Ayoba: A new frontier for digital commerce in Africa

Accelerating digital commerce in Africa.

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The ayoba marketplace is accelerating digital commerce in Africa, leveraging its extensive 35 million active user base to create a platform uniquely tailored to the continent’s needs. Unlike conventional e-commerce marketplaces, the marketplace blends accessibility, empowerment and localised relevance, making it a standout solution for businesses and consumers alike. Here’s a closer look at what sets it apart from competitors:

Ayoba prioritises local businesses, enabling them to create micro-stores directly on the platform. This approach allows small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to showcase their products without the steep costs of building standalone websites or investing in complex logistics systems.

Unlike traditional marketplaces that often require goods to be stored in warehouses or charge steep success fees – sometimes reaching up to 18% – ayoba offers a more accessible and cost-effective alternative. With a flat success fee of just 4%, the platform helps merchants avoid expensive warehousing fees while maximising their profit margins. This enables sellers to offer more competitive prices and deliver greater value to their customers.

Where many other marketplaces cater predominantly to larger, well-established sellers with significant infrastructure, ayoba lowers the entry barriers, fostering grassroots commerce while playing a vital role in boosting local economies and driving inclusive growth.

The ayoba marketplace is integrated into the ayoba app, a super all-in-one app that offers communication, entertainment and utility services. This integration ensures that consumers can seamlessly discover and shop for products while engaging with other ayoba features. Users can chat, stream music, browse local news, access micro-apps and shop online without leaving the platform.

Other marketplaces often focus on one primary function – be it e-commerce, communication or social networking – leaving users to juggle multiple apps to meet their diverse needs. Competitor marketplaces typically operate as standalone platforms, requiring users to navigate away from their primary apps, which can disrupt the shopping journey.

Built with Africa’s unique challenges in mind, ayoba addresses the challenges of limited financial resources and high data costs. By offering data-free access through ayoba’s partnership with MTN, the marketplace ensures that even underserved communities can participate in the digital economy. This is a significant differentiator, as other platforms usually require users to bear data costs, often excluding low-income users from their offerings.

The ayoba marketplace is designed to scale seamlessly alongside Africa’s growing digital economy, providing a future-ready platform for businesses of all sizes. Ayoba equips sellers with innovative tools to manage inventory, process payments securely through partnerships like Zapper, and engage with customers – all within a single, cohesive ecosystem.

Furthermore, the platform supports scalability by empowering merchants to adapt and grow their operations without needing additional infrastructure. With its integrated tools and services, you can easily manage your online store, optimise your product listings and keep your business top of mind for your customers.

While marketplaces in Africa focus on specific niches or audiences, ayoba’s comprehensive and inclusive approach sets it apart. By addressing the challenges unique to the African context – affordability, accessibility and localisation – it creates opportunities for businesses and consumers that other platforms often overlook. For merchants, it serves as a gateway to growth in a rapidly expanding retail and e-commerce landscape, increasing your brand exposure, expanding your customer base and helping you reach new clients anytime, anywhere.

Want to take your business further? Sign up today and unlock the potential of digital commerce.