Rocket Internet to launch Nigerian Amazon clone [Report]

German-based cloning giant Rocket Internet is set to open up an Amazon-style ecommerce site in Nigeria.

The company made its first big forays onto the continent with a number of properties in South Africa. These include a stake in Groupon, shoe and clothing site Zando, and make up testing service Glossybox.

Nigerian tech site Techloy claims a reliable source confirmed that the new ecommerce property would sell books, DVDs and electronics along the Amazon model. This is contrary to a report from competing site Technesstivity which said that the company was launching an online clothing brand called Sabunta.

Rocket Internet recently told Memeburn that its next African venture would be in Nigeria but insisted that the information was under tight embargo.

Techloy also says the company is hiring aggressively in the country and may well have taken aboard some ex-employees of Kalahri Nigeria, which was scuppered by parent company MIH in late 2011.

Rocket Internet has a massive portfolio of companies around the world, with most operating on a select few models. It recently, for instance, launched an Amazon-clone called Lazada in Indonesia, Egypt, the Philippines and Thailand.

Were the new venture to be a clothing and fashion outfit, it would join the likes of Zando in South Africa, Zalando in Germany and the UK, Locondo in Japan, The Iconic in Australia, and Zalora in Singapore.

The other thing to bear in mind is whether or not Rocket Internet’s style of clone model will take off in Nigeria. The aforementioned example of Kalahari, which is wildly successful in South Africa, suggests it may not be an easy road.