Tag Archives: distribution

Market forces transforming the African retail landscape

By Niti Bhan | Published: April 16, 2015

Cosmetics giant L’Oreal’s partnership with pan African e-commerce platform Jumia signals a big shift in the way consumer packaged goods companies address the challenge of reaching the emerging African consumer classes in a cost effective manner. A combination of market forces and on the ground realities points to this solution as a sweetspot for optimal […]

Posted in African Consumer Market, Business Models, Marketing, Mobile platform, Perspective, Strategy | Also tagged Africa, e-commerce, fmcg, l'oreal, retail | Leave a comment

Quality of service at the last mile will make or break African e-commerce startups

By Niti Bhan | Published: April 14, 2015

With new e-commerce startups sprouting up everyday, competitive advantage in the urban African context will boil down to their quality of delivery and logistics managment. Given the lack of infrastructure such as home addresses, post codes with embedded information, or as is the case in India – the last mile of delivery in the form […]

Posted in African Consumer Market, Business, Business Models, Ecosystem, Emerging Markets, Marketing, Mobile platform, Nigeria, Perspective, Strategy, urban | Also tagged Africa, delivery, e-commerce, logistics, supply chain, urban | 1 Response

Navigating the African Informal Retail Sector

By Niti Bhan | Published: March 15, 2015

Nigeria’s consumer market has captured global attention. A significant proportion of this emerging market opportunity is in the FMCG category. Due to historical reasons, 87% of this retail trade happens in the “unorganized” or “informal sector”. The market is highly fragmented and inefficient. Yet due to the nature of the informal economy, most of this […]

Posted in African Consumer Market, Analysis, Consumer Behaviour, Emerging Markets, Marketing, Mobile platform, Nigeria | Also tagged Africa, analysis, informal economy, nigeria, research framework, retail | Leave a comment

The need for human agency: Is the middleman always a monster?

By Niti Bhan | Published: October 28, 2013

Mobile phone charging receipt, Kenya Photo credit: Niti Bhan The unfair demonisation of the middleman is apparent in this recent article on solar power products for the low income market in Africa. “Putting African ‘power pimps’ out of business” is the headline and the rest of the text goes downhill from there: It’s hard to […]

Posted in African Consumer Market, Assumption filter, Base of the Pyramid, Business Models, Consumer Behaviour, Culture, Perspective | Also tagged Africa, middleman, network, social enterprise, value chains | Leave a comment

Hub and spoke model for new product introductions

By Niti Bhan | Published: August 2, 2012

Nairobi’s Central Business District – Luthuli Avenue is the heart of the electronics and consumer appliance trade for Kenya. Chinese businessmen can be seen mingling with Somali traders and wholesalers come from all over the country to see “what’s new”. I saw recently introduced solar powered refrigerators (just 60W) on display, direct from China but […]

Posted in African Consumer Market, Business Models, Ecosystem, Informal & Flexible, Innovation Planning, Marketing, Mobile platform, Perspective, Prepaid Economy & Informal Sector, Projects and Reports, Strategy, Sub Saharan Africa, Systems, Technology, UCSD, urban | Also tagged African Consumer Market, consumer electronics, informal trade, marketing, new product introductions, retail, rural africa | Leave a comment

New Product Introductions in Informal Markets

By Niti Bhan | Published: July 15, 2012

“What’s new?” I asked Peter who runs this mari mari shop in a makeshift market just yards from Nairobi’s famous Kibera, and he proudly showed off the various features of this television set cum DVD player that can run on a small battery if need be. Yours for just $100. Don’t miss the bright pink […]

Posted in African Consumer Market, Assumption filter, Base of the Pyramid, Consumer Behaviour, Design, Emerging Markets, Indigenous & Traditional, Informal & Flexible, Innovation Planning, Kenya, Marketing, Perspective, Prepaid Economy & Informal Sector, Strategy, Technology, urban | Also tagged African Consumer Market, consumer electronics, informal markets, informal retail, market analysis | Leave a comment

Assessing social impact vs financial sustainability for BoP business models

By Niti Bhan | Published: September 6, 2011

Posted in Analysis, Base of the Pyramid, Business, Ecosystem, Emerging Markets, Frugality, Marketing, Prepaid Economy & Informal Sector, Strategy | Also tagged Africa, bop, business model, healthcare, international development, marketing, social enterprise, social impact, strategy, sustainability | Leave a comment