E-commerce sales in Nigeria have increased several-fold since the pandemic as thousands of consumers have taken to doing their shopping online while adopting new trading habits.
Similarly, businesses and SMEs have had to move their businesses online to meet the new trend. Many merchants have now created social e-commerce stores and websites to help retain customers and capture the online market share.
This new trend has led to a rise in the use of shipping and delivery services. However, providing the last mile delivery is a major challenge for merchants as customers want to pay little to nothing for delivery.
According to the NRF, 65% of consumers say they look up free-shipping thresholds before adding items to their online shopping carts. Further, 39% expect two-day shipping to be free. And, if you don’t offer it, consumers will shop somewhere else.
This is why it is important that Africa’s foremost logistics provider, GIG Logistics (GIGL) has partnered with Visa to create a Merchant App that solves this problem. The app is equipped with digital technology and offerings that can help social/e-commerce merchants deliver their products to customers quickly and efficiently at a cheaper price.
According to the Director of Operations Services and Hubs at GIG Logistics, Ocholi Etu, GIGL’s partnership with Visa helps solve the most critical factor with online and offline sales; delivery to the end-user.
He explained that Visa’s plan to promote digital commerce and empower e-commerce SMEs aligns with GIGL’s goals. Ocholi added that the partnership makes the delivery of goods cheaper as it provides merchants with discounts of between 12% to 25% on delivery.
Business organisation and goods delivery made easy with GIG’s Merchant App
Joining the thousands of merchants using the GIGL Merchant App is easy. With just a phone number, Business name and password, you can sign-up seamlessly on both Mobile and Windows.
To start shipping, you will need to select one of GIGL’s e-commerce merchant plans. There’s the Basic Plan which is free of charge and offers a 2% discount on each delivery.
Then there is the Class plan which provides 15-20% discount on all shipping cost. The plan which costs just N4,999 per month also comes with a dedicated account officer and media visibility for the business.
Other benefits include an e-commerce business growth kit, monthly newsletter publication and zero charges on Cash on Delivery (COD) transactions.
According to Merchant Support and Growth Manager of GIG Logistics, Mosun Suleiman, GIGL’s e-commerce plans make last-mile delivery easy for merchants. He added that those on the Class plan will have the added benefit of having pick-ups on their doorsteps as opposed to the basic plans where they still have to transport the goods to the pick-up point.
Users of the GIGL Merchant App will get an extra 10% discount when they use a Visa business card to pay for shipping. This means that users on the basic plan now get 12% discount and those on the Class plan now have up to 25% discounts on shipment.
Send goods Abroad at unbelievable prices
Asides from local shipment, the GIGL Merchant App also allows for international shipment as merchants in Nigeria could send goods to their customers in the US. This removes the stressful and costly procedure of shipping abroad by removing the middle man which in turn makes the price more affordable.
Mosun explained that Class Plan users that want to send goods overseas will get up to 10% discount while Basic will get just 2%. However, all plans will still get an additional 10% discount if they use a VISA business card.
This means that merchants on the Class plan can get up to 20% discount on overseas shipment.
The app is currently available for users that want to send or deliver goods within Nigeria or from Nigeria to the USA. However, the Growth Manger has revealed that shipping to other countries from Nigeria and a full launch of the merchant app in Ghana is coming soon.
How to use the app
To make a shipment on the GIGL Merchant App, you simply need to click Ship Now to request a pickup. However, you will need to fund your wallet before the request can be completed.
Funding a personal wallet is pretty easy. Simply enter the amount you want to transfer and pay with either Paystack or Flutterwave. Through the gateway, you can pay with either card, bank, transfer, USSD and VisaQR.
Once the order has been made, you can monitor it using the dashboard, Invoice, process the terminal shipment and tracking features on the app. To manage finances, the app has a wallet, a transaction history, COD and payment logs.
In sum, with its latest partnership, GIG Logistics is better poised to ease of running your business by being a dependable partner to handle deliveries, especially at unbeatable market prices.