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BitMARTe Industries Ltd has officially unveiled its e-commerce platform, bitMarte, positioning it as a solution to some of the major challenges facing online shopping in Nigeria and across Africa, particularly delayed delivery, limited trust, and access to quality products.
At the launch event held in Lagos, the Chief Executive Officer of BitMARTe Industries Ltd, Dr. Eke Eke, said the platform was conceived after a careful study of the peculiar challenges within the African e-commerce landscape. He explained that BitMARTe was not designed as just another online marketplace, but as a comprehensive operating system capable of managing logistics, payments, and quality control in a way that reflects local realities.
According to Eke, one of the platform’s core priorities is same-city, same-day delivery, a feature he described as critical to increasing consumer confidence in online shopping. He noted that many Nigerians are often hesitant to shop online when they need items urgently, due to persistent delays associated with e-commerce deliveries.
“What we want to achieve is a situation where if you need something today, you feel confident ordering it online and receiving it the same day,” he said, adding that timely delivery would significantly improve customer trust and adoption.
Eke also disclosed that BitMARTe provides buyers with access to a wide range of merchants and products, with particular emphasis on Made-in-Nigeria goods, which he said are sometimes restricted or poorly represented on other platforms. He explained that expanding product diversity would not only give consumers more choices but also help drive affordability through competition among merchants.
To stimulate early adoption, BitMARTe is rolling out several promotional incentives. These include a ₦1,000 gift card for the first 5,000 users who sign up on the platform, as well as a referral programme that rewards users with ₦1,000 gift cards when referred users register and complete purchases. Eke noted that the referral rewards are unlimited, allowing users to earn repeatedly by driving activity on the platform.
He added that first-time buyers stand to benefit from multiple incentives, including rewards for signing up, referring others, and making purchases, describing the model as one that encourages commerce while directly rewarding users for participation.
On payment security, Eke said BitMARTe’s system is designed to protect buyers by holding funds until customers confirm that their orders meet expectations. According to him, payment to merchants is only released after buyers enter a unique confirmation code, a process aimed at reducing cases of wrong or unsatisfactory deliveries.
He further stated that the platform operates a robust quality assurance system to ensure that products listed by merchants accurately reflect what is delivered to customers. Products found to be inferior or falsely represented, he said, would be removed from the platform.
Addressing logistics challenges, Eke explained that in cases where items are damaged during transit, BitMARTe would recall such products to its hub and provide replacements to affected customers, while also investigating the source of the damage to prevent future occurrences.
He emphasised that customer service on the platform is strongly buyer-focused, with BitMARTe managing interactions between buyers and sellers to ensure a consistent and reliable customer experience.
Eke confirmed that bitMarte went live immediately after the launch, allowing users to begin signing up and shopping the same day. He also revealed plans to support merchants on the platform through access to credit. According to him, BitMARTe intends to extend credit facilities to merchants after six months of activity, using data such as cash flow, trade volume, and transaction behaviour to make informed lending decisions.
He said the initiative is aimed at addressing the difficulties businesses face in accessing affordable financing, while empowering merchants to sustain and scale their operations within Nigeria’s growing digital economy.
