Unlike the years where micro business owners in underserved areas face deprivation in accessing fast moving commodities and goods to sell to consumers due to factors such as: unavailable infrastructure, long distance to the market and lack of adequate transport for purchased goods.
These days, the story has changed as they can boast of easily accessing what used to be far-fetched.
This is not without the efforts of e-commerce platforms like Alerzo who have their presence in rural areas and are reaching the underserved with access to extensive catalogue of products and logistics.
Through texts, phone calls and logging on to its site where applicable, customers can easily place orders and get the goods delivered swiftly without being charged for delivery.
Explaining this, Alerzo’s CEO, Adewale Opaleye stated: “Our strong presence in the Southwest, and continued expansion to the Northwest and Central consolidate our desire to grow in a sustainable manner and continue to serve those that are underserved.
“On our Alerzoshop retail app, we have a vast assortment available to our customers to choose from and we offer free delivery in all the over 13 cities we’re currently operational. We change the landscape for them (retailers) one delivery at a time.
“For the past two years, we have delivered to informal retailers at no cost. With our delivery services, retailers save time, energy, and resources that they would have otherwise expended in restocking. These benefits have resulted in 85% of our retailers reducing their two to four times a week restock trips to zero.”
Certainly, there is need for more intervention of e-commerce platforms in reaching the underserved, to further boost the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP), as the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) serve as the engine of the nation’s economy with 50% contribution to the GDP and 80 per cent of the country’s total employment.
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