Nigerian E-Commerce Players Konga And Yudala Announce Merger
After months of speculation and in a move designed to dominate the organized retail and e-commerce/marketplace outfit on the African continent, Nigeria’s largest online mall Konga have merged with Yudala. Both companies operate under the KONGA brand name.
According to reports the strategic business merger which takes effect from May 1, 2018, will see both companies leverage on the combined strengths of both platforms, and is expected to further broaden the scope of organized retail and e-commerce in Nigeria and deliver more value to customers and merchants.
Konga Chairman, Olusiji Ijogun has been reported as saying that the new Konga will have dual CEOs in the persons of Nick Imudia who will be in charge of online among others while Prince Nnamdi Ekeh will be responsible for offline. Olusiji Ijogun also said that combining forces to power the new Konga will enable both platforms efficiently achieve their goals of expansion and accelerated growth, in an ambitious journey that will redefine the retail ecosystem with the industry’s most advanced technology.
The merger will see the new company utilize the efficiency of Konga’s cutting-edge online platform, access to thousands of merchants and Yudala’s expansive network of fully stocked offline stores to give our customers the best shopping experience imaginable. The company promises to make the integration process as seamless as possible.
Prospective shoppers can now order online, pay and pick-up the product(s) at the nearest Konga offline store.
“We are very excited about the operational merger between Yudala and Konga into the new Konga.” “A merger of this magnitude has never been experienced in Africa. We will be leveraging on Konga’s strong technology backbone and online experience as well as Yudala’s offline experience, a network of retail stores and operational efficiency. Shortly, we plan to have a Konga store in every local government area in Nigeria. While this is ambitious, we believe that every Nigerian deserves the right to have access to the full range of genuine products offered by Konga,” Prince Ekeh declared.
Plans are also underway to showcase the full power of the merger with expanded access to thousands of products in Konga online and offline stores for all categories of shoppers. According to Imudia, he believes this operational merger between Konga and Yudala will bring immense opportunities for consumers in the e-commerce space.
The Konga Business platform will be fully integrated with two distinct aspects including Konga Online, the e-commerce/marketplace platform and Konga Retail, the offline arm of the business. Both will be supported by Konga Pay, a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)-licensed mobile money platform and Konga Express, a world-class logistics company with advanced delivery capabilities for internal and external customers.