Setting up an online store in Nigeria a few years ago was
bogglingly complicated. Creating just the product, the product page, and a
checkout order was bad enough but then you had to think about the payment
gateway to accept the payment.
Thankfully this
has changed over the last few years and running your first online store has
never been easier. The Internet is a growing marketplace for anyone looking to
start an online store.
It is a risky
investment and does not have to cost money in the shop or office; So it is very
easy to start an online store in Nigeria.
In this guide,
we will show you the guidelines on how to start your online store in Nigeria.
How Do Start?
To start an
online store in Nigeria you have to do some research and learn the steps to go
ahead. It would not be wise to start it in a hurry. However, considering the
online products and markets, you can also set up the best online store in Nigeria. Then let us know the
necessary points.
Fits Market Demand and Products
What is the
time to start your online store? There are usually two ways to start selling
products online. The first is to start with your initial idea or product.
Chances are you already know what you want to sell and instead the purpose is
(a) where your audience is and (b) how to sell them online.
The other is to
reverse the process. In this case, you start with a profitable niche first and
then find the right product for sale. Although less common, it’s still a good
practice if you try to estimate potential demand before investing a lot of time
and money in unproven products.
Measure the Market Demand
The best thing
about online stores is that you can test them before you drown. This means that
if you already see buyers spending maybe 100 dollars on advertising before
investing 10 times more in creating new products, you can see.
One of the
easiest ways is to check Google Trends. You can look for specific types of
products here to see how it has been covered or how many people have been
looking for it over the last few months or years. Cheap products are also the
center of attraction for people. Considering the market demand you can set up a
Cheap online store in Nigeria where prices will be affordable and quality is
best.
Look for Pre-made Products
If you still
want to start selling any product and are still unsure about it, start browsing
a large authorized network already filled with hundreds to thousands. Setting
up an online store in Nigeria is an effective strategy.
Many other
large websites that sell their products will also have their authorized
network. For example, Bodybuilding.com is primarily known for all its great
fitness content. However, they initially make money from supplementary sales.
You can quickly get authorization and tap the large network of their trusted
products.
Targeted Customer
Considering the
customer, the online store customers will be worldwide, or you can conduct
business by targeting any part of the world. The funny thing is that you don't
have to be present at the location you are targeting. You can keep up contact
with buyers with various virtual communications.
Use Beautiful Pictures of the Product
Online shoppers
don't see the product directly, they buy it by looking at pictures. So the
picture of your product should be very good quality and interesting. Take
pictures with a good camera in a beautiful background, inadequate light,
keeping the reality in line with the picture. Maintain the quality of writing
of the post or content. Give a good description of your products in each post
that can attract customers. Your efforts and hard work should be visible behind
every product.
Trends to Follow Before Starting Online Store in Nigeria
As some of the
best online stores and e-commerce websites have evolved over the past few
years, customers have new expectations and increased values that they were
accustomed to seeing while browsing websites. Here are few new eCommerce deads you might demand to look
for and consider adding to your site:
Responsive Website:
Today shoppers
are used to searching products on their mobile devices, adding products to
their cars on tablets, and then making purchases on their desktops. This means
your website needs to be fully responsive for this multi-device shopping. If
you want to be established as the best online store in Nigeria, you must follow
this trend.
Product Video:
There is no
better way to increase the credibility of a product than to show its video in
context and highlight its benefits. If there is a product video then 73% more
people will buy it.
Personalization:
The biggest
online retailers like Amazon are now building their websites based on what
people have searched for or bought in the past. Including a region in
'Recommended' products can help your store stand out.
Product Demonstration:
Sometimes it’s
easier to show than to say. Especially with complex or high visual products.
For example, Evodsk does a great job showing you how product customizations
change the look in real-time.
Are You Ready to Start Your Online Store in Nigeria?
To set up your
first eCommerce store a few years ago requires a developer, thousands of
dollars, and a few months of development. Today, in many cases you can walk to
the end of 100 a night.
Not only that,
it makes every bit look custom and beautiful with the high-quality themes
available. All of these are fully responsive, seamlessly adapted to any device.
And they’ve figured out the most difficult aspects like payment gateway
integration, shipping, tax, and more.
Starting an
online store in Nigeria is no longer the hard part. Instead, it's about taking
the first few steps to properly research your potential customers and then
implementing a practical action plan to promote your products. By following the
steps you can set up a good online store to make online shopping in Nigeria trouble-free.