Amazon, which has been said to be the world's largest online retailer , with custom presence in United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Austria, Japan, and China saw consumers spend more than USD 1 billion via mobile devices in the period 2009 - 2010. Africa is missing from the list of regions where Amazon has a presence and this had led to many ventures seeking to fill this glaring gap. Internet penetration in Africa has been wanting but recent investments in undersea fibre cables to boost broadband access has served to expose more consumers to the power of the internet. Access to the internet via mobile devices has also grown , with mobile access more often than not being the first touch point. While there are many ecommerce services, few such as Kalahari from the well heeled Naspers Group would feature on common lists of well known initiatives. Why are these services not better ingrained into our daily fabric? Why haven't they taken off, yet they offer many benefits? Two thoughts on those questions; first I am of the opinion that we are yet to map the offline retail experience to digital platforms in a way that will shows consumers value and second, which I believe poses the largest challenge is the lack of a proper address system in East Africa. More here - bit.ly/q8JSXV