By JONAH NWOKPOKU

The emerging e-commerce in Nigeria is a cake that many entrepreneurs want to have a share. Besides retailing, which is rapidly duplicating all brick and mortar products and services, there have also been series of online business in the ‘Business to Consumer’ category like real estate and classified advertising.

However, operators in retailing, especially startups, usually find to their chagrin, that despite sleek and beautiful websites, well designed product display and even impressive endorsements on the social networks, patronage could not match popularity. In some cases, the operator sees impressive visits to the site but the conversion ratio still does not pick up. All the customers have turned to window shoppers.

Several reasons can account for this challenge but chief among them is lack of information.

Shoppers are prone to developing doubts and questions: How easily can I exchange these trousers if they don’t fit? Will my purchase arrive before Valentine’s day or my partner’s birthday?”; “How do I talk to a representative on the phone? Any one of these is enough to miss out on a potential purchase.

In addition, pricing also plays a major role in managing conversion. Prices may be more uncompetitive than imagined. And the challenge is that in e-commerce, pricing is highly competitive. It’s unlikely that, as an operator, your store is the only one selling a particular product, and if you’re not constantly aware of the competitive landscape, it’s entirely possible you’ll be undercut.

Furthermore, the speed efficiency of your site is not a complement to your offering but a prerequisite to optimizing conversion.

Nothing is as annoying for a shopper as an unresponsive interface. There have been numerous studies that show the slower a site is, the fewer conversions it makes.

It is also likely that you have enough information on your site, armed with competitive pricing and fast and efficient website, and yet not selling. If that is the case, then, the problem may be poor discoverability. This is because, if customers can’t find what they want, even if they don’t know they want it, then they aren’t going to make a purchase.

Besides these, the CEO of girlyessentials.com.ng, an online beauty store, Chinma Nwaozuzu, told Financial Vanguard that, “In Nigeria, where e-commerce is a relatively new terrain, one of the major reasons why a customer might not make a purchase after visiting a website is because they are still skeptical about online shopping in the country.

It is important therefore for a company to first of all instill confidence in these online shoppers so as to negate any concerns they might have about security (card payments) or the quality of the products they are buying. One of the ways this can be addressed is by offering as many payment options as possible. ‘Cash on delivery’ is very much advised for customers that are reluctant to make payment online.