Dr Jonathan Doerr, managing director of ecommerce giant Jumia Nigeria, has described apps as the 'next big thing' for ecommerce in Nigeria.

In an interview with ITWeb Africa in Lagos, Doerr said although apps are not very popular yet, online shoppers in the West African country would soon realise they use less data when they shop via apps – and are more connected to the company through this medium.

He said: "Apps in Nigeria are not big at the moment – apps are the next big thing. People will realise when they use the Jumia app they use five times less data than when you use just their phone browser to visit the website."

He expects that more effort will go into ensuring locals understand how mobile apps operate, including the edge they have over the mobile web. When this happens, he said, there will be a mobile app revolution.

"People will understand more how mobile apps are to their smartphones – they will realise they are bigger and are better connected to the companies, they realise they can save money by spending less on data. The mobile app will be a revolution in Nigeria ...," he told ITWeb Africa.

More smartphones

In line with encouraging more Nigerians to shop using apps, Doerr said stakeholders, including the new government, telecoms companies and OEMs, should strive to ensure that more Nigerians have (and use) smartphones.

He said: "Most important thing is mobile. We see it on our platform – most of our traffic comes from mobile devices. Mobile is the most important thing. Internet on mobile device brings internet to Nigeria. There are not so many landlines here, when you compare to US and Europe, which means mobile is a revolution."

According to Doerr, the mobile phone market is important to Nigeria because it connects the people, making it possible for consumers to buy online products they can't afford to buy – especially in areas and cities outside Lagos.

"I think mobile will take Nigeria and Nigerians to the next level. Government and all stakeholders – including telecos and OEMs and us, we should work to make it possible for every Nigerian to have a smartphone and every Nigerian has access to the internet because it makes them do so many things," he said.

He confirmed that Jumia Nigeria is recording appreciable improvement in the number of shoppers that are choosing to pay online with their credit card, although cash on delivery remains the most preferred medium of payment for most shoppers on Jumia Nigeria.

"Less than 30% of Jumia customers pay with the credit card online, but we are seeing growth in that area," Doerr said.

He also commented on the industry perception of Jumia as a foreign company that is only in Nigeria for profits, and not to contribute to the growth of the industry.

"First of all, we are a Nigerian company even though we have big foreign investors such as Millicom. These companies bring money to Nigeria in the form of investments in this country. We invest in Nigeria, in the people. We educate people on ecommerce in Nigeria. We build thousands of jobs including those working in our delivery fleet, we built our own logistics company – so we developed the whole market and the people we've invested in. We believe so much in the Nigerian market."

Even though Doerr said the company is the biggest ecommerce and retail company on the continent, he confirmed Jumia is not yet making profits – a situation he described as perfectly normal considering the company's numerous multi-sectorial investments and growth phases of similar international companies such as Amazon.

"We are in a growing phase of a classical startup," he said. "In this growing phase, you are not looking so much at the profit because it's an investment – in the business, advertising, logistics, infrastructure – these are investments and you don't expect immediate profit. It would take a while for us to make profit and this is a normal stage for startups including Amazon and other companies.

"We are building the largest ecommerce and retailer in Africa. To do that you need to invest a lot. If people see what Jumia is investing in Nigeria they will understand that the Jumia Story is the story of Africa.

"It is hard to say how long it will take for us to begin to make profits, but our investors are looking forward that this will happen soon and when we look at our numbers, at how fast we grow, the success we have, we are very confident that this will happen soon. The normal growth path of a startup is to reach this stage. We are very confident we will be the biggest ecommerce company in Nigeria for the next 100 years and we will provide better services for the next 100 years. We will do the breakeven at some point and it will be a success story for Africa.

"Our investors believe in us, they trust the business model and the people working in Jumia and I'm confident the Jumia story will continue, there's no question about that."