How to start an Online Shop

Nigeria is a beautiful country, but it has a high rate of unemployment. Many of its’ educated and able-bodied youth are employed or unemployable. So we have to find alternatives to this problem. One way to tackle this problem is to open an online shop.

Learn a skill

What do you plan to sell? If you plan to sell Snacks, Cakes or Food you can learn how to make some on the EliStatus website and try ensure you practice enough after watching. Buy the ingredients and make it at home. Once you have mastered making the items give the items to family and friends to test out. Learn to build a brand.

Buy and Resell

If you do not want to learn a skill, you can buy and resell items online. The concept is simple, buy an item people like and resell at a higher price. Where can you find products to buy at cheap and affordable prices? I would suggest going to the state of ABA located in the eastern part of Nigeria or the local market to source for these items. You do not have to hold actual stock of the item.

Make a Shop

Creating a shop is not difficult. You can create an online shop on Instagram for free and advertise using Facebook ads.  You can also create an online shop on Jumia and pay them a commission on each sale. You could also create an online shop facebook. I will advise you create your own website (email: [email protected] for assistance), the reason being that you do not want to compete against other shops on one platform. This will allow you to build a customer list as you continue to advertise and make sales.

Pictures and videos

You will need good pictures to get people to buy your Products for the same  price  as your online shop. When an item looks bad in pictures or videos no one will want to buy from you. Either buy a fantastic Camera or buy a very good smartphone that comes with a good camera. Think of it this way. The client cannot see it in person so they must rely on the image to buy your product.

The background of the picture matters. I suggest you get this mini studio to help you achieve professional pictures. It is pretty cheap for what you can get out of it.

Get Customers and keep them happy

Advertise your products well. I will advise you use Facebook and Instagram ads. You can reach your target audience here.  You have to learn to keep your customers happy. It is easier to get a customer who bought from you once to buy from you again. It is much more difficult to get new people to trust your brand and buy from you. This is why I said a website would be useful to you. When you have a website, you can have a private mailing list. You can send out newsletters every week to keep clients happy and updated on new products and services.

Delivery Company

You need a very good delivery/ logistics company to assist you with deliveries. A lot of times the customer would rather pay for shipping rather than pick it up themselves. You need people you can trust to help you with this. You cannot deliver everything yourself when your business grows so partner with a delivery company you trust.

Have more tips? Need some advice? Comment below and I will get back to you!

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