KudiGo’s Storefront expands to Nigeria: Will Nigerians prioritise home-based Listbuy over this Ghana SME-solution product?

KudiGo, a Ghanaian based smart retail solution company, has recently revealed plans to enter the Nigerian market, following its claimed success operating in Ghana since its inception in 2017.

With Storefront’s business model similar to that of Nigeria’s Listbuy, analysts predict an inevitable market-share war between the 2 firms as Storefront makes early plan to soon enter the Nigerian space.

Listbuy, which is a social commerce platform that connects SMEs with their customers, launched into full operation barely a year ago, and only got increasingly visible after emerging as one of the 2019 Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) grant beneficiaries.

Since then, Listbuy has been redefining how local buyers and vendors (operating as Small and Medium Enterprises) transact, helping to facilitate seamless payments and deliveries. With new partnership deals with payment gateway companies and logistics firms, Listbuy doesn’t seem to be expecting a market space contender quite soon.

Read also: CBN retains 65% loan deposit ratio

While the business should be concentrating in investing on infrastructures to scale up and convert more in 2020, Storefront’s proposed entry (indirectly) now poses a threat to the business lifecycle of Listbuy, and must be strategically managed by the Listbuy team.

On viability and business cultural prospects, however, analysts have noted that such market entry (however rude) is healthy in a space as Nigeria, explaining that competition will only inspire periodic service improvement, as both firms will put each other to check by constantly looking at ways to become platform of choice.

While this might be a bitter pill for these firms to swallow, it will sure serve the good lot for patronising users. The one question begging for answer is: Will Nigerians prioritise its product over that from a foreign player?

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now