Writer: EFOSA JUSTIN
Doing Business in Nigeria is a feat for only the brave, with the population bursting at its seams and creating opportunities as a byproduct among many other things, well, we can say it’s a blessing that comes with a huge demand from its bearers.
As an entrepreneur in the Nigerian market, one must take advantage of the population as it’s arguably the biggest advantage of doing business in Nigeria and this is made possible by integrating eCommerce into your business, especially in the 21st century where the online space has come more of a marketing tool than ever.
However, choosing the right eCommerce development partners for your business can be very challenging, especially for startups and businesses that are scaling up to the eCommerce level for the first time.
To ease your navigation through this challenge, in this article, we will discuss an easy guide to help you make the very important choice of the best eCommerce development services for your business.
Know What Your Business Needs:
The first thing you must do before choosing a business development service partner for your business is to understand your business and what it needs. You must know what you want to sell, who you want to sell to, and how you want to sell it.
This goes a long way to help you communicate what you expect from any potential eCommerce partner that you choose to consider and in the long run, it helps you evaluate whether or not you are getting your desired result.
Check for Suitability:
Analyze these potential eCommerce Development Service providers and look out for their strengths and weaknesses as they relate to your needs. Of course, all business has their strengths and weaknesses.
You will always see them if you observe closely. Your goal is not to find one without any flaws but rather to find one whose strengths align with your business aims and objectives while their weakness cannot have so much impact on your business.
If your business already has affiliation with other businesses or already uses eCommerce platforms such as Jumia, Shopify, and the like, you must find an eCommerce development partner that has demonstrated a good ability to work with these platforms or your affiliates without raising complications for the business.
Budget Flexibility:
In choosing a suitable eCommerce development partner for your business, budget flexibility is very important.
This is because although some service providers might be cheaper, they may not be the best fit for your business. Going into this search with a fixed budget might result in making a bad choice in a bid to save cost and in the long run, you tend to lose more. You must bear in mind that it is more important to make the right choice than to pick the cheapest offer.
Market Familiarity:
The Nigerian market is a diverse one. Sometimes, the market trends vary from one local government to the other.
This diversity poses itself to be a challenge for any business that’s trying to reach a wider range of people.
If gaining a wider reach is the reason you want to partner with an eCommerce Development service provider, then you must look for one that has gained experience within the market, is familiar with the trend partner of your business, and is able to adapt accordingly.
Background Checks:
It is important to do a background check on the company you intend to partner with before starting a business relationship with them.
You should check that they are proper industry players who follow the rules and regulations that abound within their field.
It’s also important to check reviews from other people who have partnered with them in the past. Payment of tax and other relevant records should be checked to ensure that they are tax compliant.
This is a crucial part of the whole process because partnering with a company with bad reviews or bad tax or financial records can easily rub off on your business brand too. In the same vein, partnering with a reputable company can also rub their good repute with your business.
Know Your Contract Terms:
When bringing in a partner to your business, you must have a contract with all terms from all parties involved. Understanding the terms of your potential partner is imperative. You must also ensure that they understand your terms and agree to all of them. You must ensure that you have your terms well spelled out and concise enough for easy understanding.
Although the agreement to terms part of choosing an eCommerce partner comes at the latter part of the whole process, it’s still a great determinant of what your final decision will be. In the terms, you can outline your targets and goals with time frames so your potential partners know what is expected of them and affirm whether it’s a task they can shoulder.
Conclusively, the process of choosing an eCommerce development service is not rocket science if we follow these simple guides. It is very much like hiring a new staff for your company.
You would look for someone who does not only physically appeal to the organization’s aims and objectives but is also mentally and strategically a good fit for the role.
The business world is a vast one but eCommerce has made it seem more like a small street. Every business needs to harness the potential of eCommerce and take advantage of its ability to put businesses on the global stage yet within the reach of everyone.
