COD/POD is coming back to haunt Nigeria's eCommerce - thanks to shortcut growth hacks

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Police detectives from the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Intelligence Response Team (IRT) have hunted down two online mall robbers for allegedly bolting away with iPhones valued at about N2 million.
One of the suspects was arrested around Fadeyi bus stop on Ikorodu road after a dispatch rider who delivered the iPhones spotted him standing at the bus stop.

After his arrest, three mobile phones valued at N720,000 were recovered from him.
A police source said the suspects’ method was to place orders for expensive cell phones from various websites.
The source further alleged that having placed the orders, the suspects would provide an address to the online sales outlet, where the phones would be delivered and payment made.
It was gathered that on arrival at the location, the suspects and his gang would dispossess the delivery man of the phones and abscond.
Read more at http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/crime/man-impersonates-lagos-lawmaker-to-rob-online-stores/158526.html#2KHxqfPRVs9UUAYY.99

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Huh? Doesn’t COD have a maximum transaction limit? It would be incredibly foolish if it didn’t.

If you’re able to bring out 100k +, you should be able to simply make that transfer from your card.

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*haunt

POD is a necessary evil in an emerging market, Nigerians won’t patronize you if they can’t see what they are paying for, its tested and tried. A none-POD environment is a future utopia, we are not there yet. From experience when my former employer turned off POD for a day, sales suffered tremendously. Incidents like this are not new and won’t go away, its part of the risk of doing business. I could share stories of the length people would go to get free goods.

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Shorterm, yes. I still feel that in the long run eCommerce will suffer.
POD/COD is a tool to win trust and eventually translate it to online payment before service but the challenge is that we are making it the core of business model - long term. this is dangerous

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It is the core of any long-term e-commerce undertaking in this market and any other emerging market too, even Amazon India accepts COD, virtually any serious player in India and China accepts COD. It is not optimum but if e-commerce is to grow in this clime then COD is the business model.

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I totally Agree, POD/COD was created as an incentive to create User adoption, it worked but where the Pioneers failed woefully was making it institutional, now EVERY Buyer online expect same treatment.

If you want to buy something in the market you buy directly, you dont collect and pay later except that person is ur trusted friend and customer, so why should you then wait to see product to buy when you can buy what you need, it then means you truly dont need that product.

POD/COD is a really stupid thing, sales dropping is not as a result of stopping POD its just what it is, weeding out the unserious users and well a marketing team that need to rethink or be removed.

Online shopping sells Experience, if you dont trust the brand then dont buy its as simple as ABC and if people dont trust you as a brand you need to create a unique Customer Experience.

The issue of Trust can be easily fixed by Delivering Optimum customer service that leads to Brand loyalty consistently. When i order for an iphone and you deliver a Samsung that is a terrible customer experience, or i pay for an item online and you claim its out of stock yet you advertised said item then i have zero need to trust you and will be a detractor to you, Jumia and Konga need to do NPS Surveys the numbers will scare them to ACT, if the Ecommerce giants cant even track inventory then why wont people doubt shopping online.

While you cant ever take away tangible goods you can create an alternate selling channel, NONE of the Ecommerce giants have done that, spending millions on marketing wont change it till they fix Operations and Customer Experience from Browsing till Delivery then people know that if i order from A or B, my job will be delivered on time, in good condition, is what i wanted and works without hassle and i get more incentives and customer touch points for using them, i will be sold to promote to friends…

Others who havent used POD havent cried at all, they are going strong so what have they been doing differently?.

If from a customers perspective he cant pay, please provide alternatives…Escrow Accounts that hold money for clients behalf till they are satisfied of Quality of product…See AliExpress model.

As one of the most commercial countries on the continent it behooves me that the retailers havent learnt from traditional market and creating hybrid offline and online strategies to drive user adoption and build brand trust.

Go to Balogun Market, the shoppers there know who they meet for Electronics without even asking, because of a trust formed to deliver goods time and again and relationship building.

If the Ecommerce firms cant build amazing Customer experience, Hybrid Marketing channels and distributory systems and a top of mind logistic infrastructure for Product fulfillment then we shouldn waste our time

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And on top of this, the regulatory bodies(government) should step into the scene and ensure that eStore comply to basic policies like;

  • Return policies
  • Refund Polcies
  • Surport policies
    as well as set up a report channel for Buyers/Nigerian to report eStores that are defaulting.

If buyers know that they can make report and a store is penelised and even made to pay damagers, they gladly pay ahead and eStores will make sure they are on top of their game.

Finally, I thing the new competition should t Service"

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I’m not sure you want the government to interfere that deeply with a private company. Now, there could be an avenue to do this:

But I think that’s why the Consumer Protection Council or something was set up.

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I think these are the reasons people prefer POD, it just saves time if you need to return/refund. Any store who gets these right should see an increase in people who pay online.

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I think they should. Something like what EFCC should idealy be doing and NCC to mobile networks.

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It’s because we’ve lost trust in our regulatory agencies. A clear example if the extortion happening at gas stations by attendance. Despite the number of time we’ve reported the act, “Olokpa no send us”

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Police just be doing anyhow