E-commerce has emerged as a veritable tool which many use in
transacting their businesses. There are netpreneuers and entrepreneur who rely
heavily on the vehicle of e-commerce to transfer their goods and service to the
end user.
Despite it wide spread use amongst several persons in the
business class, there are peculiar struggles that has continued to militate against
the seamless involvement of engaging in e-commerce. Some of these challenges are
prompted by the end user , while most of it, are based on the location of
certain netpreneuers and entrepreneurs.
In virtually or most e-commerce transactions, there are
three parties involved. Though, there are exceptions. For those that deal with
online stores, there is Jumia or Konga, amongst others. There are people who
own their stores on these sites, and when an end user or a buyer finds a product
of interest, Jumia or Konga becomes a facilitator of the transaction, depending
on the location of the seller and the buyer.
Most times, delivery is done
primarily by the seller on a pay on delivery basis at which point the buyer
pays to the online store, which then remits it to the seller on a commission.
Where it gets complicated at times, is when the location of
both the buyer and seller are different or put in another way when they are far
apart from each other.
In that instance, the situation is left to the seller to
resolve. Especially, when an e-commerce site doesn't have a designated place
for pick-up of goods. Something that is not available in key cities. It is left
to the seller to incur the cost of delivering the goods to the buyer, where he
or she is. When the cost of sending the goods becomes higher than the price of the
goods, it becomes difficult to go ahead with such a transaction. Though, buyers
pay for the delivery cost in the normal cause of business.
It doesn't end there, in a situation where the buyer isn't
satisfied with the goods, it has to be sent back to the seller, a cost they
most likely would incur themselves.
Most buyers in the hinterland prefer home deliveries except
those that are desperate to get the goods. They usually go to pick up locations
to get it themselves.
In a place like Benin City, none of the major online stores
or e-commerce site has a pick up location.(Something has gradually changed) Some of them have logistic companies
that are either not reliable or plain incompetent.
Most times, orders outside
the city are not delivered on time whenever the buyer is at a location that the
logistic company doesn’t frequent always, for this reason, the logistic company
would want to stock up enough goods so that they can deliver it all at once at
a location to save cost, but to the detriment of the seller, who loses the
benefits of getting his or her goods delivered on time, which would have prompted
early payment.
Besides, for an entrepreneur in places like the Edo State
capital that relies heavily on e-commerce sites to sell goods, chances are
about 80% of interested buyers would end up being from other cities particularly
Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt. And most times most inquiries comes from Lagos.
Most sellers have had to change the location to read Lagos
on this site, when they don't reside anywhere near it.
It is easier for an entrepreneur using an online store in
Lagos to get goods to a buyer. One, the availability of pick up locations,
makes it easier for the seller to drop off goods without incurring further cost.
While, it is now left for the buyer to go pick up the goods.
Home delivery in
such places doesn't always become the labyrinthine it is in some cities.
And thirdly, there is virtually no logistics company whether reliable or not that
doesn't have an office in Lagos. This is the stuff of dreams for any person
that is involved in e-commerce.
A seller can get a lot of inquiries for it products in an
online store, but if the means to deliver it to the buyer is not straightforward
or readily available, that transaction is already off before it started.
Another thing is that location usually determines whatever
additional cost both parties might incur if it beyond the cost of the goods.
As a result of scenarios like this, some persons that find
themselves in such situation in Benin City, have had to make separate
arrangement with logistics companies outside the designated ones of the online stores which lacks the wide spread reach needed for e-commerce transactions.
However, the challenges of such arrangement can be enormous.
One, the price of the logistics company can become so high that it makes a seller's
effort counterproductive.
At other times, there could be an arrangement with a private
driver in a transport company to deliver the goods to the buyer. This again is
frost with dangers.
This writer was privy to a seller who gave her goods to a
driver to deliver from Benin City to a buyer in Enugu. The goods were delivered.
And the transaction being payment on delivery, the money was handed to the driver;
cost of delivery was also paid. Note here that the buyer got to know of the
availability of the product on an e-commerce site.
The buyer a woman contacted the seller that she had received
and paid the driver, and she was satisfied with the goods.
The driver called
the seller on this development. Then things started going south. First the
driver's phone line suddenly stopped connecting. His line didn't connect for up to
five days after he had long delivered it. The buyer had to go to the transport
company to look for the driver. She eventually saw him. His excuse was that he
lost his phone and he had to travel to other locations. But he handed the money
over to the seller. This was after one week.
Despite the challenges of e-commerce transactions, there are
still aspects that are seamless. When for instance, both buyer and seller reside
in Benin City, there is no delivery cost needed. Both parties can meet at a
location of their choice and trash out a transaction.
This is becoming common with some e-commerce sites. But
largely, sites like olx and Jiji, which are open for individuals to put up
their goods for sale whether they are brand new or fairly used.
Most times it involves
parties in the same locations. So such transactions don’t involve the labyrinth
of having to send a product outside a city. And the sites, though similar to
the main online stores are different.
For all the challenges of being involved in e-commerce,
whether induced by location or other indices, the most difficult party in
e-commerce transactions are the buyers.
On several occasions, you hear sellers complain about how goods are sent to a buyer in far flung locations, only for the buyer's
mobile line to suddenly stop going, and the goods couldn’t be delivered as a result.
Other instances involves; where the buyer turns down the goods for one flimsy
reason. When this happens, the goods are returned at an additional cost to the
seller.
This is not to say that there are not unscrupulous sellers.
While there is always an advisory for buyers to see the goods they are purchasing
before paying for it, which has made home delivery popular.
Plus there are pictures of the goods available on these
online stores, some buyers have ended up being swindled. Like a buyer who got
what looked like a padded carton when he ordered for a television. And she made
his order through an online store.
It doesn't end there, the online stores, themselves, have
made it even difficult for sellers to reap tangible benefit through the medium
they provide by arbitrarily increasing commissions that sellers have to pay. Some have
had to close or put their store on break altogether because they couldn't cope.
The high cost of some of these goods on some online stores
is so, because the seller who have to pay a percentage of it to the owners, and
added to that, they are imported goods.
Aside that, some e-commerce sites unfairly determine the stores
they chose to drive traffic to, even those with a lesser price for their goods don’t
always get such benefit.
Though, there is the availability of paid advert to
drive traffic to a store, for some reason, those that are not on that scale
have different levels of traffic to their stores for no particular reason other
than that determined by the e-commerce site.
Some online stores can be low on traffic,
but suddenly the traffic would pick up, and the seller would start getting
orders from buyers. Not that the seller did anything different before this
happened. But the e-commerce site had a trick up their sleeves. A trick best
known to them.
E-commerce has attained a crescendo that many no longer go
to regular market places or stores to buy certain things, they order it online.
But for those that get their goods delivered to them in one piece without any
hassle, they won't appreciate the challenges most operators of online stores on
e-commerce site go through to get their goods to the end user.
It has become a mine field for many, that they have had to
hold back, and the larger economic challenge has not helped many to continue operating,
because most of their goods are imported. And most online sellers, would tell
you, getting the goods isn't always the issue, but paying for it to be
delivered to you. Because, delivery could be costlier than the goods, though
this is not always the case.
For a city like Benin, besides the peculiar challenges
of e-commerce, there are others brought about by the fact that it is the Edo State
capital, and that is not expected to change anytime soon.
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