CASE STUDY
#1 App in Nigeria. 90 Days. One Consultant.
COMPANY
Temu / PDD Holdings
ROLE
GTM Consultant
TENURE
Apr 2024 – Dec 2024
MARKET
Nigeria
INDUSTRY
E-Commerce / Consumer App
“Brought in to de-risk the Nigerian market for one of the world’s fastest-growing e-commerce platforms – and architect the strategy that made them category leader before the year was out.”
#1
Most downloaded app in Nigeria within 90 days of launch
$3M+
Gross merchandise value in the first quarter
75+
Customer segments with hyper-personalized nurture sequences
60%
Faster time-to-market-leadership vs competitor benchmarks
THE BRIEF
Enter Nigeria. Win it. Don’t leave room for competition.
Temu was expanding rapidly across global markets and needed to enter Nigeria – one of Africa’s largest and most complex consumer markets – at speed, without the costly trial-and-error that had slowed down competition. The mandate was clear: market leadership, fast.
As GTM Consultant, I was responsible for everything upstream of execution – strategy execution, market localization, campaign system design, and the infrastructure that would keep the engine running after I left.
Nigeria is not a market you can copy-paste a Western playbook into. It required locally-informed strategy, cultural fluency, and a growth engine purpose-built for the realities of Nigerian consumer behaviour, infrastructure, and digital landscape.
THE CHALLENGE
Entering a highly competitive e-commerce market with strong incumbents, low consumer trust for new platforms, and infrastructure constraints – and achieving category leadership within a defined timeline.
CHANNELS ACTIVATED
Programmatic ads across 12 channels · Influencer campaigns · PR · Affiliate marketing · Gamification · Email nurture · Organic content
CUSTOMER SEGMENTS ADDRESSED
75+ distinct segments · 20+ touchpoints per segment across the full lifecycle journey
ENGAGEMENT SCOPE
GTM strategy architecture · execution supervision · sustainability playbook & full handover documentation
How We Got to #1 in 90 Days
DAYS 1 – 30
Foundation & Infrastructure
Deep market research and ICP mapping to define Nigeria’s consumer segments. Built the full campaign infrastructure: programmatic ad setup across 12 channels, influencer identification and briefing, affiliate program design, gamification logic, and localised messaging frameworks grounded in Nigerian consumer psychology and digital behaviour patterns.
Output:
Full campaign system live · 12-channel programmatic stack · 75+ segment messaging architecture complete
DAYS 31 – 60
Activation & Amplification
Simultaneous activation across all channels – PR rounds seeding the brand narrative, influencer campaigns driving social proof at scale, paid acquisition funnels running with hyper-personalized creative, and gamification sequences engaging new users from first install. Email nurture sequences deployed across all 75+ segments, each with 20+ touchpoints. Rapid iteration on creative while infrastructure ran automated.
Output:
App downloads surging · $3M+ GMV generation underway · Top app rankings climbing nationally
DAYS 61 – 90
Dominance & Handover
Temu hits #1 most downloaded app in Nigeria. Optimization of best-performing channels, doubling down on what’s working, and beginning the sustainability documentation process. Comprehensive playbook written covering all campaign systems, audience data, creative frameworks, and growth levers – ensuring zero momentum loss post-engagement.
Output:
#1 app in Nigeria confirmed · Full sustainability playbook delivered · Seamless handover completed
The Growth Engine - Five Layers
PAID ACQUISITION
01
Programmatic Ads Across 12 Channels
Designed and supervised the setup of a full programmatic advertising stack running simultaneously across 12 channels – each configured with Nigeria-specific audience parameters, creative specs and bidding logic. The system was built to be self-running, requiring only creative swaps to maintain freshness while the underlying targeting and automation held constant.
12 channels activated · Automated creative rotation · 20%+ landing page CVR · Nigeria-specific audience configuration
ENGAGEMENT & RETENTION
02
Gamification Sequences Built for Nigerian Consumer Behaviour
Designed gamification mechanics tailored to the psychology and habits of Nigerian digital consumers – reward loops, referral incentives, milestone triggers, and streak-based engagement models. These weren’t generic templates; they were built from the ground up around what actually motivates and retains this specific market, driving both first-purchase conversion and repeat behaviour.
Purpose-built for Nigerian consumer psychology · Referral + milestone mechanics
LIFECYCLE MARKETING
03
75+ Segments. 20+ Touchpoints Each. Fully Automated.
Built the most granular lifecycle marketing architecture of the engagement. Mapped 75+ distinct customer segments – by acquisition source, demographic, purchase behaviour, product category affinity, and engagement level – and designed hyper-personalized email nurture sequences for each. Every segment received over 20 carefully sequenced touchpoints, with messaging frameworks that evolved based on where each user was in their journey.
The result was a fully automated nurture sequence that worked around the clock – moving users from curiosity to first purchase to loyal repeat buyer – without requiring ongoing manual input. This system was a core driver of both the Q1 GMV number and long-term retention.
75+ segments · 20+ touchpoints per segment · Fully automated · Personalized by behaviour and lifecycle stage
INFLUENCE & SOCIAL PROOF
04
PR Rounds & Influencer Campaigns
Orchestrated a multi-wave PR and influencer strategy designed to build brand credibility and social proof at scale in a market where trust in new platforms is hard-won. Influencer partnerships were selected for authentic Nigerian audience fit – not just follower counts – and briefed with messaging frameworks that aligned with the overall brand positioning and campaign narrative.
Multi-wave PR activation · Influencer campaigns localized for Nigerian audiences
PERFORMANCE & REVENUE
05
Localized Acquisition Funnels & Affiliate Infrastructure
Designed localized acquisition funnels built around the specific friction points of the Nigerian e-commerce buyer journey – payment methods, trust signals, delivery expectations, mobile-first behaviour. Built alongside a structured affiliate marketing program that extended organic reach while maintaining unit economics for sustainable, scalable growth.
$3M+ GMV in Q1 · Affiliate program driving exponential organic reach · Unit economics maintained
PRECISION AT SCALE
75 Segments. Not one generic “Nigerian consumer”
One of the most differentiated aspects of this engagement was the lifecycle marketing architecture. Most market entry playbooks treat an entire country as a single audience – this one didn’t.
We mapped 75+ distinct customer segments and built a unique messaging sequence for each – over 20 touchpoints per segment – covering the full journey from first touch to brand loyalty. Each sequence was automated, so the system ran independently while creative and channels evolved around it.
This level of personalization at this scale is what separated the conversion rates from industry averages.
AVERAGE ACROSS CAMPAIGNS
ACQUISITION
85%
BEHAVIOUR
70%
LIFECYCLE
90%
CATEGORY
60%
ENGAGEMENT
75%
1,500+
Total touchpoints designed across all segments and sequences
THE EXIT – DONE RIGHT
Built to outlast the consultant.
A great consulting engagement doesn’t end when the consultant leaves – it ends when everything that was built continues running without them. That was the philosophy behind the strategic handover.
The full engagement concluded with a comprehensive sustainability playbook and marketing operations documentation – not a summary deck, but a working operational guide that any incoming team could pick up and continue executing from day one.
The goal: zero momentum loss. Every system documented. Every framework transferable.
Sustainability Playbook
End-to-end documentation of all GTM systems, campaign logic, channel configurations, and growth levers – written to be operational not theoretical.
Marketing Operations Documentation
Full documentation of the campaign automation systems, segment architecture, email sequences, programmatic setups, and creative rotation frameworks.
Audience & Segment Data
Complete segment definitions, messaging frameworks, and performance data by segment – enabling any future team to personalize with the same precision.
Creative & Channel Frameworks
Templates, briefs, and guidelines for every active channel – built so creative teams only need to update assets, not rebuild the system each cycle.
Skills Demonstrated
GTM STRATEGY ARCHITECTURE
MARKET ENTRY CONSULTING
NIGERIA MARKET EXPERTISE
CONSUMER APP GROWTH
PROGRAMMATIC ADVERTISING (12 CHANNELS)
INFLUENCER MARKETING
PR STRATEGY
AFFILIATE PROGRAM DESIGN
GAMIFICATION STRATEGY
LIFECYCLE MARKETING
ADVANCED AUDIENCE SEGMENTATION
HYPER-PERSONALIZED MESSAGING
EMAIL NURTURE DESIGN (75+ SEGMENTS)
CAMPAIGN AUTOMATION
LOCALIZATION STRATEGY
UNIT ECONOMICS MANAGEMENT
REVENUE GENERATION (GMV)
EXECUTION SUPERVISION
KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER & HANDOVER
B2C GROWTH MARKETING
ALL METRICS AND OUTCOMES REFLECT WORK PERFORMED IN MY CONSULTING CAPACITY FOR TEMU / PDD HOLDINGS (NIGERIA MARKET ENTRY, 2024).
PERFORMANCE FIGURES REFLECT VERIFIED RESULTS DURING THE ENGAGEMENT PERIOD (APRIL – DECEMBER 2024).
CONFIDENTIAL CLIENT AND OPERATIONAL DETAILS HAVE BEEN INTENTIONALLY OMITTED TO PROTECT CLIENT PRIVACY.