The rise of e-commerce business in Nigeria comes with its challenges and pitfalls facing the business but the future seems very good because of the increasing presence of the citizens on the internet as millions of people access the internet daily.
The E-commerce industry in Nigeria has shown many hopes for young entrepreneurs who want to seize the opportunity of the large market share and the position that Nigeria represents in Africa to start an e-commerce business in Nigeria.
Any business that works very well in Nigeria is likely to work perfectly in other African countries because of the high population and rising middle class in Nigeria.
In today’s market, Many E-commerce has sprung up in Nigeria with new entrants working very hard to gain a satisfying market share but e-commerce requires lots of funding for infrastructure gadgets, logistic and campaign and the only few companies who are getting this funding has a high rate of success and are widely known in Nigeria like Konga, Jumia, Olx, Dealdey, Kaymu, Yudala, etc.
However, there are many challenges facing e-commerce businesses in Nigeria and this is endangering their existence if it’s overlooked.
Some of the new entrants in the business close within a month or more due to these challenges and why the big names still exist are because of the hope they have and their strong will to overcome the challenges.
Nigeria, a country with a population of about 170 million people with poor road networks, epileptic power supply in major cities has a better advantage to welcome business than other African countries and these poor road networks pose lots of challenges for many businesses including the e-commerce websites.
Business Challenges Facing E-commerce In Nigeria
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Logistic and Shipment Delivery
The Nigeria E-commerce industry may look better but logistics and supply chains remain a tough challenge for the E-commerce website.
Delivery within a space of 24 hours is not feasible in Nigerian cities and other parts of Nigeria as most cities do not have yet a good standardized physical address pattern like European countries and poor road networks with much traffic congestion adds to the delay in shipment.
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Increasing Competition
The growing rate of completion in the E-commerce business in Nigeria creates a big challenge for the future of the companies.
Some companies such as Konga tend to push into markets easily and definitely, will take a big margin of the market size and this will affect other E-commerce websites.
The coming of some retail stores into e-commerce also poses more challenges to others that do not have operated stores.
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Influence of Public Markets
There are public markets all around in Nigeria from house kiosks to, grocery stores, supermarkets, street markets, and main markets.
An e-commerce organization must overcome these elements on costs and good services for them to continue to generate revenue and maintain the high costs of running the business.
This challenge is very tough because most of their competitors do not pay tax to the government and they may tend to lower prices at any cost to sell their products.
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Knowledge and awareness
Lack of awareness to people about the possibility of having a safe online transaction of products in Nigeria tends to pose a challenge for the e-commerce industry.
Without the public being aware of the convenience to shop at the comfort of their home or office, the e-commerce company will lack visitors to its website.
They will have to invest in public awareness, paid advertising, content advertising, campaign and be known by the public through their unique brand and business tagline.
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Profitability
Low Profits for the E-commerce website are likely to be a major challenge for investors who like to get a turnover of their capital.
The delay in logistics, seeking to expand too quickly might affect the profits and this will pose a big challenge for them among tough competitors in the future because every company needs substantial profits to stay in business.
The lack of an online payment system makes it necessary for them to adopt the pay on the delivery entity with 7 working days warranty return and this has made many people just order products without the intention of buying it only to cancel the orders after one day or return the goods.
The company loses money when it happens from services paid to transport and communications used.
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Doubt / Mistrust
Nigeria which if fighting corruption and scams is yet to grasp internet shopping, because of online misrepresentation.
In a place where phishing is regular, individuals are distrustful about listing their private information online.
Some customers are yet to figure out how they can buy the things while others are concerned about being scammed and the lack of trust from Nigerian consumers is a huge hindrance for e-commerce business in Nigeria.
Conclusion
Despite the difficulties and challenges facing e-commerce businesses in Nigeria, the eventual fate of Nigerian e-business looks encouraging.
In fact, by adjusting to the neighborhood setting difficulties can get to be favorable circumstances. The achievement of e-trade firms in a city as extensive and thickly populated as Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Onitsha, Port Harcourt is a huge success.
Nigeria’s developing white collar class and purchaser base will keep on requesting convenience and quality from online shopping websites.
E-trade is a quick method for meeting the developing needs of the Nigerian market and additionally guaranteeing the area’s future in Africa’s biggest economy.