Some Ecommerce Initiatives from Nigeria

Nigerian logistics startup Kwik has launched Kwik store a free ecommerce storefront solution that allows any African business owner, merchant, social vendor entrepreneurs, or SME to create their own online stores within minutes without any technical knowledge and manage them from their phone. Social vendors can link their KwikStores to their social media accounts, automating the sale, fulfillment, inventory management, and delivery processes. KwikStore is a free-to-use feature of the Kwik Delivery app and requires no down-payment or service charge apart from standard payment gateway fees.

Nigerian startup Woodshare.ng hopes to scale its furniture ecommerce platform across Africa once it has secured funding, having seen strong early uptake in its home market. Founded by Harry Brainstone and Dele Fayemi, Woodshare began life selling on classified websites and marketplaces, but has since launched its own website and now operates B2B and B2C business models. The startup partners with top furniture importers and local furniture manufacturers to offer a wide range of furniture products, with the aim being to make furniture products affordable and accessible to everyone. In Nigeria furniture products, imported and locally made, are expensive, especially imported ones. Woodshare is addressing those issues by offering quality yet affordable furnishing products to low-income earners. The startup also says it is addressing issues around long production and delivery timelines.

Ancestral House Eastern Africa online trading platform which has its offices in Abuja and Nairobi is aimed at enabling traders to access East and West African markets. This new platform will offer services such as business matchmaking, market research, logistics, and marketing advice (consumer trends and behavior).

Elsewhere, Nigerian fintech startup Klasha announced that it has received a $2.1m investment as part of a seed round that started last year. One of its new investors is American Express Ventures, the investment arm for American Express (Amex), one of the top 4 credit card networks in the world, for whom this is the first investment in an African startup. In doing so, Amex joins Visa and Mastercard who have been in Africa’s fintech scene since 2018. That year, Visa participated in Paystack’s $8m series A round while Mastercard invested in Flutterwave. Klasha provides several services at the intersection of payments and ecommerce. Among them is an app (only available in Nigeria, for now) for individuals to create a virtual dollar card to pay for services like a Spotify subscription. Then there is a checkout feature for retailers outside of Africa that allows their African customers to pay in currencies like the naira and shillings, using bank cards or mobile money.