Konga Pivots, OLX and Jiji Now Competitors, Not Jumia
Konga will move from commission-based marketplace to subscription-based marketplace. The advantage is that merchants will pay for listing even if their items are not sold. That provides consistent revenue to Konga provided the merchants like the new model. In the commission model, Konga would only make money, if and only if merchants’ items are sold. Besides. Konga will not allow merchants to use its warehouse. For an expensive analysis of the new Konga, read my piece here.
Furthermore, Konga will not have an inventory. Going forward, it will only link merchants, who have subscribed for access to its platform, and buyers.
So Konga has changed its business model and should not be written in the context of Alibaba or Amazon: Konga is now a B2C (business to consumer) version of Craigslist where the business pays subscriptions. Most global marketplace earns commissions, but Konga is asking for its merchants to pay subscriptions to access its portal. We will see in coming quarters if that model will unlock the opportunities in Nigeria. In Nigeria, Konga will compete with OLX and Jiji than Jumia.
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Going forward, I will not be comparing Konga with Jumia (or even Amazon and Alibaba). Konga has moved from the core ecommerce sector. In my writing, I will be discussing Konga within the framework of OLX and Jiji.
Jiji is Nigerian online marketplace, the largest online classified ads company, which represents C2C and B2C sellers in the country. (Source: Wikipdia)
OLX is an Argentinian global online marketplace, operating in 45 countries, and is the largest online classified ads company in India, Brazil, Pakistan, Bulgaria, Poland, Portugal and Ukraine. (Source: Wikipedia)
That is brilliant Francis. I do think it needs thousands of merchants to make this work. We will see as it reports its earnings
