MOCALITY CLOSES SHOP!

I think I first heard about mocality.com on the radio either early in 2012 or sometime in 2011, I’m not really not sure exactly when. What I do recall is that the advert of mocality that I heard on radio then cast it as a directory of sort for local businesses in every person’s locality. For instance, if memory serves me well, the first advert I heard about Mocality.com was about a lady who needed to buy good Ofada rice for her boss and who was directed by a friend to the website for the nearest place at which she could buy the rice.

That was before they came up with mocality deals. Mocality deals aroused my interest and I signed up to receive their daily deals directly to my mail and I have as a result bought a few products and services and got to meet new people and service providers. This is how the deals (from my corner as a consumer) work, the mocality team get some product sellers and or service providers to offer their products and or services at a reduced price for a particular period of time, may be a week, and consumers like me who are interested in any of the products or services click either to buy the product/service online or go to the office of mocality in Ikeja G.R.A. to pay for it and then collect a coupon which they take to the office or shop to get the product or service already paid for.

I don’t know how profitable this venture was for the mocality crew, but I do believe very strongly that while they were still on, they provided a very valuable service mostly for the Small businesses and enterprises which ordinarily have very little or no at all budget for advertisements. For instance, a consumer who purchased a deal on mocality.com and goes to redeem the coupon at a particular business outlet can thereby establishment a relationship with that outlet that goes way beyond just merely redeeming the coupon of the product/service purchased. The consumer can see other products of interest which he/she would buy quite apart from the deal already purchased.

When I got the text and email messages which informed me of Mocality’s intention to shut down on the 28th February 2013 and which invited me to redeem the coupon of any deal I might have purchased from them on or before 25th February 2013, my first reaction was; there goes yet another casualty of Nigeria’s horrible business environment. I nevertheless put a call through to one of their staff members and asked why they were closing down. The only response she gave me though was that it was management’s decision. In search of further insight into why the company was shutting down, I went online and read their blog, therein I learnt that the company was shutting down not only their Nigeria operations, but the Kenyan as well.

Deal Dey is still in place though to continue to give small businesses the much needed exposure, but I can't help thinking what happens now to all those that earned their living at mocality.