Jumia Explains High Cost of PS4

Jumia, Nigeria’s online ecommerce platform, has said it didn’t intentionally set a high price for PlayStation 4 it debuted in Africa.

According to Afam Anyika, head of Offline Marketing at Jumia Nigeria, the misconception was based on price comparison with the cost of pre-orders made in Europe and on Amazon.

In an exclusive chat he said: “It is not like we actually set a high cost; the misconceptions were based on the pre-order price in Europe. Prices they were quoting were for people who were yet to get the game by December and here we are offering you the game.

“If you checked with other markets who were offering the game to the customer at that particular time we launched, it was at the same price.

“They were basing their argument on the pre-order price on Amazon. It was a little bit misconstrued but through our customer service and communication on social media, we tried to let people see where we were coming from.”

He added that the goal of the company is to satisfy its customers in Nigeria.

“We brought PS4 to Nigeria and Africa first and our price is competitive with those in European countries for those who did not preorder the consoles,” Anyika said.

On the gaming community in Nigeria, the company said the recently held gaming contest was a eye-opener to the community that had been taken for granted in Nigeria.

“But through the competition, we got to really understand the gaming community. It begins to make sense when you realize that during the economic meltdown, the gaming industry was the only industry making profits,” he said.

“It opened our eyes to the fact that it has also extended to Nigeria and it is a community that has come to stay. It opened new doors of opportunities and partnerships for Jumia,.”