I know you be shocked like I was too right now. Yes, I like Konga. Yes, I encourage people to list there products and start selling on Konga. Yes, I support there monthly membership fee and Yes, I support the hike commission of sales.
I know you are like, if you support all these steps taken by Konga why on earth are you now saying we should not sell on Konga? What went wrong? Why do you want to stop selling on Konga? Why now?
I have a love-hate relationship with Konga and to be VERY sincere with you, the good outweight the bad. Despite Konga’s shortcoming I have onboard several merchants who are doing good business on the platform.
WHY YOU SHOULD SELL ON KONGA
- Merchant Onboarding – You can sell and ship nationwide. With the recent expansion that Konga is currently undergoing, they have open the doors of the marketplace to all merchants nationwide. You don’t need to be based in Lagos to sell on Konga. You also do not need a warehouse or a shell company based in Lagos to sell your products on the platform if you are living outside Lagos. You can sell on Konga Mall anywhere you are here. If you are based in Ibadan or Ogun State, Ekiti or Port Harcourt, Abuja or Kaduna. Konga Mall gives you the opportunity to live the internet lifestyle. Make money and live anywhere in Nigeria.
- Order Fulfilment – With the introduction of Merchant self-fulfillment, Konga Mall have demystify shipping and order fulfilment. The customer is the king and the reason we are all in business with Konga Mall, you as merchant can choose to ship order directly to customers if that means customer will get his order quickly and faster than have it shipped via K-Express.
- Commission & Fees – Compared to other online marketplace in Nigeria, Konga Mall is still fare in their sales charge. They charge as high as 15% per sale.
- Product Return Process – Product return is very straight forward on Konga Mall. You can choose which of the K-Express sorting center you want Konga to drop your return products. Konga Mall will ensure your returned products get to the K-Express outlet as specified via your SHQ dashboard.
- Quality Check – Before K-Express agent process any order you want to drop off for onward shipping to the customer, the agent will ask you to show him/her the product. He/she will therefore cross check it with the details he/she have on her/his system. This process ensure the end-user get what they purchased and what the merchant shipped is as described.
SHORTCOMING OF SELLING ON KONGA MALL
- Monthly Membership Fees – If you are newbie in importation business and you want to jump into Konga marketplace, you really need to make some provision for loss like 3 or 4 month Konga membership fees. Existing merchants have build a customer base that can generate sales or referal that will convert to sale.
- Lack of Visibility – Don’t expect that your Konga storefront will have huge visibility because Konga Mall intentional make merchants’ store invisible. If you need customers to know about your about you need to create your own awareness or pay Konga to advertise your store on the homepage.
- Konga Adverts – Buying a frontpage adverts on Konga doesn’t necessary translate to more sales. I have a friend who advertise her store on Konga for three (3) days yet she doesn’t get a single order. Konga sef no get successful stories of people who place adverts that generate huge sales.
- Shipping Fees – To be sincere with you, these is a major reason for the sharp drop in sales on Konga. The cheapest shipping fee is #750 which is for orders within Lagos. K-Express charge as high as #3,000 to ship product below 1kg to Ogun State. Imagine a customer who want to buy #1,000 product and you slam him #3,000 as shipping fee.
- Delay Payment – Unlike Jumia that assign you a day of the week as payment date, with Konga you need to execrise enough patient before you get your sale proceed in your bank account.
- Packaging Materials – Unlike Jumia that gives merchant packaging materials to pack their orders before dropping it off for shipping, Konga doesn’t and haven’t show any sign of giving merchants branded packaging materials.
WHY YOU SHOULD NOT SELL YOUR PRODUCTS ON KONGA
Anyone can sell on Konga but you need to be extremely careful of the new policy Konga Mall just introduced.
In June 2015, Konga acquired Zinternet Nigeria Limited (Zinternet) a CBN licensed mobile payment operator. The acquisition allows Konga launched its proprietary payment system called KongaPay.
According to Konga, KongaPay is poised to offer payment solutions to merchants on Konga Mall platform and to make sure that Konga merchants use KongaPay, Konga made it mandatory for all merchants on the platform to register for KongaPay but there is a major problem.
Registration for KongaPay is not like any other type of registration you have done in your life. You need to handover the keys and access to your bank account to Konga.
The problem is, if you refused to register for KongaPay you will not get paid for any sales proceed made via your storefront on Konga Mall.
To register for KongaPay, you need to give Konga the following details:
- Name of your Bank
- Your First Name (as it appeared on your Debit card)
- Your Last Name (as it appeared on your Debit card)
- Your Card Bin number (The 16 digit number in front of your debit card)
- Your Card Expiry Date
- Your Card CVV/CVC
- Your Bank Verification Number (BVN)
- Your Mobile Number (The mobile number registered with your bank account)
- A 4 digit PIN
- Your Date of Birth
Now, this is the damage or the risks you are exposing yourself to if you register for KongaPay:
- Your Debit Card is no longer secured. With all those details gone, it is as good as you carrying just a plastic card.
- If those details get into wrong hands, your bank account will be empty within minutes. All your life savings gone.
Well, just consider the risks involved in exposing your card details and BVN because you want to sell on Konga. Other marketplace do not require you to give such details before you start selling on their platform. Konga should also separate their FINTECH business from e-commerce (Marketplace) business. What is the point of KongaPay if customer still buy products and still pay on delivery? Why do they make KongaPay optional for customers but compulsory for merchant? Must Konga force me as a merchant to use a service I don’t have interest in using just because am using their platform to sell my products?
To be frank with you, since KongaPay is mandatory for all Konga Mall sellers my store on Konga has been on Vacation mode since March 2016 and here is a shocker, the store revenue didn’t drop. I have been able to scale without Konga Mall.
If you’re a newbie and can manage the risks of exposing your card and account details, Konga Mall is still a good platform to start selling before you build your own online store.