Founders and managing directors of African Courier Express (ACE), a technology driven logistics company, Tunde Kehinde and Ercin Eksin have said that robust logistics infrastructure are critical to unlocking the potential of electronic commerce in Nigeria.
The duo who pioneered e-commerce in the country as co-founders of electronic retailer, Jumia.com are of the view that e-commerce should play significant roles in the economic boom, likely to come in the coming years.
The duo also pointed out that logistics presents a challenge that must be tackled before the objective is fully realised. With an estimated growth rate of 25 percent yearly, the e-commerce industry, which when examined in 2012 was worth $35 million, is valued at $550 million and projected to have a $10 billion potential if well harnessed, according to the ministry of communications technology. “The Nigerian e-commerce market presents peculiar challenges”, said the duo in a recent media chat recently.
According to them, Nigerians are not as trusting of electronic retail as westerners, and the implication is that almost e- retail transactions in the nation is pay-on-delivery. “In Nigeria, this leads to logistics issues concerning finding customers at a time when customers have the cash for their purchases, and issues surrounding cash remittance to the merchant. For many firms, the difficulty of mitigating this logistical challenges have been a barrier that keeps them from effectively pursuing e-commerce,” said the duo. “These are the conditions that compelled us to create ACE, a firm that aims to redefine the way e-commerce is handled, by placing focus on creating a technological infrastructure and adapting processes that should allow Nigerian – and by extension African e-commerce to develop stronger,” they added. According to them, ACE’s technology, all developed in-house by talented, entrepreneurial minds, allows the firm to provide merchants with more details and information about their shipments – enabling them to make better business decisions.
“ACE manages tasks with a multi-faceted technological system that can be adapted to meet merchants where they are. “Whether by use of a full API integration, managed by ACE, or through a unique Pick-Up-Tool created in-house, orders are inputted into and subsequently tracked throughout ACE’s unique system. On a customised merchant dashboard, merchants have access to detailed, real-time order tracking, and a top-up payment system that allows merchants to control their business. Merchants receive automatically-generated weekly reports that allow them to keep track of everything they’re doing with ACE from when a package is sent to when they receive their cash. Integrated into the system are advanced proof-of-payment structures, part of what allows ACE to remit cash to merchants within 48 hours of delivery.
“All of these features are available not only from the computer, but also from one of several mobile apps created in-house by ACE to make managing their logistics process even smoother.” The ACE helmsman further explained that, “Bringing this level of service and control to Nigeria has allowed ACE to reach unprecedented levels across the market.
In less than two years, ACE has reached a successful delivery rate of 85 percent, meaning that of all packages that any merchant attempts to deliver, 85 per cent will reach their target, be paid for, and the payments will be remitted to the merchant. This is 25 per cent more than the industry average in the same market, larger even than the delivery rates achieved by other big-name players such as DHL. Most importantly, ACE is doing it through use of multi-systemic technology – capitalising on Nigeria’s growing mobile internet preference.”
Ben Uzor
