Nigerian startup Cartehub is going head-to-head with the likes of Jumia and Konga with the launch of its multi-merchant e-commerce platform.
The Lagos-based CarteHub launched in open beta in August and is now available to the general public, providing a platform for sellers in four categories: Food, Farmers Markets and Groceries, Fashion and Arts, and Laundry.
It allows merchants to set up an online store with their personalised URL and reach a broader market of potential customers, and also handles the delivery logistics for merchants and publicises their products.
“To enhance the delivery process, we operate a Merchant-Near-You shopping system. This allows merchants to be listed in order of their nearness to the shopper, hence reducing delivery costs. We do all this in exchange for a 10 per cent commission on every order placed for the merchant’s products,” said Tobi Ogunwande, who handles IT support and business development at CarteHub.
Though Ogunwande recognises that CarteHub’s competitors in a broader sense are Konga and Jumia, he said the startup takes pride in being a niche e-commerce platform.
“We realise that other popular e-commerce platforms in Nigeria lack quality and are relatively expensive for those that meet up to the standard. This is the bane of our existence. Quality first, and affordability,” he said.
“We want to be able to bring the best quality products to our customers while making sure this is affordable. We achieve this by making our merchant understand that sales will be guaranteed when their prices are relatively affordable at the same quality of service. We also take the time to conduct Quality Assurance before any merchant is signed on. This is to make sure we never compromise on the quality of these products.”
The bootstrapped startup is also operational in Ibadan and plans to expand to Port Harcourt and Abuja soon.
