Jumia Africa seems to be attracting a competitor soon with the merger of Bidorbuy and uAfrica to create Bob Group, a new and bigger e-commerce platform that will make it easier for small and medium businesses to sell online.

Andy Higgins, the founder of auction website Bidorbuy and a pioneer in e-commerce in South Africa, is leading a new venture he hopes will make it easier for small and medium businesses to sell their products online.

The venture, called Bob Group, is an amalgamation of Bidorbuy and uAfrica, a logistics software firm he co-founded. It will offer a full suite of e-commerce services to South African businesses, including an online marketplace, inventory management, order fulfilment, a shipping tool, online payments and courier software as a service.

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Higgins, who founded Bidorbuy in 1999, said the amalgamated Bidorbuy and uAfrica “offers everything e-commerce to all South African consumers and companies operating online, whether they are looking to sell, buy – or both”. It expects to attract small and medium enterprises that don’t necessarily have the capabilities in-house to build e-commerce solutions themselves.

“The merger means that merchants will now be offered a complete set of e-commerce services, including payments, logistics and a marketplace,” he said in a statement.

Higgins said Bob Group will be different from other marketplaces in South Africa, including market leader Takealot, by adopting a decentralised rather than a centralised approach to e-commerce. This, he said, will allow Bob Group to price its services “much more competitively”.

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“We are more seller-friendly than our competitors,” he said. “Sellers can expect a more cost-effective offering based on intuitive, easy-to-use selling and fulfillment tools. Where previously we’ve focused exclusively on the marketplace, this amalgamation will allow us to provide merchant-empowering tools across all the sales channels they are active on, including their own websites and third-party channels.”

Services that Bob Group offers include:

A tool that allows merchants to sync products from their online stores to Bidorbuy, and a real-time solution for updates to products and inventory;

Shipping and tracking solutions;

A payment facilitator that provides merchants with the opportunity to have buyers pay with their preferred payment option; and

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A software-as-a-service solution providing technology for courier companies to run their businesses, including a driver app, customer and administration portals, and billing.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry