Kiwtok.com was established in 2020. Adam Kiwto, is a co founder and Investor.
Our Challenge: Why Many Ecommerce Can’t Survive In Nigeria
Nigerians are distinctive people and each area has it own distinctiveness. For example, i am an original Warri breed, i grew with aggression in my blood, but when i finally left Delta State, i saw how normal people behave is very different, i am not saying Warri(my people) people are not Normal. I am saying that by definition, being calm and most situations with love, is a better way to live than breaking bottles.
This change in Character is not only good and bad, or black and white, like saying warri is black, while Ogun people are white. The change in character actually show how diversified Nigerians are and how the society shapened them.
But there is one attitude that is prevalent in every Nigerians, or maybe 90% of them. And that is what i am going to talk about today.
Nigerians are ingenious people, with strange humors and careless wisdom. It a strange thing that with so many ingenious people in this country, we as a nation still live on scraps. But that’s a topic for another time.
I started selling phones and computers since 2017 in Warri. As at that time, we never had any intention to go online. But
years back, i had issues with a product i ordered from Jumia for my wife. I got very pissed. My wife doesn’t stay often but whenever she is around, i and my child would try to make every second a memorable one for her. So on that day that Jumia was supposed to deliver the package, it didn’t arrive. I understand unforseen circumstances can cause misunderstanding like this, but i was still pissed. My secretary advised me to add the stuff to broaden our sales margins since it is difficult to get that stuff around.
Two weeks later, i bought in bulks from Amazon and had it shipped to Nigeria. Then another Two weeks later, i was still looking for who to sell them to. I needed to sell them by all means, so i decided to go from beer parlour and hotels to sell them, but it was not needed. My wife has a peculiar taste for table tennis and cheese game.
One day, an idea came to me. Why not sell it online ?
There are many platforms to register and sell this thing but they are all requesting for a pay in order to get my product sold on time. As a stingy Urhobo and Igala boy, i decided to invest in my own website. That was the genesis of Kiwtok.com.
We included all of the products in our shop to the website and started selling. Our online shops is far more affordable compared to other ones out there, because i make not more than 2k from each unit of product on my online shop.
But there was a huge challenge. Most people(about 90%) of people will order and not show up to claim their orders. Sometimes we call and call them and they switch their phones off( we loose both transport fare and irredeemable time). Still, we persisted with the system. Some would even say they don’t have money at that time and that they would get it at a later time. This characteristics Ingenuity peculiar to Nigerians mostly was the reason we stopped payment on delivery except a fee is paid.
Why order when you know you can’t pay ?
In order to know my customers more. I included a direct number for whatsapp. In these chats, i see potential customers asking me to snap back and front of the phone, or i should go and deliver it to their girlfriends and others for inspection before they will pay ? The way i am telling this doesn’t sound annoying, but if you were to be in that position, you will most likely loose your mind.
I did my little research and i saw how Ecommerce are closing down. This is one of the reason.
Nigerians are very sophisticated and gifted
in many ways, but not in Keeping to their words. They are supportive sometimes and yet perfect in destroying businesses. Nonetheless, we decided to stop. We want more customers and we love to have more patronage but the financial risk involved in running Payment on delivery is beyond my power…
So we came up with an idea, we need to protect our business too as much as we cherished you…
Here is our NOTICE BELOW:
“Payment on Delivery will require a specific deposit for sales insurance purpose. If buyer fails to claim goods, no refund will be made.”
It a step forward. If you’re certain you will claim your goods then why are you worried funding your Kiwtok account before making orders ?. After all, you will be completing the funds before tampering with the product’s seal.
It has not been easy. But we are trying our best even though we loose money daily from wrong addresses and switched off phone numbers.
Many ecommerce are going under because of treatments like this.
I sincerely hope you understand why we insist on Payment first before delivery
If you have a better suggestion, i will be happy to hear from you.
Sincerely,
Adam Kiwto
adam@kiwtok.com
