When Rocket Internet launched its Nigerian Amazon clone, it was always just going to be a matter of time before it launched another site in the country.
The German-based startup incubator’s latest ecommerce property is called Sabunta — a shoe and fashion site that runs along the same model as Zando in South Africa, Zalando in Germany and the UK, Locondo in Japan, The Iconic in Australia, and Zalora in Singapore.
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Perhaps conscious of the fact that a large portion of its customers probably won’t own credit cards, Sabunta allows its customers to make payments either via EFT or in cash on delivery.
After a successful purchase shoppers are informed about the current status of their order. Each customer receives a tracking number with which they can follow up their order until delivery.
Rocket Internet has a massive portfolio of companies around the world, with most operating on a select few models. A recent estimate by GigaOM pegged it at some 38 companies across 58 countries but that number has definitely grown in the interim.
Its other African properties include the aforementioned Zando furniture sales property 5rooms and cosmetics trial service Glossybox in South Africa. It also has a 10% stake in daily deals giant Groupon’s play in that country.
