..............

I'm a test dummy of ecommerce business
in Nigeria, sharing what works (and what doesn't) so you
know exactly how to build your ecommerce business better.

I started an experiment on May 29, 2014 that later turns to business.

When I start, I was having fun and never take it serious. I have a mindset that it will soon fail and I will learn my expensive lesson.

I never knew anything about wristwatches but I choose the niche market. Like I said earlier, I was just having fun.

1 year after, am still here having fun and making extra (you know now) with minimum effort.

This thread was created to share my experience and the journey so far. I might occasionally share plans for the future ( and I might not) but be rest assured that I will share what works for me, what frustrate me and how I cope as sideprenuer.

I will also try to answer your questions but please be patients if I don't answer immediately but I will eventually answer.

Cash On Delivery.

This is the most prominent system of payment in Nigeria eCommerce ecosystem. Because of trust issues, the buyer isn't ready to pay ahead for an order. He/She is more conformable paying cash on delivery when his/her order arrived.

You can't really blame the buyer, because this is Nigeria where corruption rules. The system is corrupt and nobody want to loss his/her hard earned money to fraudster online.

Nigerians are innovative and very cautious. We like new things but don't want to loss money. We are all raised and trained to believe that Cash is king. We use cash for everything.

Despite all the shortcoming of using cash daily, we just couldn't find a good alternative because we don't trust our system.

Why do Buyers/Customers want or prefer Cash On Delivery.

1. They have trust issue: Yes, they are not sure about your genuineness. Will you disappear after payment. Will you deliver my order after payment. Will you deliver quality product after payment. What happens if the quality you delivered is below the standard I (Buyer) expected. How quickly will I get a refund.

2. Cash is King: Cash rules in this kingdom called Nigeria. The buyer was trained with a Cash and Carry mentality. Go to a shop with your cash, carry the item you want then pay cash.

3. Am not ready to risk my money. I might be willing to waste my megabytes (mb) surfing your website but am not ready to risk my money on you stranger.

4. Refunds & Returns - Experience they say is the best teacher. When banks introduced a new way of banking with better convenience people were pleased with the new development. Now I don't need to visit a bank to collect cash. All I need do is visit any of there new machine, insert a card tied to my bank account, punch in some numbers and viola the machine dispense cash. Cool innovation. But something went terribly wrong, customers start losing money fast and banks were not refunding the lost money. To make matters worse, they start blaming the customers for negligence thereby transferring the loss liability back to the cardholder. At that moment, the confidence in the new system vanished. Millions were losted and hard earned money gone the drain.

This experience left a sour and great displeasure in customers thereby making it hard to transact business with any other payment system aside cash.

Impact of Cash on Delivery in the ecosystem.

If you have an online store, you already know that if you don't offer Cash On Delivery your conversion (Sales) will be low. If you're a new comer, here are the lessons you need to learn:

1. Cash on Delivery increase sales.
2. Cash on Delivery leads to high rate of returns.
3. You can and will loss money offering cash on delivery.
4. A high percentage of buyers asking for cash on delivery are not ready to buy.
5. Do not be surprised when the buyer claimed he/she doesn't have money at the point of delivery. The delivery cost is a waste and you have to borne it.
6. Cash on delivery increase your cost of doing business because courier charge extra for that service.
7. Make sure you have some insurance and minimum threshold if you offer cash on delivery.

That's the end for today. If am in good spirit tomorrow, I might share more about FREE SHIPPING.

Following...

LaRoyalHighness:
Following...

@LaRoyalHighness, Welcome on board. Hope you learn one or two vital things that will help build or run a successful online store in Nigeria.

Subscribing.... Thank God I came across this thread.

INNOVATE OR DIE.

I was born and grew up in a small town within a big city.

We have the largest landscape in the sub Sahara Africa. Believe me, Ibadan was blessed.

A single governor had not rule Oyo state twice until Ajumobi won his reelection in the last gubernatorial elections. No wonder, all is Thank You message and bill board had #Koseleri (It has never happen before).

No elected governor have ever grew up outside Ibadan. If you have to occupy the seat of power in Agodi, you must be born, live or grew up in Ibadan.

Am not here to really talk about the government or politics of my state but about 2 giants (organisations or corporations) who has the largest market share in Ibadan when I was growing up.

I grew up in the era when TV stations do not start broadcasting until 4pm. If you dare switch on your TV set before 4pm, be ready to stare at rainbow with alien gibberish noise until 4pm when the national anthem start. After the anthem, a presenter shows up on your screen to read the station programme for the day.

NTA & because rules the TV waves. They control all the TV audience. You don't have a choice, if you must watch a TV programme, you either tune to because or you switch to NTA. The two corporations are mafias, they have all the control, viewers have no input. You just have to take what they give you or you switched off your TV and silently go to bed.

Then came a private TV station called Galaxy TV. Galaxy battle this two giants but failed because of its short reach.

Galaxy however won some battles but lost the War. They eventually became obsolete when they start dictating like the Big Cabals (because & NTA).

Now in Ibadan, those local stations (Galaxy, because & NTA) lost the war and have a long way to catch up with their new competitor, who now rules.

What Went Wrong? How does a corporation that had 95% market share lost its powers so fast.

It's very simple, in business you either innovate or die. Monopoly will not last forever. People will eventually demand for change. They will be ready and willing to pay the price to receive the value that the change will bring.

The moment you lost touch with your target market, your business is dead. You open the door for competition instead of making the barrier of entry stiff.

Fetches my jotter and Pen.... Ride on Sir.

MilesMolesey:
Fetches my jotter and Pen.... Ride on Sir.

@MilesMolesey - Thank you for joining the conversation. Hope you learn one or two good things that will help you build or run your online store successful.

..........

Today's article will drop soon.

Please bear with me. I wanna go to Old Trafford now to show my support for Manchester United.

Manchester is Red.

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Free Shipping loading ........... 90% completed.

FREE SHIPPING

I love to pay for shipping! Said no one ever.

Shipping is one of the running cost of having an online store which buyers do not want to borne.

Naira is losing value. It is no longer money but currency and shipping costs are increasing. If you choose to charge for shipping, even a nominal fixed amount, like 500 naira, you risk a buyer abandoning his/her cart for free shipping offer from another store.

Offering free shipping on your online store could lead to the risk of losing money on a sale but the landscape is getting increasingly competitive. The big boys in the industry are offering buyer free shipping so why should you charge buyer for shipping an item/order.

The honest truth is that Free Shipping is a key strategic decision that can affect your online store sales and overall bottom line. If you're a new comer here are few things to consider before offering free shipping to your customers:

1. Cost of Shipping - If the cost of shipping an order is high you better seek alternative means of shipping your orders.

2. Speed and Fast Delivery - Buyers want their orders delivered asap. If free shipping will lead to delays, its better to offer express shipping for a fee. If the buyer really want it bad and fast he/she will pay for express shipping.

3. Pay On Delivery - If you don't want to declare bankruptcy soon don't offer free shipping with cash on delivery. If you do, make sure you have enough capital to waste on shipping and returns.

4. Distance - if you must offer free shipping with cash on delivery, make sure you limit the distance to cut your loss. If your store is located in Lagos, you can offer free shipping plus cash on delivery within Lagos and ask buyers outside Lagos to pay ahead if they want to enjoy free shipping. This method help you cut your loss.


The Right Shipping Strategy:

1. Free shipping with no restrictions - This method is guaranteed to boost your online sales and increase conversion rates. But be warn that it will likely reduce your profit margin.

2. Free Shipping with Conditions - This strategy allows buyers to reap the benefits of free shipping while encouraging them to buy more or pay ahead for order on your online store. If they buy more, they save on shipping. This is great for your online store because it increase a customer's average order value while enhaning your bottom line.

3. Flat Shipping Rate - This is a good alternative to free shipping. Offering your customers a flat rate encouraged them to spend more without worrying about shipping costs increasing with their order size.

4. Customer Pay - You have to be very careful and cautious if you want to use this strategy. It simply implies that you incorporate shipping fee into product price. The implications of this strategy is that your product will be pricey and too expensive thereby discouraging customers from buying.

Conclusion
Most customers look for free shipping before adding product to cart. Experience also show that for whatever reasons, a free shipping that saves a customer 500 naira is more attractive and appealing to many than a discount that cut the purchase price by 1,500 naira.

.........

What should I write about today?

Suggestions are welcome until 1pm.

Please make sure your suggestion is related to the subject matter.

If you have questions too, kindly ask? If na more clarification una need do ask.

While I am still thinking about what to write about today?

Konga and jumia r the boss in terms Of online store in nigeria but they still have physical store just to gv consumers assurance Y?.that aside I intend to own a E-store around a campus pls advice on cost implication and strategy that work for students.thanks

Ademat7:
Konga and jumia r the boss in terms Of online store in nigeria but they still have physical store just to gv consumers assurance Y?.that aside I intend to own a E-store around a campus pls advice on cost implication and strategy that work for students.thanks

Jumia & Konga do not have physical store. What Konga have is called drop-off centre for Konga Express Delivery (K-Express).

K-Express is a courier company
owned by Konga.com to handle delivery with other courier partners like DHL, UPS, CourierPlus and the others.


If you are just starting, there are several platform you can use to build your online store. There is OpenCart, WooCommerce, Volusion and BigCommerce.

The cost implication depends on your requirements.

Basically the cost implications are:

1. Domain Name Registration
2. WebHost
3. Theme

Those are the 3 major cost you will incur plus cost of web designer.

Strategies:

1. Start a Facebook page
2. Print and distribute fliers
3. Advertise your store on your social media account.
4. Advertise it on your BBM and WhatsApp
5. Send broadcast. Ask friends to tell a friend about your store.

sded

Someone asked that I should share my marketplace experience. I will put my thoughts together and share my Marketplace experience.

Be expecting the next article soon.

MARKETPLACE - Why only selling on Konga, Jumia, Kaymu, DealDey and SMEMarketHub is like gambling.


Please stay tuned.

Marketplace - Why only selling on Konga, Jumia, Kaymu, DealDey and SMEMarketHub is like Gambling.



Why should you start your own store from scratch when there are marketplaces out there like Konga, Jumia and SMEMarketHub that can offer you instant sales.

If you choose to sell a popular item/product on Konga for example, chances are that you will be able to generate massive revenue. And it's also true that you can make pretty decent money on platforms like Jumia, Kaymu, DealDey, SMEMarketHub, Facebook and Nairaland as well.

Why the heck would you ever want to own your online store when you can easily sell your items/products on this platform? Why bother trying to establish your own customer base when you can leverage someone else's and make a profit with little or no effort?

If you're a new comer or already selling on these platforms (marketplace), the answer isn't always obvious and Yes, I have a store on Konga and Jumia. Its very tempting to be comfortable on this platform. It is very easy to go straight for where the money is and make some short term profits.

It was not an easy decision to transition away from this platform. They have created a brand. They have millions of buyer already. But the bitter truth is, when you sell on Konga, Jumia and SMEMarketHub, you don't own your own store. They reserve the right to manage your shop listings however they want. They can ban you anytime, they can delist your store without notice and they held your sale proceeds (funds) in escrow for days.

That's not to say that you shouldn't sell on these platforms but in the long run, you should not put all of your eggs in the same basket in someone else's hand.

Let me highlight my experience selling on different marketplace:

1. Kaymu - This is the first marketplace I ever used in my life. I just bought some products on Aliexpress and was looking for a platform to sell. I register on Kaymu and listed my products. I received my first order after 2 month of listing. The first sale was a wonderful experience. That was the first time I ever earn a passive income and have the believe that this might work. The first sales was from a customer who reside in Ojodu. I called the customer to confirm he actually need the product before I arrange for delivery.

The first sale went well. I deliver the product, collect my money and believe me, I was feeling on top of the world.

I went ahead to make couple of sales on the platform but I was not happy with the turnaround time of each order. I eventually abandoned the platform when I discovered a new jewel and a sale machine.

2. Konga - I was so happy to discover konga.com and quickly sign up as a merchant on the platform. This brought some relief because sales start rolling in the following week after listing my products. It was so unbelievable. I was out of stock within 3 weeks.

Sales was good on konga but I wasn't getting my funds immediately like Kaymu. Then, Konga only payout twice a month (15 & 30). The payout system was a bad news. As a small scale seller, the konga payment system was not favourable. I have to wait for weeks or months after selling before I get paid. I was out of stock but couldn't source for new products because my money is held in escrow at Konga.

I love the volume of sales but hate the delay payments. Therefore, I start looking for new solutions. I start looking for a platform that will give me what konga is offering in term of sales and quick pay out system.

I couldn't find any platform that offers what konga was giving me so I challenged myself to create one instead of looking.

Note - Konga have made several changes on their platform. Now you can self-fulfil. You can now get orders on konga, deliver to customer yourself, pocket your money and later send konga commission for selling.

3. Jumia - I joined Jumia to expand our customer base and increase my store's sales. Although my experience on Jumia was not very good because every single product I sold on Jumia were returned with no reason. All I get was delivery failed. My account manager was not helping matters too.

Maybe I am a bit unlucky with Jumia or I just don't understand the platform because I just couldn't understand why all orders shipped were all returned. Everything I get is "Delivery Failed" on the platform.

Why did the delivery failed? I don't know. How can I solve the problem? I don't know.

I try to reach out to my Jumia store manager but no good answer is forthcoming. I will keep working to see how to make the platform work for me like konga but as at this moment, Jumia isn't working for me.

Jumia is a wonderful platform sha.

Conclusion

It is a good idea to start selling your products using other people's platform. This give you the opportunity to test the market and build your brand but remember you do not truly own your own business using marketplace. Without notice, you could have your account banned by contravening just a single rule on the platform.

When you own your own business, you can not get banned. When you own your own online store, you don't have to fight for and beg to have your store reinstated.

When you own your own online store, you get to decide when and how you sell your own goods without paying commission for sales.

Creating your own customer base sounds like the harder path to take and it often is. But it is the best way to ensure the long term viability of your business and online store.

And who says you can't own your own online store and sell on all these other platform? Because you can.......Konga, Jumia, DealDey, Kaymu and SMEMarketHub are just marketplaces and you should diversify.


#FoundOnKonga
Konga.com/buymart

#BestPriceOnJumia
/buymart

Nice job

techmart:
Nice job

Thank you and Welcome on board.

iMerchant:


Thank you and Welcome on board.

Hello iMerchant,
Please I wouldn't mind if I can get your contact, I'd like to discuss with you.

techmart:



Hello iMerchant,
Please I wouldn't mind if I can get your contact, I'd like to discuss with you.

You can send me a mail.

iMerchant:


Thank you and Welcome on board.

Hi iMerchant

I am new here and i really like your write ups

I am into fashion accessories and already buiilding my website.

The designer advised that i pay for online store.

My worry is the issue of cash on delivery which is possible within lagos only for me.

How about outside lagos? What can i do in such situation? Do you think i shluld start with lagos first since i can always send my assistant to go and deliver?

I dnt like the idea of jumia or konga tying down my cash when i am supposed to be investing it?

How can i also get crowd to my online store.

Thank you

skentelelady:


Hi iMerchant

I am new here and i really like your write ups

I am into fashion accessories and already buiilding my website.

The designer advised that i pay for online store.

My worry is the issue of cash on delivery which is possible within lagos only for me.

How about outside lagos? What can i do in such situation? Do you think i shluld start with lagos first since i can always send my assistant to go and deliver?

I dnt like the idea of jumia or konga tying down my cash when i am supposed to be investing it?

How can i also get crowd to my online store.

Thank you

Thank you for the question.

Because of resources you should start cash on delivery within your locality.

You still need to leverage the power of marketplace like Konga for nationwide delivery.

The truth is that cash on delivery increase sales. From my experience, out of every 10 orders, 9 will choose to pay on delivery whereas maybe 1 might pay ahead.

With the recent change on Konga marketplace, you can now self-fulfil meaning you get order on Konga, go deliver it to the customer yourself, collect your money and pay Konga later there sales commission.

Also platform like konga have the capacity to deliver nationwide, so leverage the platform to sell and deliver nationwide.

Konga gives you the choice to select which state of federation you wanna sell to. If you don't want to do cash on delivery to let say Yobe State, all you need do is disable shipping to Yobe on your SellerHQ and people from Yobe will not be able to buy your product talkless of paying on delivery.

How do you get crowd to your website?

You really do not need people who are not ready to buy to start visiting your website. What you need is identify your target market and create awareness that you have start business.

Your target customers are already on Facebook, therefore start a Facebook page and advertise your online store using Facebook ads.

Open Instagram account, to post your product pictures with tips.

Ask your web designer, to incorporate email marketing into your website. You can start with a free account on Mailchimp. Start collecting email addresses of your visitors, give them incentives to sign up.

Offer discounts to your mail subscribers and also give discount to first time buyer to encourage them to come buy again soon.

Don't worry, I will soon share how to increase your email subscribers, how to use coupon and discount to drive sales and how to get result from Facebook ads.

Stay tuned.

Nice one

hahn:
Nice one

Welcome on board.

You can follow, like or share this conversation on Facebook - www.facebook.com/realmoneyng

Kindly share with friends, business partner and families on Facebook.

www.facebook.com/realmoneyng

.........

Today's article will be about PRODUCT RETURNS. How to manage and reduce it.

Watch out.


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Hi iMerchant Great job God bless u.
I have an online store and my greatest challange is mode of delivery.
I delivery out of my state through commercial inter state buses. Tho thankfully I haven't have a bad experience but I want to grow. I want A courier serivce that can deliver to my clients house/office. I'm based in deltya state and I have spoken to some courier companies but there prices are too high. Imagine 4k and above for just 1 pair of shoe. Pls do u knw any company that can deliver nationwide at a reasonable price please? Thanks

This is a nice one iMerchant. You're helping more people than you can imagine.

My question is what courier service do you use personally and what do you have to say about their services?

Are they affordable?
Do they do cash on delivery?
How fast do they remit cash once an item is delivered?
How fast do they deliver?
How well do they handle your goods?

Please throw in more light for us.

Thanks and God bless you.

osatonia:
Hi iMerchant Great job God bless u.
I have an online store and my greatest challange is mode of delivery.
I delivery out of my state through commercial inter state buses. Tho thankfully I haven't have a bad experience but I want to grow. I want A courier serivce that can deliver to my clients house/office. I'm based in deltya state and I have spoken to some courier companies but there prices are too high. Imagine 4k and above for just 1 pair of shoe. Pls do u knw any company that can deliver nationwide at a reasonable price please? Thanks

I tot of using courier services as well but i dont think they do cash on delivery

But this price is too ridiculous

osatonia:
Hi iMerchant Great job God bless u.
I have an online store and my greatest challange is mode of delivery.
I delivery out of my state through commercial inter state buses. Tho thankfully I haven't have a bad experience but I want to grow. I want A courier serivce that can deliver to my clients house/office. I'm based in deltya state and I have spoken to some courier companies but there prices are too high. Imagine 4k and above for just 1 pair of shoe. Pls do u knw any company that can deliver nationwide at a reasonable price please? Thanks

I use Konga to handle my nationwide delivery. You too can sign up on there platform to start selling.

They have arrangement with reputable courier companies like UPS, DHL, CourierPlus, Chisco Transport etc to ship their merchant's goods at reduce rate.

You shipped nationwide at a reduce rate using Konga.

Ok. I'm on konga but the thing is they don't have a drop off center here in asaba. The closest to me is warri and benin