It currently has almost 4-million registered users, with more than 2-million monthly active users in Nigeria and a leading position in several other African countries such as Uganda and Zimbabwe. Over 3,000 new registered members are joining MOBOfree every day, thousands of new items are listed daily and more than 5-million personal messages exchanged between buyers and sellers every month on the site
This leading African social marketplace has experienced an increase of more than 44% in the number of registered users in Nigeria over the past 12 months, resulting in a 1042% increase in the number of classifieds published on the site in Nigeria, which makes more than 500,000 active listings on platform in Nigeria only. Over the same period, the number of registered users in Uganda increased by more than 1555%, resulting in a 5548% increase in the number of classifieds published.
It is one of the largest and most successful classifieds platforms in Africa. Its technological platform makes buying and selling online easy for any African user with any device, not only PCs and smartphones but also for old phones with small screens (known as 'feature' phones).
"Online trading is growing rapidly across Africa, as the IT and mobile infrastructure across the continent continues improving. Despite that, part of our challenge still is convincing people of the value of using the internet to buy, sell or swap items and services," said Cristobal Alonso, CEO and co-founder of MOBOfree.
"In line with that, we understand that African countries have their own culture, different rates of internet, mobile and smartphone penetration, so every African market should be approached with an individual strategy. Things that work in Europe or US can be very unacceptable for African users.
"The site entered the African markets with a unique concept, as it connects social networks and classifieds together in a single platform. The substantial growth confirms that this concept is well accepted in African markets as number of users is quickly growing and more and more people seem to prefer it to traditional classifieds companies."
Nigeria's e-commerce market is developing rapidly, with an estimated growth rate of 25% annually and a potential worth of $10 billion, with around 300,000 online orders currently being placed on a daily basis. A report released by McKinsey & Company indicated that e-commerce could account for 10% of retail sales in Nigeria, Africa's largest economies, by 2025.
