eCommerce in Nigeria | My Experience so far With POD Should I Quit?

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Its Exactly 10 months since i decided to cancel my agreement with ACE, Courier Plus And TRANEX and set up my own in-house delivery system where i will be able to track the delivery of my items effectively. since Courier plus and TRANEX Have issue accounting for items delivered and items returned. even cash remittance is a big issue for both delivery company.

Since i stay somewhere in Abuja, I Decided to get an office in Lagos, PH, And Onisha… I secured some Delivery bikes in Lagos, PH And and Onisha because most of my costumers lives in those areas.

Now, Every other location in North central (Abuja) North East and North west, were managed from our Abuja office with a different a software.

Note: The main reason why i left ACE is because they can only cover some part of lagos, some part of Abuja And some part of PH. eg ACE Cant go places like Badagry in Lagos, Gwagwalada in abuja and Bonny Island In River state.

I wanted a company that can give me nationwide delivery. I went with C+. Courier+ is good but accountability is a very big issue with the company. they don’t remit fund after item has been delivered. right now as i write, COURIER PLUS is still owing me over N17,000,000.

After trying to make things work with courier plus with no success, i decided to try out TRANEX. Tranex is the worst delivery option for any POD Ecommerce business. Tranex will collect the money from customer and refuse to remit just like C+. Tranex still owe me over 6M.

TRANEX And COURTIER PLUS Almost sent me back to the village.

ACE, TRANEX and C+ Will still charge you even though the costumer refuse to collect the item. I was once charged N6,370 for a failed delivery.

When i was using these delivery coy, one of our biggest challenge aside from cash remittance is LATE delivery. 30% of our items a returned because of late delivery.

After 10 months of trying to do thing on my own, here is the result i have been able to achieve using our delivery software.

the software only takes care of costumers in South west, South East And South South zone.

screenshot.png1088×605 64.7 KB

Note: I’m in a niche market and i keep up to 90% of the value of each item delivered. I only spend much money on FB ads.

When i started to do the delivery in house, i started to notice so many issues.

  1. Every Nigerian is a traveler once you call them on phone to receive item they have orders for, they will automatically travel.

2 30% of Nigerians are not serious Even though, we call each and every costumer on phone to before preparing their item for delivery, we still end up with costumers who want to know if we are real.

3 Nigerians will place order even when they don’t have money I Was thinking you guys will come by month end, Now am still expecting my salary.

4 Nigerians Are players Am sorry i don’t need it again, when i become interested again i will let you know.

4 Didn’t order I did not order for the product… someone used my phone to place the order.

Even when we clearly state the price of our item on our website and still call our costumers on phone to remind them of the price, The still want some discount at the point of delivery.

The reasons for order cancellation is just too much.

I Am now wondering what they faith of konga and Jumia could be.

The bounce order figure is Alarming and am looking for solution. I need help from the house.:frowning:

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Ironically, barely a year ago , you were an advocate of PAY ON DELIVERY.

This wan just weak me.

Gurus in the house your attention is needed

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I advocated for payment on delivery because that is the only way i can gain the trust of nigerians.

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This is an interview by Founder of Drinks.NG

It may give insight for someone that has gone the same road like you, but is keeping his head above water

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yea, I saw the interview… but the problem here is that his target market is lagos while my target market is Nigeria at large. Nigeria is very dynamic and its hard to convince a Nigerian to pay before delivery.

If you ask them to pay before delivery, They will instantly perceive you as a scammer.

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Great stuff @Malachi. Thanks for sharing these insights. I do not think you should quit. NGN 104m in delivered sales over a 10 month period means there is something there. Who are those people? What makes them pay and why are they available to pick up their shipments? Do you notice whether it is a specific kind of product etc? - Do same for the “returned sales”

Are you able to drill down to better understand what differentiates the “serious” customers from the “unserious” customers?

You might just find your answers in there. Then, you can focus on the customers who deliver the greatest value to you everytime. When you see the signs of an unserious customer, you might have to make them pay in advance - or you don’t ship.

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Thanks for the info… Sometimes some costumers will pretend not to be interested and yet they are. and some times some costumers will be persuading you to ship item to them and yet they are not interested. Its really hard here.

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Understood. Feel free to download your data and translate into Excel in the minutest manner. Happy to pore over it with you on your own laptop or via screen-sharing if you are not in Lagos.

If you do think that’s worth your while. Reach out.

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Your problem isn’t ACE, Courier Plus or Tranex. Your problem is Pay On Delivery. It is a VERY problematic payment system at best (quite frankly, it’s just daft and hardly beneficial). Set up a good return policy and get rid of POD and you’ll be fine. You’ll lose a lot less money.

Also,

How is this a problem? You cannot blame the couriers for your customer’s inability to pay. The courier made the trip, sent out their drivers, spent money on fuel and took time away from other deliveries to make that one delivery. Whether the customer pays or not is on you. You don’t expect them to be running around for free on your behalf hoping that your customers pay up, do you?

I think the number of sales you’ve made so far is an indication that people want to pay for your product. On that note, you shouldn’t be scared to ditch POD. I guarantee you, you’re still gonna have this problem 1 year down the line if you continue with it. Jumia & Konga have been doing it for 5 years and they’re still having serious issues with it. Ditch it for good.

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Sir,

Two questions:

What product(s) are you selling? Is it destructible, perishable or biodegradable?

…life is a journey.

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It’s undeniable that you are on to something with your business. I believe that your ultimate wish is to kill off Cash-on-Delivery and still maintain or even grow your revenues.

Firstly, give at least 7% discount on prepaid orders in order to lure customers into choosing that option.

You can also promise shorter delivery time for prepaid orders too and then watch your numbers closely.

Once your prepaid order volume rises to a place you are comfortable with, you can then discontinue POD.

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I would suggest you start gathering data (if you haven’t already) on your customers who made the 104m sales possible.The data would help you understand your actual target customers that give you roi. With this you can better target paying customers via ads and whatever means you choose. The problem is not knowing the type of customers who would go through with orders which you can solve by understanding them via the data collected.

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@Malachi New to this forum but not new to the logistics space. Been trying to send you a direct message [still trying to figure out how messaging on radar works] - is there a number I can call you on so we can discuss a bit more about your post?

Dipo

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You need to stick around for a bit to gain the ability to message users.

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I too am interested in the answer to this question sir @Malachi

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either i’m blind or i didn’t just see N216M in total sales

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Hi @manifest we sell slim tea for women.

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Hope you saw 78M returns as well.

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I saw the one I wanted to see, this guy

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Me looking at the figures like

wow animated gif

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