Isese lagba. Believe in what you believe in, and follow it with faith.

Mini-importation.

enolife:

Am following in real time

Thank you for following. Do you have an experience to share about e-commerce or you would like to start e-retail and want to hear people's story and how they run things in the industry.

johniyke84:
no minimium. It depends on ur capacity. if its small,we cargo and if big we ship either wit 20 or 40". send me ur mail or if u ve whatsapp we can chat

My whatsapp number: 08092203466

Thank you so much for sharing this piece. We are working towards building our young entrepreneurs group to become an incubator in Abeokuta.

Good morning followers. I have been waiting for response on the last point I dropped on challenges and experiences of e-commerce before I proceed to the next piece. So, if you are following this thread from page 1, let's hear from you.
Thank you and do have a wonderful day!

Lovely

Good morning.

bodee:
Please I would like to find out where I can get fruits like orange, pawpaw and apple in very good wholesales price. Preferably in Osun, Oyo and Lagos state. I already know one in Lagos at Arena market Oshodi but I would like to know anyone in Osun and Oyo state. Thanks.

Ketu market. Probably the largest fruit market in West Africa.

darocha1:


letz talk more about it on whatsapp & bbm

No Prob. Sir. Always available.

Thanks for sharing this experience. It's short but meaningful and educative.

darocha1:



still awaiting the solution

Bro, the solution is a moneybag for me Ooo I can disclose it, but only to committed members and I can even give out the written concept, only to someone who has convinced me that he will execute it, if I am not able to execute it. Though it's a capital intensive project, but it's feasible and practicable.

MillionDollars:
if the super rich live here then those living in banana island are _____ rich

Mega super rich

Cool. The major benefit I will derive from this development is that the old GRA has a lot of abandoned properties and more are still going to be abandoned for obvious reasons they are gonna be moving to these hill tops and villages, and I will seize this opportunity.
There is real cool cash in realty. One only needs to invest wisely.

johniyke84:
Order for ur wears either for personal wears or resell. we do and supply all fabrics wears-children,female,male,banks,companies etc. this is my contact +905385849337

What's the minimum order one could place on the furniture. Can I get catalogue or more photos here?

Speakdatruth:
I think PhonesNgadets wud answer beta
left for me, b4 we became 'big' we couldn't afford courier fees considering our No Shipping Fee stamp on products. i must say dat attracted lots of buyers to us from oda competitors. so how did we push tru?
2 tins did it for us.
1. for dos buyers within reach, I turned my car to a delivery cab/van or whatever name. at a time d logo was printed on it sef. lol
2. for dos buyers out of reach, I struck a deal with motor park drivers going to does states. den I had 5 faithful drivers, dey collect little fee depending on item, I made friends wit dem n we were like brodas at sum point. so early in d morning I go 2d park, find out which one of dem is loading or about to load, give him (dey are always careful, dey know d deal already) with address n dats all while I track both d buyer n driver tru phone. dat was d zero beginning but now, there are 2 courier companies on standby for shipping either 24hrs or 3day

I couldn't agree more to your model. It's just similar to how I handle delivery. In my case, I offer payment on delivery and free delivery for buyers within my reach ( my locality and city ). I have considered the shipping cost while working on my pricing.

For buyers outside my reach ( other cities and states ) I offer 2 options, depending on the convenience of the buyer.

1. I quote the price of my good to you and also quote the shipping fee, depending on your location. If you agree to pay the shipping fee, I will encourage you by giving a sort of discount on the good ( mostly if you are making more than one order )

2. I give buyers outside my city a fixed price, which is greater than the price quoted for buyers in my city and this quoted price will automatically include shipping/delivery charges. (it's more feasible if buyer is making more than one order )


But Boss, I would like to know about your store, if you would like to share I wanna learn more from you oo.

Hello. Welcome here.

Thank you for checking our products.

greatiyk4u:
Doesn't the Barber deserve a P.hD award in barbing? Share ur view

Creative and skillful barber.

Speakdatruth:
I think we kip learning, just as I've spread my mat here since yesterday
I saw u mentioned logistics, one could easily have said he's gone pass d stage but u realized dat some things do reoccur. some times plans fail n u work with plan b or c, some delivery could be emergency (with additional cash though) meeting up earns us more trust. u see some big buyers, crossed his legs in his office n say he needs an item tomorrow morning of course u gat to meet up. it's part of shifting grounds. dos 3/7 day delivery period is not for everyone at least not big or regular buyers. maybe dis d first I'm opening up as I'm here always here to fool around
pls share more of your experience.

I am with you 100% on the issue of shifting ground on some order deliveries and on having back up plans.

That's why I have being negotiation with several courier firms and I still do this research everyday. Just like u mentioned, some big buyers sometimes desire to have their orders delivered within a couple of hours and you just have to be smart in delivery, so as not to lose the big deal.

debbydee:
Meanwhile, a copy of thank you note ( handwritten with a calligraphy pen ) by the CEO himself grin was included in the package to build an informal relationship beyond seller-buyer relationship. This will make customers to feel free and give any question or suggestions they feel may benefit both parties. ( I get a copy of the letter in case you wan see as the package be cheesy )

nice write up OP. I will also add

The issue of trust is a big one but one thing i will always do is to continue in what ever you are doing. As long as you sell genuine stuffs people will always patronize you. I have noticed that customers like good stuffs but most of them will want to pay a cheap amount for it. all you need to do is convince them and make them understand why the price is like that.

I concur.

Innunique:
Great post OP, I run one here in the Eastern Part of Nigeria, and the challenges are the same as listed by you.
It's called CS& Enterprises, an ICT products Sales and Services company, offering the most affordable of Laptops, Tablet PC and general computer merchandise.
I operate from Nsukka precisely from UNN and have done deals as far as Niger state. I mostly use Facebook and WhatsApp advert and posters for the school communities which I service... so far its been a win-lose-win situation, but we keep pushing to make it better. Started 2012 and we have evolved but it can only get better.

Thank you for sparing your time to share little of our e-commerce experience. I hope you take your time to follow new trends in the industry and how to leverage them. One is connecting with other colleagues in the sector. As mentioned by one of the posters here, don't see your competitors as enemy, rather see them as fire lighters who spark your light to bring out the best in you. Keep soaring bro.

Godsgal:
Quite informative. Thanks Op

Thanks

Gazzy88:
What actually is this seminar about? Pls brief it here to evade my gullibility..lol. Anyway I dwell in abeokuta.

How are you bro? Have you started yet? Keep calm & startup.

Hello readers and contributors, thank you for keeping an eye on this thread. I am glad to see that old followers are coming back for feedback and new followers are not just passing by, they are dropping excellent posts. It really shows entrepreneurial spirit of the Nigerian youths.

Okay, let's get to work today. I was discussing the challenges I have faced and those I am still facing as an e-store owner, and these challenges are not peculiar to my e-store alone ( as I could read from posters here ). So the story continues here..

MORE CHALLENGES

Literacy & Orientation level

In as much as e-commerce requires basic level of education, computer literacy and understating; e-retail will continue to suffer setback in this part of the world. It is not necessary to hold PhD to use the internet or get along with world as a global village, but basic communication skills in the official language and our major local languages ( Yes, I mean it, our major local languages including pidgin English ) will go along way in getting people along. yet it's heart saddening to discover that that a very large percentage of working force are either uneducated or undereducated.
Note: Having studied in the four walls of classroom does not automatically mean being educated Ooo Please don't be deceived. Anyway, let me save the argument till another day.

Frankly speaking, we are still losing business deals and customers to the open market, because we have great customers who have purchasing powers and need our goods, but they lack the basic knowledge of using the internet. Even if our prices are lesser with higher quality and value compared to what they will get in the open market, they will still patronize the open market; not because they don't like to shop online, but they obviously don't know how to do it.

Literacy rate is different from orientation level in this context. It will amaze you how some so called educated people engage on the social media. some are educated, but are not so conversant with the online world. We have other category of people who are educated, but they are 'know it all' they won't accept that they need to learn new things in life. They will feel too big to ask for help on how to use the internet, so when they get online, they turn everything upside down. anyway, na dem sabi, they may learn there lessons as they continue exploring the internet world. I only pray they learn the easier way.

Dear reader, have you ever received comments/posts on your e-store on social media or other platform where potential buyer will ask for your shop location? A potential buyer nearly change am for me on top this matter Ooo. On another photo post ( A designer wristwatch ), I included necessary details from price, brand name, specifications, mode of payment and delivery; then the question a customer asked is: Shey the watch go tell us when Jesus dey come ? The truth is that majority of these people are educated ( at least basic reading and writing skills ). Yet, they lack proper orientation of how to converse and express themselves on the internet.

Okay, how do we handle these people and this palaver? Whenever I get calls or comments from customers asking me where my shop/store is, I try as much as possible to be friendly with them while enlightening them what e-store is.

For instance when Mr. January asked: where is your store located?

I replied: Welcome to Phones&Gadgets. We are e-store ( Pls not the emphasis ) based in Abeokuta, but we deliver nationwide. We deliver free of charge within Abeokuta. Our storage facility/warehouse is also in Abeokuta, which means we ship from Abeokuta. If you would like to buy any of our products, please let us know the specific products or quote the product name/number, then we shall quote the price for you, then you can place your order if you agree with the pricing. Thank you.


Have you ever been asked a very annoying and embarrassing question on your business page? Mate, this is what I experience on a regular basis. Despite the fact I include necessary details of the product + specifications, delivery, mode of payment etc and I sometimes go as long as making videos. Some online users will still come and ask questions that are not related nor relevant to what you display or do online.

Another example of the embarrassing moment on e-store page: On my business fan page, the user asked how much an office shirt costs in the market now? ( He didn't even ask if we sell office shirt or how much we sell shirts, he directly asked how much they sell it in the open market ) when I actually posted photos of phone accessories on that specific page.

I won't blame such users, I will rather blame it on the system and the stake holders ( me and you ). This challenge will continue to persist till the literacy rate and orientation level increases to a significant level. But that doesn't stop us from mitigating such issue, if it's too huge for us to tackle. From my own perspective, I am thinking of some ways to manage this challenge.

I earlier mentioned that lack of basic communication skills in the country's official language and even our major languages is hindering internet usage in Nigeria and Africa as a whole. Since we cannot enroll everybody to language skill, we have to converse to them in the easiest way. For me and my business, I have been working on how to inculcate the habit of using pidgin English and also one of our major local languages ( Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa ) on my pages, but as time goes on, I will apply other major local languages. I am very optimistic that it will work, and if not, at least I have tried new thing

Nothing is as frustrating as engaging on the social media with a so called educated fellow who believes education is confined to the four walls of the classroom alone. These set of users are worse than stack illiterates who admit that they are not educated. These set of users need proper orientation about the internet and social media engagement. Na style you go take teach this kain people Ooo, if you no wan lose customer. so, how do we handle such users? okay, to lessen the stress of educating them on e-commerce and internet usage, I sometimes take my time out to write about online business and their mode of operations on my website. I also write my e-commerce experience on my social media page. On my business page, I try to orientate followers and fans on online shopping and the advantages.

This challenge is really huge, individual and businesses alone cannot tackle it, even government itself sees it as a herculean task. All we can do at this time is manage it.

I am sorry, I've got to attend to some notifications and mails. I gotta be back soon. Please keep abreast with this thread.

iMerchant:


Boss, am loyal.

You are doing a good job.

You will not know the impact of sharing your experience until total stranger start calling you to thank you for showing them the way.

It is a wonderful experience.

Before I end my ecommerce thread on Nairaland, at least I can count 3 people that move from product idea to marketplace.

There are several people who will learn directly or indirectly from your experience. The joy is, you are showing people that ecommerce works.

Anyway, I am glad that the following entrepreneur move their idea to marketplace because I shared my experience:

Konga .com/234mart
Konga .com/ord-fashion-store
Konga .com/quic-top-store

Abeg go patronise them.

When you use your candle to light other candles, we make the marketplace online a better place. The internet have close the gap on ignorance.

Ignorance is no longer an excuse. Anybody can succeed in his/her choosing field of undertaking.

Nigeria is a huge market so few merchants or ecommerce startups can't do it all. Other people also need to participate in meeting peoples need. We have a population of over 170 million people, I only want to sell to 10 million people, which still leaves over 160 million people unattended to. Who is going to sell or meet the need of the other 160 million people.

That's food for thought for people who are yet to start.


Anyway, to all the Bosses in the house, I hail thee and remain loyal.

Back to student mode. Make I go collect extra sheet plus Biro to jot down lessons.

Bro, I tell you the model I use in gaining knowlegde is sharing it with other people. There is a big potential for e-commerce growth in Nigeria, only if we tackle the challenges together as stakeholders and we get some support from the government. Later today, I will be sharing more on the challenges I have faced and how I have tackled some and how I intend to manage/tackle some.

BedLam:
Cash on delivery only for Abeokuta residents ? Bro 50 percent of your customers will come from Lagos and we ain't do nothing other than cash on delivery. Better look for away. Thanks.

Thanks so much for your suggestion. I have made some arrangement already and I can deliver nationwide with payment on delivery option.

I should edit the post and write FREE DELIVERY WITHIN ABEOKUTA only.

I agree with you that Lagos has a larger market. Thank you. Please what would you like to buy?

nov19:
Plz where can I get authentic wrist watches at wholesale prices in abuja, does anybody has an idea, cos all the markets I visited sell replica watches without boxes...

I guess you prefer to deal with products of quality standard, which is really good for your business.

I am located in South West, Nigeria (Abeokuta and Lagos) but I can deliver goods to anywhere in Nigeria and even beyond.

It depends on the type of watches you would like to buy at wholesales price and the brand.
I am open to business. You can check my signature for my contact or visit my page to see some of my goods. If it's what you like,then let's deal.

Do have a profitable day!

Good morning. Have a fantastic day.

Good a:m. Do have a wonderful day.

@speakdatruth and @HeelsEmpire,
Your posts are really great and I as an individual is really learning from it. It's good keeping an eye on the bigwigs. These pieces will get one prepared of challenges and developments lying ahead. While we keep a tab on the big names, it's necessary to also work with the would be big names too

I'll share more of my experience today, but I have to respond to correspondence before I continue where I left. Thank you so much for coming here.

LordTrezy:

Op I sent a pm to you, please check your mail. I'll contact you on whatsapp through the number on your profile. Thanks

Sir, I'll check your mail. I will reply it as soon as I read it,even if I cannot reply tonight, just be assured a response is coming. Meanwhile, feel free to contact me on whatsapp if it's urgent.
Bless!