modath:
When people throw this matter up for debate,we quickly forget about cultural & psychological differences.....People should separate emotions from this & see it for what it is, Not all those companies have been mismanaged, the business model is alien to the Nigerian mentality..

The fact of the matter is that majority still prefer to "SEE" what they are buying before they part with cash..

How many people shop online? Shops , supermarkets , roadside sellers dot everywhere....

And most important of all, online shopping is a bit more costly & room for haggling/bargaining isn't there.....

They will continue to try but I know for sure I'd rather take a trip to computer village to pick a phone than buy online when I'm not sure I'd get what I ordered & return won't be a nightmare in case it goes south...

modath:
When people throw this matter up for debate,we quickly forget about cultural & psychological differences.....People should separate emotions from this & see it for what it is, Not all those companies have been mismanaged, the business model is alien to the Nigerian mentality..

The fact of the matter is that majority still prefer to "SEE" what they are buying before they part with cash..

How many people shop online? Shops , supermarkets , roadside sellers dot everywhere....

And most important of all, online shopping is a bit more costly & room for haggling/bargaining isn't there.....

They will continue to try but I know for sure I'd rather take a trip to computer village to pick a phone than buy online when I'm not sure I'd get what I ordered & return won't be a nightmare in case it goes south...

ekmike:
Inaddition to the highlighted points, in terms of pricing, e-commerce in Nigeria has not proven to be competitive with offline stores.

When you make a price comparison, you will discover that the you can walk into a store and obtain the same item conveniently at almost the same price.

bootstrap:
Sm times, I wonder what Nigerian grown brands are doing wrong. Bfor now, I used to say I don't see any Nigerian company lasting over a single generation... Regrettably... I think it's getting worst. Now, most companies don't even reach the 10year mark.

I refuse to totally believe it's the environment joh. I think we as a people dnt hv what it takes to go thru the rigours of growing a business. We find that most often than not, we grow (blow) too quickly before we really hv time to establish a culture, a long term vision for said brand. Before u knw it... We are trying to diversify, we trying to "belong", the company start forming what it is not.

An example.. I read a post here yesterday, where smone was complaining about Linda ikejis blog. I smiled, coz I kind of saw it coming. No sooner has she "blown", way before she really carved a niche/ brand culture... Has she started diversifying, living the life, "giving back to community"

At best, the brand will outlive her for a couple of years, but not more... That's if the brand is lucky enough to last that long. (Yes.. luck - that's how most businesses in Nigeria blow anyways)

Similar story for HiTv, I'm wondering whether i shld mention TsTv sef?

Anyways, ... I dnt hv an MBA, I might just be wrong.

MobilityExpress:


Good points! However, Nigeria is a business-killing environment, largely due to government policy somersaults and gymnastics. Even big businesses aren’t exempt and that’s why many big billion-naira businesses in Nigeria fold up after some years. It’s very expensive to run a growing business in Nigeria. Sooner or later the running costs catch up and outgrow the business growth, then the company runs down. Our government needs to do better for the business community. All they know how to do is tax businesses to death

eTECTIVe:


My friend call a spade what it is, a spade!!! Dis govt has made a once thriving hub of business a graveyard for businesses considering d number of businesses dat has packed up and left d country. And d number of job losses kips growing and piling up.. And U want Ppl to believe it is d fault of d businesses ??

anochuko01:
loopholes and potholes in our system.

MobilityExpress:
The Nigerian environment isn’t business friendly, whether online or offline.

MobilityExpress:


Good points! However, Nigeria is a business-killing environment, largely due to government policy somersaults and gymnastics. Even big businesses aren’t exempt and that’s why many big billion-naira businesses in Nigeria fold up after some years. It’s very expensive to run a growing business in Nigeria. Sooner or later the running costs catch up and outgrow the business growth, then the company runs down. Our government needs to do better for the business community. All they know how to do is tax businesses to death

Billyonaire:
When business is sold, it does not mean they were not making profit. Announcing a lost has been one of the few strategies that venture capitalists who want to make massive profits at shortest possible time use to sell out the company, clean the books up without paying taxes.

Unlike Yahoo Yahoo, the thoroughly trained minds in businesses of this nature knows that if you must get off the government tax handcuffs, then you must declare bankruptcy of the company even though the company is doing well. Cos if you declare profit during the sales, you will pay huge after sales tax but to declare bankcrupty, you are not only covering your asss for cooking the previous books, but you also get tax rebates and do not even have to pay taxes in the next several years as new buyers.

Sometimes it is just change of names; Cash out, sell the structures to another set of your foreign partners and the fraud continues. Etisalat, now 9Mobile has been used as a special purpose vehicle of these schemes many times and people still believe their stories.

Nigeria has been profitable to Konga and Jumia, but they could cash out some billions if they are declared bankrupt and share the liability of the credit facilities with new friendly partners while pocketing chunks of the money.

This is the type of Yahoo Yahoo Nigerians need to learn.

Nigeria is just a heaven for these high level fraud because we have no government, no consumer protection mechanisms, no products and pricing controls, I mean, I do not see how any 'world class intellect' can not be a billionaire in this country.

One must go beyond common-sense to understand that these sales are fraudulent schemes to enrich the few guys with brains who pull these stunts.

sweetkev:
The country is cursed and nothing good will ever work here

lakesider:
Writer should stop writing shit .online marker died because nipost was dead . simple

modath:
When people throw this matter up for debate,we quickly forget about cultural & psychological differences.....People should separate emotions from this & see it for what it is, Not all those companies have been mismanaged, the business model is alien to the Nigerian mentality..

The fact of the matter is that majority still prefer to "SEE" what they are buying before they part with cash..

How many people shop online? Shops , supermarkets , roadside sellers dot everywhere....

And most important of all, online shopping is a bit more costly & room for haggling/bargaining isn't there.....

They will continue to try but I know for sure I'd rather take a trip to computer village to pick a phone than buy online when I'm not sure I'd get what I ordered & return won't be a nightmare in case it goes south...I concur, imagine I earn 80k a month, and I have manage to save 50k for over three months to buy a new mobile phone, where will I shop for this item ? online where I can't see the product I am buying or in computer village where I can physically see what i am buying, test it and ask a series of questions from a sales rep. I think I will choose the latter.

bellville:
To succeed in online retailing, you need returning customers. In other words, you must continue to enjoy patronage from people who have had good experience shopping from your store. Trust and integrity are the pillars. Spending huge amounts of money on adverts without delivering value to the customer would amount to nothing in the long run. You would only get one-time customers, not returning customers.

There's money to be made from online retailing but you must have what is called "customer obsession". You must be customer obsessed and not product obsessed. If you're focused on the customer, you won't sell fake products and you will deliver on time.

This is what has kept my online bookstore going since August 2015. Check my siggy. Place an order and we will demonstrate how online retailing works.