Launched early this year, Carmido aims to offer users a place to buy and sell new or used cars. Even though it has only been live for a short time, the listings on the site have been growing significantly during the last few weeks and it is already drawing the attention of local car dealers.
On Carmido, one can find a variety of vehicles to purchase, including new and used cars, commercial vehicles and motorcycles. One of the most remarkable things about this online marketplace is its user-friendly interface and its intuitivity. Sellers interested in listing their cars on Carmido need to follow some guidelines to ensure the consistency of the website. Besides, the company has a local team working on customer service to improve the user experience.
Carmido is a subsidiary of the German-based company Rocket Internet, a startup incubator that has, over the last few years, launched some of the most successful European startups such as Zalando, Home24 or CityDeal. Its extensive history of success has taken Rocket Internet to place its attention on the Nigerian market potential. This German company has already launched several websites in the country, including Jumia (an online shop launched over a year ago) and Vamido (a real estate marketplace).
Nigeria has long been a big car importer (over 100,000 new and used cars were imported in 2012) and companies like Peugeot have industrial plants in the country. With such an undeniable interest in the car industry and the potential of the online spectrum in Nigeria, odds are Carmido has just hit the jackpot.
However, it will need to contend with other competitors in the space such as Car verticals like Cheki and general classifieds like OLX too.