UNIVERSAL MARKETPLACE

Executive Summary

Jumia VR is an advanced shopping website in Nigeria, with our head office situated in Abuja
the capital city of Nigeria. This online shopping website is a site where customers can browse
through the site and have a look at most of the products virtually with the use of virtual
reality headsets or in Augmented reality with the use of a smartphone. The website will aid
both consumer to consumer sales, business to consumer and marketplace. We are going to try
and make alliances with several vendors ranging from small and medium size businesses and
manufacturer can list their products at a cost on jumia Vr. You can buy everything, from a
can of Coke, mobile phones, mobile accessories, car parts and solar panels etc on Jumia Vr.

Mission: to offer a whole new experience of shopping platform where anyone can sell his
products and to use the power of internet and technology to connect people, and to be one of
the best online retailers with most convenient price and shopping experience in Nigeria. In
addition, to also create jobs and skills that will empower the new generation in Nigeria to
help build their life and drive the country forward.

Vision: Our Vision is to transform the whole shopping experience in Nigeria into another
level by providing our customers with highest quality products and services at a competitive
and low price.
Table of Contents
Executive Summary ......................................................................................................... 1
Business Details .............................................................................................................. 4
Industry and Market Analysis .......................................................................................... 5
Market Growth ....................................................................................................................... 6
Segmentation, Targeting & Positioning .................................................................................. 7
PESTEL analysis .................................................................................................................... 7
SWOT analysis ....................................................................................................................... 8
Customers and Value proposition ...................................................................................10
Marketing strategy..........................................................................................................11
Product ................................................................................................................................. 11
Price ..................................................................................................................................... 11
Place ..................................................................................................................................... 11
Promotion ............................................................................................................................. 11
Operational plan ............................................................................................................12
Management team and company’s structure ...................................................................13
Resources .......................................................................................................................15
Financing ......................................................................................................................17
Funding ................................................................................................................................ 17
Cost of project ...................................................................................................................... 17
Financial projections ......................................................................................................18
Income statement statement.................................................................................................. 18
Balance sheet ........................................................................................................................ 19
Risk and risk options ......................................................................................................20
Risk option............................................................................................................................ 20

Key milestone .................................................................................................................21

Conclusion .....................................................................................................................22
Reference .......................................................................................................................23
Appendices .....................................................................................................................24

Table of Figures

Figure 1 Ecommerce spending in Africa ................................................................................. 5

Figure 2 Internet users in Nigeria ........................................................................................... 6
Figure 3 Business model canvas ............................................................................................ 10
Figure 4 Porters Value chain ................................................................................................. 12
Company Description
Company Name, Ownership, Location & Facilities
Universal Marketplace is an advanced shopping website in Ethiopia, with our head office
situated in Addis Ababa the capital city of Ethiopia. This online shopping website is a site
where customers can browse through the site and have a look at a product and place the
order. The website will aid both Business to Business sales and business to consumer. We are
going to try and make alliances with several vendors ranging from small and medium size
businesses and manufacturer can list their products on Universal Marketplace.. You can buy
everything, Electronics, Hobby & Leisure, Fashion, Furniture & Homeware, Care Products,
DIY, and Grocery on Universal Marketplace. The company ownership will be the founder
team and investor.
Company mission
To offer a whole new experience of shopping platform where anyone can sell his products and to use the
power of internet and technology to connect people, and to be one of the best online marketplace with
most convenient price and shopping experience in Ethiopia. In addition, to also create jobs and skills that
will empower the new generation in Ethiopia to help build their life and drive the country forward.

Company Vision
To be one of the leading Online Market Place in Ethiopia by providing our customers with
highest quality products and services at a competitive and low price.
To be a trusted and reliable Online Marketplace, known throughout Ethiopia.
Company Goal
Short term Goals
a) Provide efficient service with good price
b) Satisfy consumer needs with variety of products.
c) Make sure every transaction is fulfilled successfully from ordering to delivering.
d) More offers and Discounts will be provided for buyers.
 e) Customer satisfaction will be improved more
Long term goals
a) Increase sales by 30 percent in 12 months;
b) Improve profits by 15 percent within two years.
c) Increase the variety and number of products with every passing year
d) Expand the business with each increasing year.
Company philosophy and Value
 Performance excellence. We act like responsible owners, always seeking to meet or
exceed expectations.
 Teamwork. We act as a team, committed to each other, and bound by trust and loyalty.
 Integrity. We treat one another, and all our stakeholders with dignity and respect.
Honesty, ethical behavior, and integrity are fundamental characteristics of our business
conduct
• Innovation & Creativity: Stimulate and encourage new and progressive ideas to solve problems.
• Passion: Committed in the heart and mind
• Flexibility: Commit to tasks that lead to common goals and readiness to rectify direction in order to
meet the needs and objectives of our clients
• Excellence: Integrate professionalism, high standard of work, efficiency and ethics
• Team Work: Engage team members to bring their talents together and work hand-in hand to create
better results at a faster pace to satisfy client needs and increase efficiency
• Diversity: As inclusive as our brands
• Transparency: Communicate openly, honestly and respect other’s competencies and differences.
• Create Trust :Make trust to our customer on our Service we provide at all level
Keys to Success
 1. Clear understanding and identification of our customer requirements.
 2. Translation of our customer order into delivered product
 3. Offer a high-end web based Ecommerce business in a way that they can afford.
 4. Efficient resource allocation to each project.
 5. Documentation of the process and informing our clients about the progress.
 6. Identification of the segments of our company that provides ecommerce related services (website
maintenance, hosting, web redesign, and search engine optimization, marketing and consulting).
 7. Establish strategic partnerships with service providers, consulting companies and ecommerce marketing
globally and regionally.

Key Competitors
The major competitors in the online marketplace industry are HellooMarket, Addis Mercato,
Zmall, Shega, Qefira, Jiji, and AfroTie. More users are encountering problems with shopping
nowadays. With emphases on service excellence Universal will differentiate itself by offering
our customers with the best shopping experience with advanced technology and 100% buyer
money refund and free shipping when the customers don’t like the item.
Industry and Market Analysis
The online ecommerce industry in Nigeria posted a slow growth in terms of value in the year
2018, this is due to the depressed economic conditions and fluctuations in the exchange rate.
Economic uncertainty meant that consumers had tight and limit budget and most of the
consumer focus on buying basic good (McKinsey, 2019). However, The current ecommerce
spending in Nigeria is estimated to be approximately $13 billion and this market is led by
young individuals with medium income at the age of 18-35 , and it is estimated that by 2025
ecommerce revenue will reach $80 billion (McKinsey, 2015).

Figure 1 Ecommerce spending in Africa

The major competitor for Jumia VR would be Konga as they offer similar products and
service in Nigeria, when the company was set up in December it had over 160,000 orders and
valued at nearly $8.0 million for the month alone. However the poor customer service and
doubtful return policies have made trust issues to worsen among the customers. Also the
uncertainty around receiving products that are counterfeit and not able to return it back or get
a refund has made Nigerian customers to buy offline instead. With these problems, Jumia VR
would Lay emphases on customer service excellence we will differentiate ourselves by
offering our customers with the best shopping experience with advanced technology of
measuring real size of item, having a look virtually to psychologically estimate the size and
100% buyer money refund and free shipping when the customers don’t like the item, and to
encourage customers to checkout with pay on delivery as this will help them see the item
before payment.
Market Growth: Jumia VR plans to become more profitable in the future and grow vastly
more than the industry average by becoming a market leader not only in Nigeria but in Africa
because Nigeria has just 10% of the African population, and the rest of the 90% could be our
potential customers. The company will rely on increasing sales volumes in the years to come
and potentially emulating fulfilment costs (storage) and increase use of safe mobile payment
and improvement of delivery service to our customers. We aim to get a 15% market share in
the first 4 years of operation because the number of internet users in Nigeria is expected to
rise to 187.8 million by 2023 and with this we will be able to get more customers and expand
sales to neighboring countries.

Figure 2 Internet users in Nigeria

Segmentation, Targeting & Positioning: The market will be segmented into various
target group, geographical and demographical segmentation will be our main focus.
• Our main target area is Addis Ababa, Adama, Dire Dawa and Harar
• Individuals, wholesaler, retailer and manufacturer.
• Female & male
 • Workers busy to shop online.

Targeting: In this operation the company will target huge population, mass marketing and
also any individual who can connect to the internet via a computer or a phone.

Positioning: The position that Universal aims to attain is the leader in Ethiopia, and in the
coming years to boost sales and become the Ethiopian amazon as the company will offer
different products at a cheaper price.

SWOT analysis

Strengths

 Pay release to Seller from the escrow on delivery service

 Lower operational cost
 100 % money refund policy
 Service sector/ low risk
 A larger selection of products
 Faster and/or cheaper shipping
 More payment options
 Unique products
 Loyalty scheme
Weaknesses

• Lack of trust and fraud concerns from customers

• Lack of connection with vendors and customer
• High capital intensive
• Some key competitors have established themselves and got loyal customers.

Opportunity

 Increasing customer need for product & service combination from time to time in our
country
 Good external environment including: government plan and current global Digital economic environment
 Increasing number of internet user in the country
 There is no outstanding company by this platform in our country
 Ethiopia is at embryo level by ecommerce

Threat

• Most of our customer has no trust on online marketplace

• Illiteracy about digital ecommerce
 • Low internet speed in the large geographical area of the country
• Lack of transport and logistic
• Threat of rising cost of production.
• Increasing rates of cyber crime
Marketing strategy

Product: Universal marketplace will offer a wide variety of electronics,

hobbies and leisure , fashion, groceries, furniture and homeware , construction
material and consumer goods to the needs of the consumers, and it enables a
greater market reach and convenience to the customers.

Price: Universal will look to offer products at a competitive prices and use penetration
pricing strategy to attract customers from old retailers. The platform will have different
verified sellers and vendors that will list their products, and customers can find same products
with different prices and can choose from which seller to buy, with this strategy there will be
pressure on seller to lower their prices. Also a customer has the opportunity to return any
product that has a defect for free shipping and get refunded as the aim of Universal is to offer
good value for money.

Place: Universal is located in the capital city of Addis Ababa, Adama and other branches in
Dire Dawa and Harar. The company will try and expand and have small representatives in all
major states in order to facilitate and make deliveries efficient. We will also make alliances
with different distribution companies so as to facilitate delivery to all locations around the
country.

Promotion: Building a good brand image will be one of our major objective so as to allow us have a
strong presence in the country through communication, word of mouth and advertising. Universal will use
commercials, television, social media platforms and digital ADS to advertise its presence. The company
will also use search engine marketing so as to get the company’s name high enough in search results.

Operational plan
Porter’s Value Chain: below is a business framework tool which was designed by Michael
porter, this tool can be used a business concept and furthermore, explain all activities and
operations that will be achieved so as to get competitive advantage in the market (Porter,
2001)

Figure 4 Porters Value chain

 Management team and company’s structure

Managing
Director

Manager

Sales & Customer service Head of IT & Transportation &

Head of Finance
Marketing Head Department Software Distribution

Employees Employees Employees Employees Employees

Designation of staff Name Experience & skills

Managing Director Mr. Abdulyasir Abdulrahman

Manager Mr. Bilal Babangida 4 years working experience with Agora online
retailer and vast skills in planning & negotiation

Sales & Marketing Head Mrs. Hafsat Abdul 5 years of experience as a marketing manager
with sales, marketing and business strategy skills
and economics

Head of Finance Mr. Muhammad Balarabe 4 years of experience as head of budget and
finance from bank of industry. Has planning &
money management skills

Head of IT & Software Mr. Chukwuemeka Indibe 5 years of experience at cyberdome security
company. Has great IT skills

Transportation & Distr. Mrs. Maryam Abdulrahman 3 years’ experience working as a supply chain
manager.

Customer Service Dept. Mr. Usman Aminu 3 years of experience as a customer representative

Jumia VR will depend on organized division of responsibilities in order to run efficiently.

The main responsibilities and decisions will be divided between the top 2 which is the
managing director and the Manager. The manager will be responsible for assessing the tasks
of all the departments and determine promotions and salaries and setting sales target. While
the top division managers will be giving specific responsibilities, the finance head will be
handling all accounts and deals with the bank and money management, the marketing and
sales head will be in charge of planning and source of information from the market and also
assist the manager in setting the sales target. The head of IT will be in charge of maintenance
of website and any software related issues. While the customer service department are in
charge all customer complaints, after sales refunds and issues. Lastly the transportation and
distribution head will be responsible for delivery of goods to the customers, accepting returns
and making contacts with shipping companies.
Resources

Network

Infrastructure Financial

Jumia VR

Human
Software &
resources &
IT
skills

Financing: the most important element in starting a business requires financial funding as our
business is going to incur multiple costs like registering the business, obtaining business
offices, office equipment’s, buying of delivery vans and machines. The financial resources
will be obtained from a Bank Loan as there are many grants from Nigerian financial
institutions for new entrepreneurs, personal funds, private investors and family funds at a
Total of 56,000,000 Nigerian Naira.

Human Resources (Employees): The success of any business heavily relies on the talent and
contribution of its workforce. Jumia VR company would need to hire experienced
professionals with a track of excellence in administration, marketing and advertising so as to
ensure that the vision and mission of the company is carried out efficiently and effectively.
Strong team members will be recruited using search specialist and through referrals from
individuals trusted.

Software & IT: Jumia VR is an online retailer and hence requires a website to start
operation. This website needs professional developers to work on it, we are working with
cyberDome cyber company to help us provide security for the website and secure payment by
our customers, we also have a contract with antivirus providing firms to maintain our website
so as to operate as efficiently as possible. In addition we also require 360 4k cameras, AR &
VR software on our website and mobile app developers for our online mobile application.

Infrastructure (physical resources): whether a retail operation or a small home business,

every business requires an office work space so as to prove to customers you really exist ().
This office will require telephone lines, internet connection and effective marketing materials.
in addition the company needs to acquire a warehouse and delivery vans.

Network: starting a business can be highly stressful for an entrepreneur, to make sure we are
on track with the business and be motivated, it is important to have a support team that can
give advice and guidance. This team could be from family or friends as well as professional
group or an external mentor.

Financing
Funding
Source of funds for startup Amount (in Nigerian Naira)

(figures in million)

Personal funds 25,000,000

 Bank loans 11,000,000

Family funds 20,000,000

Total Fund available 56,000,000

Cost of project

Infrastructure required Cost (in Nigerian Naira)

Office building Head office Abuja 1,900,000

Office building branch office Lagos 1,000,000
Office equipment’s for both offices ( computers, 3,100,000
printers, internet facility, telephones, furniture’s,
cabinets and Air conditioners)
Generators 1,200,000
4K 360 degree Camera’s for VR&AR visuals 1,980,000
Website development 1,000,000
AR and VR software for website 3,000,000
Delivery machines and vans 5,000,000
Payment to antivirus providing firm (annually) 1,230,000
CyberDome web security company 1,985,000
Business licencing 250,000
Mobile application developers 2,000,000
Fulfilment warehouse building 1,500,000

Total cost 25,154,000

Financial projections
Income statement statement
2019 2020 2021
(naira) (naira) (naira)

Revenues 17,961,000 24,901,000 43,751,000

Total cash Inflow 17,961,000 24,901,000 43,751,000

Expenses
 Cost of sales 8,980,000 8,980,000 11,980,000

Operating Expenses

Advertising expenses 350,000 350,000 350,000

Transportation expenses 100,300 100,300 100,300

Depreciation 95,000 95,000 95,000

Insurance 150,000 150,000 150,000

Licenses 250,000 100,000 100,000

Legal and professional services 80,000 80,000 80,000

Warehouse costs 170,000 170,000 170,000

Salaries 4,500,000 6,500,000 8,500,000

Telephone Bills 30,000 30,000 30,000

Utilities 90,000 90,000 90,000

Miscellaneous 65,000 65,000 65,000

Total Expenses 13,860,300 13,860,300 21,710,300

Net Profit Before Taxes 4,100,700 11,040,700 22,040,700

Tax paid 196,049 492,849 1,542,849

Net Income 2,904,651 7,547,851 20,497,851

Balance sheet

Assets yr 1 ( naira) yr 2 (naira) yr 3 (naira)

Non-current Assets

Office 2,900,000 2,900,000 2,900,000

Furniture 3,100,000 3,100,000 3,100,000

Vans and machinery 4,500,000 4,000,000 3,500,000

current Assets
 cash and cash equivalents 11,850,000 11,850,000 11,850,000

Inventory 16,850,000 16,900,000 16,980,000

Total assets 39,440,000 38,990,000 38,570,000

Short-term Liabilities

Accounts Payable 1,623,758 1,000,000 950,000

Long term liability

Bank Loan 11,000,000 11,000,000 11,000,000

Capital 26,816,242 26,816,242 26,816,242

Total liability 39,440,000 38,990,000 38,570,000

Risk and risk options

As a web based business, we could be facing a number of technological risks. This is due to
the fact that technology changes quickly and the company has to catch up with the changes
which may require different resources (Flanagin et al., 2014). Jumia VR website may be
exposed to security threats and risk from hacking to malware and security breach which
would mean that our customers credit card and information would be breached.
Risk option: - Jumia VR has a partnership with CyberDome web security company which is
a good company that will maintain security against threats of hacking, malware attack and
provide security against data breach and customer information.
- To deal with the credit card fraud issue, the Nigerian financial sector has introduced
the Mastercard secure code which means that you must get a security code sent to your email
or mobile number before a transaction goes through, even after that a Jumia sales staff will
have to contact the customer for security verification before confirming order.
- The company will encourage customers to use the pay at your door service, as this
will enable customers to view the item before payment and hence no need to provide their
credit card information online. This will reduce the customer and seller disputes about
counterfeit products or fake items and encourage those customers without a credit card to
make a purchase anytime.

Key milestone
A key milestone in a project is a target that indicates the components in a business plan and
all the key operations, growth plan and stages that the plan will go through so as to ensure the
business is heading into the right direction. Kotler et al. (2005) defined a milestone as “a set
of plans, aim, objective and what a business or project is targeted to achieve or to which level
it is expected to be at a pre time date.”.

Jumia VR will have numerous milestones on:

• Completion of business plan. This will be an essential tool or a roadmap for the improvement and
performance of the company.
• Business registration
• Head and branch Office set up.
• Website development completed.
• Secure funding from bank Loan
• Complete hiring of the initial company employees.
• Product Launch marketing campaign
• Product sales lunch
• Revenue exceeding 10,000,000 Naira

S/N Name Duration Start

1 0 days 24/06/ 2019
Completion of business plan.
2 14 days 08/07/2019
Business registration
3 21 days 18/07/2019
Head and branch Office set up.
4 21 days 25/07/2019
Website development completed.
5 30 days 30/07/2019
Secure funding from bank Loan
6 30 days 10/08/2019
Complete hiring of the initial company
employees.
7 21 days 20/08/2019
Product Launch marketing campaign
8 7 days 26/08/2019
Product sales lunch
9 By 2020
Revenue exceeding 10,000,000 Naira

Conclusion
Jumia VR is an advanced shopping website in Nigeria, with our head office situated in Abuja
the capital city of Nigeria. The business will start as a partnership business as it involves
different family funds. This online shopping website is a site where customers can browse
through the site and have a look at most of the products virtually with the use of virtual
reality headsets or in Augmented reality with the use of a smartphone. Jumia will look to
expand to neighbouring countries in Africa as Nigeria only consists of 10% of the population
and 90% of the rest could be customers too. Jumia will face major risk and problems along
the way like cyber security breach problems with payment, deliveries and system reliability.
However, the company will make alliances with good tech companies and delivery firms to
tackle the problems and make deliveries efficient.

Finally the company will lay emphases on service excellence as we will differentiate
ourselves by offering our customers with the best shopping experience with advanced
technology and
100% buyer money refund and free shipping when the customers don’t like the item they are
buying.

Reference

Aaker, D. (1995). Strategic Marketing Management, John Wiley, New York, NY

Drucker, P. F. (1985). Innovation & Entrepreneurship. New York, Harper Trade.

Flanagin, A.J., Metzger, M.J., Pure, R., Markov, A. and Hartsell, E., 2014. Mitigating risk in
ecommerce transactions: perceptions of information credibility and the role of user-generated
ratings in product quality and purchase intention. Electronic Commerce Research, 14(1),
pp.123.

Kotler, P. & Keller K. L. (2005), Marketing Management, 12th edition, Pearson Prentice
Hall.

Mckinsey (2015). How e-commerce supports African business growth. [online] Available at:
https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/middle-east-and-africa/how-
ecommercesupports-african-business-growth. [Accessed 03 Aug. 2019].
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at: https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/
africasgrowing-giant-nigerias-new-retail-economy. [Accessed 03 Aug. 2019].

Porter, M. E. (2001). The value chain and competitive advantage. Understanding Business
Processes. Routledge.

Statista (2019). Number of internet users in Nigeria from 2017 to 2023 (in millions). [online]
Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/183849/internet-users-nigeria/. [Accessed 03
Aug. 2019].

Statista (2019). Virtual reality (VR) video gaming sales revenue worldwide from 2015 to 2020
(in billion U.S. dollars) [online] Available at:
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[Accessed 03 Aug. 2019].

Thompson, A. (2003). Major Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation. Perth, Strategic

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Appendices
Income statement
2019 2020 2021
(naira) (naira) (naira)

Revenues 17,961,000 24,901,000 43,751,000

Total cash Inflow 17,961,000 24,901,000 43,751,000

Expenses

Cost of sales 8,980,000 8,980,000 11,980,000

Operating Expenses

Advertising expenses 350,000 350,000 350,000

Transportation expenses 100,300 100,300 100,300

Depreciation 95,000 95,000 95,000

 Insurance 150,000 150,000 150,000

Licenses 250,000 100,000 100,000

Legal and professional services 80,000 80,000 80,000

Warehouse costs 170,000 170,000 170,000

Salaries 4,500,000 6,500,000 8,500,000

Telephone Bills 30,000 30,000 30,000

Utilities 90,000 90,000 90,000

Miscellaneous 65,000 65,000 65,000

Total Expenses 13,860,300 13,860,300 21,710,300

Net Profit Before Taxes 4,100,700 11,040,700 22,040,700

Tax paid 196,049 492,849 1,542,849

Net Income 2,904,651 7,547,851 20,497,851

Balance sheet

Assets yr 1 ( naira) yr 2 (naira) yr 3 (naira)

Non-current Assets

Office 2,900,000 2,900,000 2,900,000

Furniture 3,100,000 3,100,000 3,100,000

Vans and machinery 4,500,000 4,000,000 3,500,000

current Assets

cash and cash equivalents 11,850,000 11,850,000 11,850,000

Inventory 16,850,000 16,900,000 16,980,000

Total assets 39,440,000 38,990,000 38,570,000

Short-term Liabilities
Accounts Payable 1,623,758 1,000,000 950,000

Long term liability

Bank Loan 11,000,000 11,000,000 11,000,000

Capital 26,816,242 26,816,242 26,816,242

Total liability 39,440,000 38,990,000 38,570,000