Despite the release of not-too-impressive results by a key player in one of the biggest e-commerce platforms, the reality is that all the players put together have only but scratched the surface.
This simply means that the e-commerce space still has a lot of opportunities and you should expect to see further disruptions. Are you in doubt as to why e-commerce platforms will continue to berth, almost on daily basis?
Consider the fact that Google recorded 10 million new Internet users from Nigeria in 2015. It is obvious that e-commerce represents a good pathway to attract or reach out to new customers, and will continue to expand.
Unlike physical retail, which principally relies on branding and customer relationships, e-commerce entails an added benefit of driving traffic from the search engines. If a customer is carrying out a search for say, photo editing software, he may land on your platform even though he has never heard of you before.
To customers, e-commerce connotes ‘immediacy’ – no going to the shops or waiting in queues, provided you are connected to the Internet. Goods bought online tend to be cheaper, depending on the platform and delivery arrangements.
The range of goods available is vast and allows you to compare prices and terms of various options, especially when the pagination is well-tailored.
The shop never closes. It rolls on 24 hours daily and you will locate what you want much quicker, while exposing you to global markets. E-commerce provides immediate feedback on prices, features, specifications, etc.
Shopping online, particularly in this climate, is, however, usually smooth until it gets to the payment stage. Principally, e-payment and pay-on-delivery are among the known payment options adopted by e-commerce platforms in Nigeria.
We can categorise existing payment solutions into three groups: bank wires, payment cards (credit and debit) and electronic payment systems. Paypernet’s recent research on the characteristics of these payment systems shows that they differ substantially.
It, however, arrived at the conclusion that “to be suitable for e-commerce, a payment system should probably have certain characteristics such as: easy to use by the end-user; conceptually easy to understand; does not require customers or vendors to sign up before use; highly secured for customers and vendors alike; low cost; allows micro-payments; anonymous; requires no additional hardware or software on the side of the client; and able to develop itself independent of partners that might see the system as a threat.”
To me, the Nigerian e-commerce space has a robust e-payment system that meets the above set of criteria. SimplePay, for instance, is such a wonderful solution that — Finish Reading on the Punch Website
