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The Untimely Demise Of Kalahari In Kenya And Nigeria by mukina2: 1:49pm On Oct 25, 2011
Press Release: MIH’s position on the operations of Kalahari in Kenya and Nigeria

(Press Release) – On 24 October 2011 MIH Internet (Sub-Saharan Africa) advised that, following a strategic review of its investment priorities, it will be closing down the Kalahari Kenya and Kalahari Nigeria operations with immediate effect.

MIH launched online retail services in Kenya and Nigeria under the Kalahari brand in October 2009 and January 2010, respectively. This was pioneering work which carried considerable risk. As the performance of the service has been below expectation since launch and reaching profitability was not a reasonable near-term prospect, a decision was made to refocus efforts on other group businesses within the region. Specifically, our Dealfish and Mocality sites will continue to operate.

About MIH Internet Africa

MIH Internet Africa is a division of MIH Internet which is a division of Naspers. See www.naspers.co.za for more details.


http://www.cp-africa.com/2011/10/25/press-release-mih-position-on-the-operations-of-kalahari-in-kenya-and-nigeria/
Re: The Untimely Demise Of Kalahari In Kenya And Nigeria by Afam4eva(m): 1:54pm On Oct 25, 2011
These people advertised like mad. But till theis day i don't now if it's a school or church.
Re: The Untimely Demise Of Kalahari In Kenya And Nigeria by passyjango(m): 1:55pm On Oct 25, 2011
I think it is a good move, Dealfish and Kalahari appears to be doing the same business if you ask me.
Re: The Untimely Demise Of Kalahari In Kenya And Nigeria by mrjingles(m): 2:15pm On Oct 25, 2011
spectacular flop, Nigerians have not yet embraced the culture of online shopping in sufficient numbers to sustain an online biz. Better to cut their losses than to persist down the road to perdition.
Re: The Untimely Demise Of Kalahari In Kenya And Nigeria by playmode(m): 2:57pm On Oct 25, 2011
mrjingles:

spectacular flop, Nigerians have not yet embraced the culture of online shopping in sufficient numbers to sustain an online biz. Better to cut their losses than to persist down the road to perdition.

I have to disagree with you there.Nigerians shop online a lot but the biggest obstacle to online BIZ in Africa is the method of payment.Most of this foreign companies try to compare Africa to the west and expect every tom dick and harry to posses a credit card.This as we all know is wrong.They should have used a more reliable and easily accessible form of payment like moneybookers or liberty reserve.A lot of Nigerians use liberty reserve and other e-currencies on a daily basis.If they did not trust the e-currency companies ,they should have looked at starting their own e-currency.
Re: The Untimely Demise Of Kalahari In Kenya And Nigeria by DualCore1: 2:58pm On Oct 25, 2011
joystick, WTF. lol, what a replacement
Re: The Untimely Demise Of Kalahari In Kenya And Nigeria by Akosbaba(m): 3:00pm On Oct 25, 2011
@playmode,on point
Re: The Untimely Demise Of Kalahari In Kenya And Nigeria by LearnBook: 4:34pm On Oct 25, 2011
The other problem is the cost of distribution. A $10 dollar book on Amazon will be shipped to you mostly for free and will cost $10. A N 1500 will have a shipping cost of sometimes N1500. This gives a total price of N3000 (almost double). Also the margins on books/cds can be quite small. And I agree with the credit card problem. So for e-commerce to work, there should be

1. An easy way to pay
2. Low distribution cost

It is no wonder that they are sticking to dealfish (no inventory costs)
Re: The Untimely Demise Of Kalahari In Kenya And Nigeria by yamakuza: 5:31pm On Oct 25, 2011
LearnBook:

The other problem is the cost of distribution. A $10 dollar book on Amazon will be shipped to you mostly for free and will cost $10.

last i heard, even Amazon wasnt making profits. Dont know about now though.

If they havent/didnt close down, its cos they have deeper pockets or longer staying power.
Re: The Untimely Demise Of Kalahari In Kenya And Nigeria by tsupilot: 10:50pm On Oct 25, 2011
Alot of these big tech companies run into the online space without understanding how naija folks adopt new products and technology. Funny enough a number of them think it's about first to grab the largest market share.

There is no market share just a lot of users/customers in nigeria. The average nigerian has 4 phone lines by all the mobile carriers, they love freedom and want ease when it comes to utilizing a service. Online credit card payment and secure payment forms haven't been made available to the masses yet so that idea was a flob from day one.

Vconnect.com,dealfish.com.ng and dealsdey.com are the next victims of the kalahari curse. They have deep pockets and want to be know to every nigerian so they win the so-called popularity contest. products like Wakanow.com, Paga.com and whereyoudey.com have a brilliant strategy.

Slow and steady wins the race. Mature with the economy don't bring maturity and services people do not need. Just my two cents!
Re: The Untimely Demise Of Kalahari In Kenya And Nigeria by UK2ME(m): 6:32am On Oct 26, 2011
Nigerians have options at cheaper prices. One of them is UK2ME Logistics
Re: The Untimely Demise Of Kalahari In Kenya And Nigeria by Nobody: 8:47am On Oct 26, 2011
same may happen to dealfish, they need to save money and concentrate on engaging users.
well, they have an option that lets you refresh your ads which takes you back to their site, but i think they need to think and invent more ways to make dealfish work
Dealfish, to me is dying.
Re: The Untimely Demise Of Kalahari In Kenya And Nigeria by Nobody: 12:38pm On Oct 26, 2011
Could someone here please explain to me why Nairalist is off the air? Is there any plan to bring it back on anytime soon?
Re: The Untimely Demise Of Kalahari In Kenya And Nigeria by mrjingles(m): 12:53pm On Oct 26, 2011
playmode:

I have to disagree with you there.Nigerians shop online a lot but the biggest obstacle to online BIZ in Africa is the method of payment.Most of this foreign companies try to compare Africa to the west and expect every tom Joystick and harry to posses a credit card.This as we all know is wrong.They should have used a more reliable and easily accessible form of payment like moneybookers or liberty reserve.A lot of Nigerians use liberty reserve and other e-currencies on a daily basis.If they did not trust the e-currency companies ,they should have looked at starting their own e-currency.

I stand by my post, if you have an online biz solely for the Nigerian market, you will need loads of capital to keep it up until you have enough customers to be sustainable. This is still a business and it must still conform to the rules of business. We are not there yet. Internet/pc penetration is growing but full utilization for e-commerce by households is still nascent.
Re: The Untimely Demise Of Kalahari In Kenya And Nigeria by sutton09: 1:41pm On Oct 26, 2011
www.mannabooks.net also sells books online and they deliver to your home anywhere in Nigeria
Re: The Untimely Demise Of Kalahari In Kenya And Nigeria by NET1(m): 5:41pm On Oct 28, 2011
Reason is quite simple: E-commerce solutions are still in their infant stage in Naija.

.NET
Re: The Untimely Demise Of Kalahari In Kenya And Nigeria by OOG(m): 3:36pm On Oct 31, 2011
O & O Gadgets buys from USA online all the time and deliver to numerous clients all over Nigeria. It's as easy as you telling us what you want and we'll send you a quote on options or you can send us the link to the exact item you want and we'll give you a quote. We can assure you of delivery within 2 weeks or less (depending on the time you place your order).

We specialize in procurement of gadgets and electronics that are hard to find or expensive locally. Our rates are very competitive and affordable.

Our office is located at suite 29, block B, Sura Shopping Complex, Simpson street, Lagos Island.

You can reach us by sending an email to info@oandogadgets.com

or you can call +234 803 454 7919, +234 816 285 0941

Our website address is www.oandogadgets.com

And you can also find us on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/oandogadgets
Re: The Untimely Demise Of Kalahari In Kenya And Nigeria by Kemmolala: 5:35pm On Nov 15, 2011
I think one of the problems with Kalahari is that they had very little inventory on ground. A lot of their stuff had 18-21 days delivery wait. Even stuff that you would need ASAP say you were buying valentine gifts 3 days before valentine meant your order wouldn't get to it's intended recipient until after 3weeks! How's that for a business model?

There's another ecommerce website. highqs.com. They are still in business. I think kalahari quit too soon and they spent too much on ads. It takes time to build a business. Even amazon struggled for 9yrs before it ever made a profit, it kept pouring money on expansion and building distribution centers all over the US. In business, there's no short cut, you need to be able to stay the course, to be patient and to persevere. Kalahari spent too much too soon and gave up too quickly.

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