LAGOS – Some economic analysts and entrepreneurs on Thursday in Lagos, projected that E-commerce, especially online shopping, may eventually faze out physical shopping in Nigeria.
The analysts, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said that wholesalers and retailers across various sectors of the economy were gradually embracing internet solutions to their businesses.
Dr Femi Odukunle, a Doctor of Economics and Branding Strategist told NAN that business organisations were utilising opportunities presented by the internet to ensure accessibility of their products.
“E-commerce offers many online marketing opportunities to companies worldwide.
“The rapid growth of online shopping has impressed many retailers to sell products and services through online channel to expand their market,’’ he said.
Mr Jude Onyeama, President, Association of Small and Medium Business Owners said that many SME operators were utilising various shopping sites like Konga, Jumia, Kaymu and Dealdey to sell their products.
“We use Google ads and social media to advertise our products before the advent of online shopping in Nigeria.
“It used to be a European culture that we often thought could not be embraced in Nigeria because of the logistics involved.
“ It is heart-warming that consumers can now buy products ranging from household items, clothing, food and other durable items online in Nigeria,’’ he said.
Oyeama said that payment on delivery, free shopping coupons and free shipping were some of the strategies the organisations were using to attract shoppers to their websites.
Mr Sesan Ademoye, an Online Marketing Executive, said that the proliferation of online shopping would yield profits for manufacturers and financial institutions.
“Many of these online shopping sites often enter into partnerships with banks to enable online payments for goods purchased.
“The creation of wider market for a company’s product will in turn yield increased profit for the company,’’ he said.
He noted that there was a need for managers of various online shopping websites to study consumer attitude to online shopping and what fluence their patronage.
“This will help address the needs and demands of the shoppers,’’ he said.
Mrs Iyabo Doherty, an online shopper, expressed concern over the unfriendly attitude of some customer care officers of online shopping sites.
She noted that the officers usually fail to respond promptly to orders or cancellation by customers.
Mr Henry Tomori, another online shopper, also said that some products displayed on some online shopping sites were of low quality and largely over-priced.
“The operators of these sites often factored the cost of running free delivery into the overall cost price of these goods.
“They prefer to sell inferior goods and offer free delivery instead of selling quality goods,’’ he said.
Mr Jude Tamuno, a Sales Executive with an online shopping site, told NAN that customers could reject goods purchased at the point of delivery.
“It is advisable for customers to select pay-on-delivery option while shopping online.
“This will make it easy for them to reject low quality goods at the point of delivery.
“It will also save them the stress of processing refund for goods they might have paid for,’’ he said. (NAN)
