An entrepreneur, Mrs Lola Masha, has said an integrated identity system is necessary to enhance the efficiency of e-commerce platforms in Nigeria.

 Masha, who is the Country Manager, OLX, an e-commerce platform, said this when she paid a courtesy visit to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Lagos.

 She said the biggest challenge in e-commerce in the country was the difficulty in verifying identities of users and promptly investigating scam-related cases.

 ``When we first rolled out in 2012, we assumed that what would work in Argentina, Brazil, India, where we currently have operations, should also work in Nigeria.

 ``But we learnt very quickly that Nigeria is a very unique market and we can’t simply expect the same model to work in Nigeria as well.

 ``The major challenge is the fact that in Nigeria, currently, we don’t have a good identity system.

 ``If you were in a few other countries you either have a national ID(Identity) number, social security numbers, or some sort of information that ties each person online and offline.

 ``And frankly, that has made our work quite difficult.

 ``We need to then find other ways to identify our users to know if we should keep you out or if we should allow you transact on the platform.

 ``So, that has been one challenge for us''.

 According to her, online fraudsters are another challenge to operators of e-commerce, saying that certain measures have been implemented to ensure safety of buyers and sellers.

 ``We now use the OLX marketing tool to educate users on how the classified channel works and the best techniques to deploy.

 ``Every single ad (advertisement) that goes live on the platform is checked and verified on a 24-hour/7-days-a-week basis by a team of full time staff to ensure it meets our requirement.

 ``We have also partnered with a private security outfit to ensure offenders are fished out if for whatever reason someone slips through.’’

 She, therefore, urged the public to report suspicious advert for prompt investigation and invalidation.

 ``We have a feature on the platform where users can report such adverts to OLX,’’ Masha said.

  OLX is an e-commerce platform that facilitates the sale and purchase of various items