Ajilore explained that effective business strategy requires year-round planning, ideally preparing for the next year to leverage seasonal opportunities. 

Analysing customer and sales data helps tailor marketing and services to meet customer needs. Pricing should cover all expenses, including promotions, to avoid profit loss during high-demand seasons. 

Utilising Technology to Drive Efficiency

In discussing operational cost savings, Igeleke pointed to the role of technology. “For example, advertising—though often expensive—can become more affordable with social media and AI, allowing you to reach audiences with minimal spending.”

He explained how UPS leverages AI-driven tools, including robots and forklifts, to reduce labour costs and simplify logistics.

Competing Through Disruptive Innovation

Akanni talked about the idea of “disruptive innovation” by Clayton Christensen, which suggests that smaller businesses can find opportunities by focusing on areas big companies overlook. 

He pointed out that large companies often miss certain needs or types of customers—not because they don’t want to, but because it’s hard for them to serve everyone. 

He encouraged small businesses to pay attention to these overlooked areas by listening to customer feedback and checking online reviews to help them grow strategically.

Handling Seasonal Demand Peaks

Addressing the challenges of seasonal demand surges, Igeleke shared UPS’s experience in managing increased workloads during peak periods. “We had to hire more contract staff to help us sort things out, it’s a good problem to have,” he commented, emphasising the importance of strategic staffing during high-demand periods.

Olarerin further explained that seasonal pricing strategies should adapt to the industry and profit margins. For low-margin industries, buying in bulk to secure lower supplier prices can allow discounts without cutting profits. 

“Communicating with suppliers for discounts is essential, especially in high-demand seasons; if they don’t offer competitive rates, consider switching suppliers.

“Businesses should protect their profit margins by adjusting based on sales volume—higher sales can offset lower per-item profits. Genuine discounts build credibility, whereas “fake” discounts can backfire.”

Seasonal discounts work best on high-demand products, as these can maintain profitability through increased sales. Conversely, discounting less popular items may not yield sufficient sales and could risk profitability.

Incentivising Positive Employee Behaviour

The speakers recommended incentivising employee behaviour to improve customer satisfaction. “If employees get no customer complaints, they might earn points or a bonus. Or if they get a customer to return and spend a certain amount in December, they could earn a reward,” Akanni explained. 

He shared how Infobip has successfully used this approach to motivate employees by tracking and rewarding good customer service, incentivising behaviour tracking.

“Find out the things you want your staff to do, what are the behaviours you want them to emulate, then find a way to incentivise that behaviour,” he concluded, pointing to the benefits of a results-driven reward system.

The session wrapped up with each expert reiterating the importance of customer-centric approaches, technology, and strategic marketing to enhance seasonal sales success.

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In the rapidly evolving landscape of retail, where businesses strive to capture the attention of consumers in a fast-paced and interconnected digital world, marketing communication overload is becoming an all-too-common phenomenon that could actually have the opposite effect – turning customers off their brand.

Consumers are overwhelmed on a daily basis by the sheer volume of messages they receive in their inboxes, social media feeds and mobile devices, and this aggressive approach could see businesses lose substantially more than they gain.

To make matters worse, consumers are burdened not only by the sheer magnitude and frequency of adverts across multiple channels, but also by the unfortunate reality that much of this marketing communication fails to resonate with their interests or needs.

In some extreme instances, such messages can even come across as inappropriate or offensive, disregarding their unique preferences and personal boundaries.

Consequently, instead of attracting prospective buyers, an overabundance of marketing communication could essentially leave consumers frustrated.

This frustration, in turn, can foster negative perceptions surrounding the brand and significantly impact long-term customer loyalty. When inundated with excessive marketing messages, individuals may perceive that the business lacks respect for its customers’ boundaries and prioritises profit-seeking over genuine customer relationships.

Such perceptions are not good for business as they are likely to negatively affect the company’s reputation, erode customer trust and impact sales, which in turn will hit the bottom line. Marketing communication overload is thus a sure way to make consumers feel disrespected and damage customer engagement.

Show what is relevant

It is very important that retailers strive to strike a balance between staying visible and avoiding communication overload. It is actually quite simple – show people what is relevant to them.

The easiest way to achieve this is to segment your customer base and refine your messages based on individual preferences and behaviours.

Organisations must adopt a customer-centric approach, leverage data analytics and understand individual preferences. Only then can retailers tailor their marketing efforts to provide meaningful and engaging experiences. This shift towards strategic, targeted communication not only helps mitigate overload, but also builds stronger, long-lasting customer relationships.

At the same time, retailers must also recognise the importance of personalisation to remain relevant and strike the right chords with their customers.

In sales, there is a concept known as, “Show Me You Know Me”, which alludes to leveraging personalisation to let your customers know that you’ve done your groundwork and you care about their personal interests and needs.

Personalisation says to your customer:

“I know you and I want to share this with you because I think it would benefit you”.

But personalisation cannot happen without data and people generate mountains of data on a daily basis, which forms the bedrock of decision making.

Harnessing Artificial Intelligence

Once data about a consumer has been gathered, harnessing Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies to perform data analytics and gain customer insights is key to tailoring marketing messages that are relevant to individuals, and this will avoid overload. With so much data available, businesses that are not targeting their messages to individual consumers can be perceived as lazy and are sending out the message that they are just not prepared to put in the work.

In an effort to regain customer trust and loyalty, retailers must be prepared to be transparent about their communication practices, while sending out content that resonates with their audience.

In addition, by listening to customer feedback and by offering exclusive benefits or rewards to their customers, businesses can build a community around their products.

Ultimately, finding the right balance between staying visible and avoiding communication overload can be tricky, but retailers need to adopt strategic, targeted communication that will mitigate overload and also builds stronger, long-lasting customer relationships.

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Experts at Infobip made this call during a media parley in Lagos this week.

Leading the team, Olatayo Ladipo-Ajai, regional manager at Infobip Nigeria, said that Nigerians, particularly businesses, such as banks, telecommunication companies and other businesses should harness the benefits posed by the RCS to improve their customer experience and reach more customers.

He described Rich Communication Service (RCS) as a mobile messaging protocol that can delivers more interactive mobile text messaging experience than traditional plain-text SMS messages.

He noted that Conversational messaging, in the form of RCS, will enable businesses and brands to communicate more effectively while reaching out, attracting and converting potential customers.

According to him, “RCS is an evolution of SMS, which integrates features from various chat apps into one platform.

“The platform allows the exchange of group chats, PDFs, video, audio and high-resolution images, as well as read receipts and real-time viewing, providing more value than traditional SMS.

“One of its key benefits is that RCS sits on top of the SMS platform, which means it has the same reach and is thus also native on most smartphones”.

On his part, Martin Effiong, Senior Operator Partnership Manager, West Africa, at Infobip, said RCS’s rich media capabilities can provide a foothold for MNOs not only in business communication space but also in the P2P market where OTT players currently dominate.

RCS provides a solution for MNOs to compete with OTT players and claw back some of the revenue they have been missing out on in both the P2P and the lucrative Application-To-Person (A2P) messaging space.

– Effiong

He further described RCS as a rich media capable communication protocol that is an evolution of SMS as a native messaging channel.

“With RCS, mobile operators are able to provide their subscribers, as well as enterprises, with a messaging system that has the capability of sharing and receiving content such as images or videos without the need to download a separate messaging app.

“With many enterprise-focused features such as chatbots or carousels (content slideshows), brands are able to provide a convenient customer engagement channel for various use cases, ranging from tech support to purchases, as part of the conversational commerce paradigm,” he said.

Also speaking, Isaac Akanni, on “Boosting profitability and enhancing deeper customer engagement with conversational banking”, said that RCS is integral to conversational banking which can be seen as an upgraded version of SMS, complete with the rich features of a chat app.

The Rich features include images, videos, and audio files that can be seen in RCS messages and that provide a more engaging and personalised experience for customers.

– Akanni

“It also offers a wide range of features that can improve Customer experience (CX), including interactive functionality that enables customers to make bill payments or balance enquiries, while providing privacy and security through end-to-end encryption.

“The main value of incorporating an RCS channel is that it yields better customer engagement, increases trust and builds long-term customer relationships.

“By sending RCS messages, banks can ensure that customers gain higher visibility of their brand, while also presenting new offers and campaigns in a more effective way, such as information about loans, changing interest rates or new credit cards.

“Banks can also use RCS to send notifications or useful reminders about card activations or payment instructions.

“While RCS is new to the local market, the opportunities it presents are huge and use cases will grow exponentially as the channel gains traction.

“Conversational banking should ultimately provide a seamless flow of conversation to ensure positive CX and manage a host of complex transactions that will lead to a deeply rooted engagement that translates into a long-term relationship between a bank and its customers”.

Facts about Infobip:

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