Shoppers defy economic crunch for Konga Yakata

Despite the prevailing global economic downturn and associated difficulties in the local economy, Nigerians have turned to Konga Yakata as a fitting avenue to shop great deals at the best prices without burning a hole in their pockets this season.

Konga Yakata, as the Black Friday sale of Nigeria’s leading composite e-commerce giant is known, is widely regarded as the biggest sale of the year in the annual shopping calendar in Nigeria.

The 2022 edition of the month-long shopping fiesta, which kicked off on Friday, November 11 and will run through Monday, December 12, 2022, has seen shoppers on Konga buck the trend, especially with analysts and market watchers predicting that more people are expected to drastically cut down on spending due to inflation. Investigations reveal that rather than shy away from shopping, Nigerians have instead chosen to rely on Konga Yakata to shop smarter by targeting value-adding deals. The development has resulted in a surprising rise in traffic and shopping sessions on Konga, within the first 12 days of the campaign as bargain-hungry Nigerians scramble for special offers and best-priced deals at Konga.

On Konga Food, for instance, shoppers are enjoying a 50% discount on meals as well as varied deals, including free delivery or buy-one-get-one-free in select restaurants when they download and place their orders via the Konga Food app.  Shoppers are also taking advantage of the extra 5% discounts on offer for customers who make payments using their KongaPay wallet throughout the Konga Yakata period. KongaPay, a CBN-licensed mobile money platform, was recently rated by Statista, a globally renowned market and consumer data firm, as Nigeria’s leading provider of digital payment services for e-commerce transactions. This is in addition to the array of other eye-catching offers available on Konga Yakata such as massive discounts, auctions, flash sales, treasure hunts, Happy Hour sales and Budget stores, among others.

Also, while the economic crunch has admittedly resulted in a shift in shopping preferences and patterns, Konga Yakata has witnessed increased consumer spending on convenience goods such as Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) and groceries, among others, with Mobile Phones, Home & Kitchen Appliances and Electronics not far behind. Consequently, top-selling items on Konga Yakata since the commencement of the month-long sale include items such as cooking oil, rice, pasta, tomato paste, washing/cleaning detergents, non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages, rechargeable fans, power banks, data dongles, UPS and surge arrestors, electric irons and a variety of smartphones, among several others.

Indications from within Konga equally reveal that online adoption and Average Order Value has been impressive, particularly in view of the current economic situation, with hundreds of thousands of confirmed orders already being processed since Konga Yakata went live. More importantly, the recent brand ambassadorship deal between the e-commerce giant and superstar artiste, Patoranking, has resulted in a spike in shopping activity on the platform, further justifying the status of Konga Yakata as the biggest sale of the year. The excitement has also extended to Konga’s physical stores located across Nigeria, with increased foot traffic recorded in major sites including Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano, Owerri, Enugu, Uyo and Warri, among others backed up by a surge in retail sales.

Meanwhile, the excitement is bound to hit greater heights among shoppers on Konga’s platforms as the countdown to the global celebration of Black Friday on Friday November 25, 2022 draws closer.

‘‘It has been an impressive start to this year’s edition of Konga Yakata for us. Despite the undeniable harsh economic conditions, general buying sentiments is way above expectations. We have seen a deluge of verified orders and we haven’t even gotten to Black Friday, the 25th yet,’’ disclosed Group Head, Marketing, Anthony Nwabuisi.

Also commenting on how Konga Yakata has remained a pivotal sales campaign for shoppers, he added that consumers understand that they can rely on Konga for value and guaranteed best prices – factors that have become even more relevant in the light of current realities.

‘‘Yes, we are seeing higher order counts and GMV. But the economic situation has affected off-take in general. The situation has also generally affected the Average Order Value because when we compared this year to last year, we are trending at N21k over N26k for last year. However, we have seen more people embrace smarter shopping in terms of deals and pricing, with consumers now and actually focusing a bit more on FMCG and Groceries over and above Mobile Phones, Computing etc.

‘‘Nevertheless, adoption is very good. Our online sessions and traffic are high, in fact for us it’s about keeping the platform stable in the light of the spike in traffic and to give our customers the best experience. Offline, we have also recorded good impressions from the physical Konga stores nationwide. In fact, retail sales is trending at 64.49%, with an average foot traffic of 2k plus across all our stores,’’ he concluded.

The 2022 edition of Konga Yakata runs from Friday, November 11 till Monday, December 12, 2022.

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