Disruptive Innovation in Marketing Channels: How Fintech and Mobile Commerce Are Reshaping Retail Distribution in Nigeria

This study examines how fintech platforms and mobile commerce are functioning as disruptive innovations in Nigerian retail distribution channels, developing an original theoretical framework for understanding channel disruption dynamics in African emerging market contexts. Traditional Nigerian retail distribution, characterised by multi-tier wholesaler-retailer pyramids and fragmented informal trade networks, is being disrupted by mobile commerce platforms, digital-first distributors, and fintech-enabled inventory financing models. Existing channel disruption frameworks, derived primarily from developed market FMCG and e-commerce literature, do not adequately account for the informal sector interdependencies, cash-dominant transaction norms, and infrastructure constraints that shape Nigerian channel evolution. Drawing on disruptive innovation theory, marketing channel theory, and the institutional theory of emerging markets, the study constructs a contextualised Nigerian channel disruption model. A longitudinal multi-actor design spanning 30 months collects data from traditional retailers, mobile commerce operators, FMCG distributors, and fintech providers across South West and South East Nigeria through 65 interviews, transaction data analysis, and field observation. Grounded theory and longitudinal qualitative case analysis are employed for theory refinement. The study contributes an original contextualised theory of retail channel disruption in emerging markets that extends Christensen's disruption framework to informal-to-digital channel transitions in Nigeria. Keywords: disruptive innovation, marketing channels, fintech, mobile commerce, Nigeria