Konga, one of Nigeria’s leading e-commerce giants, has rolled out a mouth-watering 60% discount offer for students, parents, educational institutions and other categories of shoppers for its Back to School promotion.

The Konga Back to School promo runs from Monday, August 23 through Sunday, September 19, 2021.

The promotion has witnessed a throng of excited shoppers besieging the Konga website, and its network of retail stores spread across Nigeria for the month-long deals.

Checks indicate that early bird shoppers had quickly rushed to both platforms, including Konga Bulk from Monday morning when the promotion kicked off, with the majority of bargain-hunters comprising a mix of students, most of whom are set to return to school for the resumption of classes as well as other individuals and business owners looking for bulk purchases.

A number of inquiries have also been received by Konga from parents searching for specific items for their children and wards, in addition to concrete interest from schools and other educational institutions eager to close deals on computer systems, laptops, printers, stationery and other accessories.

Shoppers are in for more excitement as Konga, Nigeria’s foremost composite e-Commerce giant, prepares to draw the curtains on its 9th Anniversary sale with a special edition of its monthly online auction tagged – Konga Last Price.

The July edition of Konga Last Price holds on Monday, July 5, 2021.

Held on the first Monday of each month, Konga Last Price is a live auction pioneered by the e-Commerce group and held digitally across the company’s social media platforms, including Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, among others. Interestingly, this edition of the special online auction will coincide with the climax of the 9th Anniversary sale, which kicked off on Friday, June 25 and which comes to an end on Monday, July 5.

To this effect, the management of Konga says it has put together a massive rollout of products for the online auction, with bid prices expected to start from highly discounted ranges.

Furthermore, Konga says it is using the auction, which will mark the end of the highly successful anniversary sale, as a final opportunity for shoppers who missed out on the special deals and offers that marked the promotion to grab some exciting deals. Top on the bill for items expected to go on auction on Monday are genuine products from Konga’s wide-ranging suite including Home & Kitchen, Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), Computing, Electronics, Fashion, Wine & Spirits and much more.

Also adding to the excitement for this special edition of Konga Last Price is the plan to make it a discount party to mark the end of the company’s anniversary sale.

‘‘The July edition of Konga Last Price is special for a number of reasons,’’ disclosed Kenny Oriola, VP, Konga Online. ‘‘Apart from the fact that it is clashing with the end of the 9th Anniversary sale – which has been a very successful outing for us – it is also the last chance for many shoppers who missed out on the anniversary deals.

‘‘Therefore, we are making it a discount party and an all-comers affair on Monday. The products have been carefully selected and we are offloading huge quantities on the day instead of single units. Those with the fastest fingers and quickest to make payment for the products on offer will benefit. You don’t want to miss it.

‘‘Interested shoppers are also advised to download KongaPay for seamless payments,’’ he enthused.

Continuing, Oriola expressed gratitude to Nigerians for the success of the 9th Anniversary sale, even as he revealed that many more exciting innovations are underway at Konga.

‘‘We are grateful to Nigerians for their patronage and loyalty to the Konga brand. Also, we are determined to keep justifying the faith reposed in our services with the rollout of more exciting innovations, some of which we will be unveiling soon,’’ he concluded.

The July edition of Konga Last Price goes live by 12 pm on Monday, July 5, 2021.

Africa’s leading classified marketplace Jiji has acquired Cars45, Nigeria’s leading automotive trading platform.

In a conversation with TechCrunch, Vladimir Mnogoletniy, Jiji’s co-founder explained the thinking behind the accquisition move. It’s looking for opportunities outside of the classifieds business.

“In terms of classifieds, we’re looking at opportunities,” he explained, “but we are already a leader in Africa, so I think there’s very limited space for whom to acquire.

“However, we’re primarily interested in deals like Cars45, where we bring our leadership positions from classifieds and acquire very close business models that give us exposure to the transactional marketplace. So for us, a major interest will be to acquire adjacent business models.” 

He also pointed out that vehicle listing is the second most popular category on Jiji behind real estate. The platform’s total listing is worth over $10 billion, with real estate ($7 billion) and vehicles ($3 billion) making up the bulk of it.

“We have leading positions in all markets we’re present in and are definitely the classifieds leader in the region. Also, we are probably the largest e-commerce company in Africa by GMV,” he continued.

Why it matters

This acquisition will enable Cars45 to grow the vehicles category. Cars45 will merge its operations in its three African markets – Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya, to increase efficiency. It will also give Jiji an upper hand in consolidating its position as the classifieds marketplace leader.

Over the years, Jiji has been plagued by trust and safety issues from users. The acquisition of Cars45 will help reduce this risk, as it offers a different car buying and selling experience via a transactional marketplace model.

Jiji will also leverage Cars45’s network of inspection centres where cars are inspected by more than 200 parameters. Unlike a classifieds marketplace where checks are inadequately carried out, transactional models employed by platforms like Cars45 ensure quality checks and detailed reports on a car’s condition with various databases.

Looking ahead

For Cars45, it has come a long way from first being owned by Frontier Cars Group (FCG) and then was acquired by OLX Group and now Jiji. This poses questions around whether the integration with its new owner Jiji will work out fine.

With Jiji’s new disposition towards looking outside of its normal classified business to expand its operations, I wonder whether another acquisition is around the corner? Considering the platform’s top listing categories, It could be a real estate company or another vehicle trading platform.