Nigerian grocery shopping platform, Supermart.ng, launched a wholesale section on its platform recently. This move, initially thought to be a shift towards a business-to-business (B2B) model, was actually designed to cater to a wider range of customers.
Supermart emphasizes that they are “model-agnostic” and their main focus is on finding solutions to customer problems. CEO Raphael Afaedor told TechCabal that they have a variety of customers including personal shoppers, business administrators from large and small corporations, restaurant and hotel managers, and resellers. While this clientele could be considered B2B, Supermart views them all as customers with specific shopping needs.
Supermart revealed that they receive a significant number of orders from both businesses and individual consumers. The company did not disclose if this data influenced the decision to add the wholesale section, but it appears Supermart is offering a solution to a problem that many Nigerians may not even realize they have.
“The Supermart wholesale store is just another way we are working to solve the grocery shopping problem for our customers,” said Raphael.
Supermart will also continue to partner with existing stores on their network. According to Raphael, severing these partnerships would hinder their ability to solve the problem they set out to address. He explained that carrying their own stock would limit their product offerings. Therefore, they will keep working with supplier partners who can focus on acquiring the best brands, while Supermart concentrates on getting groceries conveniently into the hands of customers.
An important question is whether there are significant cost savings for buyers. While shoppers can always buy more units of a particular item instead of a whole package, buying in bulk often leads to heavier packaging, which can result in higher logistics costs that could negate any savings.
Raphael insists that there are significant savings, claiming that some bulk purchases can offer “up to 25% savings.” However, the term “some bulk items” is ambiguous, suggesting that these bulk discounts may not apply to all products. Regardless, a 25% price reduction is still a substantial incentive.
This wholesale store launch is the second major service addition for Supermart in 2015. Earlier this year, they introduced Supermart Prime, a membership program similar to Amazon Prime, which allows users to pay a single monthly delivery fee instead of a delivery charge with each purchase.
