Agbakoba Seeks Stronger Regulatory Framework For e-commerce

A former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) President Dr Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) has called for a stronger regulatory framework for online shopping platforms.

He noted that the only law that regulates online shopping is the Cybercrime Act, which he believes is not enough to boost the sector.

He spoke at the Lagos launch of purplestonemall.com, an online shopping platform led by his wife Lilian, also a lawyer.

Agbakoba said: “It is one area that I hope the government will address as the sector grows.

“The government needs to put a raft of laws that will regulate the e-commerce sector.”
Mrs Agbakoba noted that retail e-commerce sales worldwide amounted to $4.28 trillion and e-retail revenues are projected to grow $5.4 trillion in 2022.

“Purplestonemall.com online shopping platform, otherwise known as Purplestone Mall, or simply Purplestone, is a new entrant in this fast-growing global market.

“Like Ali Baba, which sprung from a small humble beginning in China, into the current global reckoning, Purplestone management is determined to satisfy the needs of teeming consumers in the country, whilst growing market share to a preeminent position in the global e-commerce market,” she said.

According to Mrs Agbokoba, the platform’s pages and attributes are well-designed for multiple screen sizes and devices.

“Purplestone is a multivendor system with the capacity to hold thousands of vendors and hundreds of thousands of products. “Our unique advantage is that we have much more capacity than others to take on board various items to suit consumer needs. Our digital capacity is second to none.

“The homepage is designed to be very dynamic, allowing for flexible display of items, categories, sections and banners.

“Purplestonemall.com is a unique marketplace because we have the capacity to host all the inventories in a store from 20 to over 300 products or items.

“Purplestone covers various categories of stores and businesses, including children’s fashion, baby products, men and women’s fashion wear, sportswear and products, electronics, home and kitchen appliances, phones and tablets, LED and LCD televisions, home furniture and furnishings, lifestyle health products, property letting and sales and many other categories.”
Mrs Agbakoba said the inspiration for an online shopping platform came to her last year during the three-month lockdown.

“I enrolled in an online course relating to emerging markets in third world economies offered by Harvard University. There was a course subject on the founder of Alibaba.com Jack Ma.

“I was influenced by the generosity of Jack Ma who extended his online platform free of charge to small business owners in a small Chinese town.

“Within a period of one year, the business owners recorded huge revenue turnover of over one million Yuan each.

“Purplestonemall.com online market is an engine of economic growth offering the opportunity to small and medium entrepreneurs in Nigeria to expand their businesses, locally and abroad.

“Purplestonemall.com offers direct merchant sales to customers, through an instant messaging platform to facilitate communication between sellers and buyers, sellers to sellers and a direct payment system and delivery options.

“We are very confident that our entry into the digital market space will support the 67 per cent ambitious and industrious youth entrepreneurs in Nigeria to expand their geographical reach, grow their customer base and achieve high sales turnover, improved revenue and profits, thereby achieving successful business owners and happy customers.”