Nigeria eCommerce Platform, MallforAfrica Shutting Down Operations

Do you still remember MallforAfrica launched in 2011, an ecommerce shopping site that allows you buy goods the likes of Amazon, ebay, Bestbuy etc. and ship to Nigeria; well it appears the company is shutting down operations.

A notice on their site suggest that they are shutting down, following the likes of DealDey and Gloo.

Here is the Site Closure Notice:

Dear Amazing Customers,

At this time MallforAfrica is no longer taking any orders. We appreciate your patronage over the years and truly adore each and every one of you. Orders made prior to our closure have been processed or are being refunded. If you have funds on your MfA account, they will be refunded. Please be patient with us as we finalize refunds during the month of November. Our customer service team is working hard to ensure all refunds are completed fast. Thank you all so much for your support.

We adore you all. 

Sincerely,

MallforAfrica

First off, customers could no longer login to their account using their site and their app has been removed from Google play store and apple stores. I’ve used for some couples of time, but this time, orders could no longer be processed is what I get.

Some customers also complain that they’ve been unable to withdraw their funds and have gotten no response from MallforAfrica.

In Nigeria (@mallforafricanigeria), MallforAfrica stopped responding to people on Instagram on Wednesday, September 29, 2021. Though this shot below shows a customer complaining about losing $122, comments have been disabled for the post.

Founded in 2011 by Nigerian-born brothers, Chris and Tope Folayan, MallforAfrica was initially created to provide a platform for Nigerians to buy goods online, whether foreign or local. Later on, it provided an online platform for African retailers to promote their goods online to a global customer base.

The company was able to scale its operations through partnerships with companies like eBay, which made it possible for customers all around the world to buy African goods on eBay’s Mall for Africa Store; with delivery giant, DHL to launch an e-commerce site, MarketPlaceAfrica.com which provided a platform for select African artisans to sell wares to buyers in any of DHL’s 220 delivery countries.

As at 2018, the MallforAfrica online platform was available to customers in over 17 African countries.

Its closure has affected the fate of DHL Africa eShop, which was a partnership between MallforAfrica and DHL, with MallforAfrica providing the backbone of the platform.

Created in 2019, the DHL Africa eShop was designed to enable customers to shop directly from more than 200 US- and UK-based online retailers, with all shipments delivered by DHL Express, to the shopper’s door. As at September 2019, the DHL Africa eShop service was available in 34 countries.

The DHL Africa eShop shut down the eShop site effective October 30th, 2021.