A Complete Guide in Starting a Dropshipping in Nigeria
Have you ever wondered what dropshipping is or why you should consider dropshipping in Nigeria? Well, dropshipping is a more cost-effective business venture than wholesale. Dropshipping in Nigeria is a risk-free endeavour that requires no additional costs for holding inventory and shipping products.
In this article, we have made a complete guide for you on how to start up a Dropshipping in Nigeria.
What is Dropshipping?
Dropshipping is a retail fulfilment method where a store doesn’t keep the products it sells in stock. Instead, when a store sells a product, it purchases the item from a third party and has it shipped directly to the customer.
Dropshipping is a type of business model which enables a business to operate without maintaining inventory, owning a warehouse to store their products or even having to ship their products to their customers themselves.
Benefits
• It requires little startup capital.
• It is very convenient to run
• Easier to make a profit.
• Unlike other forms of mini-importation in Nigeria, you can run the business from the comfort of your home without a storage facility for goods or products.
Does Dropshipping Work In Nigeria?
Yes, dropshipping works very much in Nigeria. We do have a lot of merchants and entrepreneurs dropshipping in Nigeria. We also have some merchants’ dropshipping from Nigeria to other countries.
Is Dropshipping Legal in Nigeria?
Dropshipping does not violate any law in Nigeria. As a Nigerian, dropshipping does not attract any legal taxes.
If your merchandise targets the Nigerian market, you’d be exempted from paying tax duty when your goods arrive.
Comparing Dropshipping with Retail
The biggest difference between dropshipping and the standard retail model is that the selling merchant doesn’t stock or own inventory.
Instead, the merchant purchases inventory as needed from a third party usually a wholesaler or manufacturer to fulfil customer orders.
Drop-shipping has the advantage of requiring a smaller cash investment up front. With the standard retail or e-commerce model, you do need to invest more cash upfront. Your reward, however, is higher profit margins.
Starting a Dropshipping in Nigeria
Here are five easy guides in starting a Dropshipping business in Nigeria;
1. Find a Niche or Product
Picking a niche you fully conversant with will give you some added advantage over your competitors. Without prior knowledge of the industry of operation, you won’t notice anything suspicious about the quality of the products, pricing or anything related.
Your choice of business needs to be focused on something you are genuinely interested in. This is because a product range that isn’t focused will be difficult to market, and you might lose focus at some point.
2. Find a Supplier
Using the wrong supplier can ruin your business, so it’s essential to carry out due diligence while finding a supplier. In Nigeria, most dropshipping suppliers for Nigerian businesses are mostly from China.
Alibaba and Amazon are one of the biggest online retailers with potential manufacturers and suppliers. Make enquiries about your suppliers to know what their production capabilities are if your business multiplies. You want to be sure they can handle such demands.
3. Choose your Platform.
You need a platform to run your dropshipping business. You can merge with popular e-commerce stores such as Jumia & Konga, which allows you to sell on their platform.
It is easier to use platforms that will require a little resource to handle. You can make of social media to broadcast and market your products. Then, as your business scale, you can launch your website.
4. Promote your Business
After you have chosen a platform for your dropshipping business, you need all the methods applicable for promotion. Having the products people desire without adequate promotion to get the product in their faces is terrible for business.
You can make use of the availability of social media marketing and promotional tools to promote your business. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other platforms have promotional tools that can put any business in the global space.
5. Get your Finances in Order
As an entrepreneur, you must take financial management seriously at any stage your business is in. This helps you identify a nip in the bud the financial loopholes that may mar the business. Learn to keep personal finances and business finances separate as much as possible.
What’s your take on this? We believe this article was helpful, if yes, don’t hesitate to share this information with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp and Google plus.
CSN Team.
