Just a few days ago, after Naspers’ announcement that its Career24 is shutting down operations in Nigeria effective 1 March 2019, Ringier’s DealDey has also announced the closure of its e-commerce website.
DealDey was established in 2011 by Konga founder Sim Shagaya. In 2016, it was acquired by Ringier Africa Deals Group (RADG), a newly-founded joint venture between Swiss Ringier Africa AG and South African Silvertree Internet Holdings (Pty) Ltd.
Back in 2016 when the deal was announced, Ringier’s Leonard Stiegeler told Techcrunch that the acquisition is part of an expanding Africa strategy “to invest fully in four verticals within Africa: classifieds, content, digital marketing, and e-commerce.”
He added: “The country is an important entry market for e-commerce and there are significant players. We really believe the deals model that relies more on local merchants and offers both goods and services can differentiate itself from the Amazon models that Jumia and Konga are running.”
