Supplya: Digitizing the Supply Chain for Retailers
Africa’s fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) supply chain is broken due to numerous factors. High logistics costs, market fragmentation, and inefficiencies are often highlighted as the major culprits. Informal retailers, unable to purchase products in high quantities, rely on sub-distributors, wholesalers, and even sub-wholesalers, increasing the supply chain length and cost. This system also hinders manufacturers’ control over recommended retail prices (RRP) due to independent middlemen.
The emergence of B2B e-commerce startups like Omnibiz, TradeDepot, and Alerzo has addressed some challenges. They reduce retailers’ market runs and lower supply chain costs, even offering single-digit credit for increased stock purchases. However, a critical question remains: how can retailers with razor-thin margins repay interest on this credit? This burden might ultimately fall on consumers, leading to higher prices, leaving the core problem unresolved.
Supplya, a digital B2B marketplace, aims to solve these bottlenecks by iterating on existing models and leveraging partnerships. By collaborating with Evea Africa, a smart credit card startup for businesses, Supplya offers retailers interest-free stock purchases for 30 days. Additionally, the platform connects retailers with manufacturers, enabling purchases directly from distributors or company van sales representatives (VSRs) for last-mile delivery, eliminating logistics costs for free retailer deliveries. This is feasible because many manufacturers already utilize VSRs or offer logistics rebates to distributors.
Furthermore, Supplya empowers retailers by providing them with free digital storefronts. This is significant considering only 9% of Nigerian SMEs currently leverage digital sales tools. This number is expected to grow, making Supplya’s platform well-positioned.
Within its first three years of operation, Supplya has ambitious goals: impacting 100,000 retailers by Q4 2025. By offering interest-free credit, they aim to empower retailers to stock more, save money, and sell more through their innovative, all-in-one solution.
Supplya has won an award of the ‘Most Adaptable Business Model’ by Adanian Labs – a smart technology venture studio. The startup also recently won Pitch Perfect; a pitching competition organized by Termii at its just concluded Elevate Conference.
