The bread and butter of any business is to make profit- what then is it if not to be profitable? As a typical small business owner in Nigeria, selling online is another avenue to further get more customers for what you sell. However the selling online is quite different from the usual way you run your brick ‘n’ mortal store. To stay profitable in your online business, you have to master these 5 hacks to stay profitable. Well let’s get to it right away.
Master your pricing mechanism
Whenever you talk profitability, you must talk pricing. They go hand in hand. The price you slam on an item should cover for the cost plus your gain- if not, what else are you in the business for? Your price keep you up there competing with your competitors. This is key especially in the online marketplace world. It is important for you to master the several types of pricing mechanisms. This would help you have a pricing strategy that can always make you win in your business transactions.
Deal with two to three suppliers
In this game, you want to have options. Depending too much on one supplier can affect the profitability of your business. Having two to three suppliers gives you flexibility to source products for your utmost benefit. Part of what you’re looking for is how prompt is your suppliers to meet your orders? Are they giving you best price? All these affect the profitability of your business.
One very important point why you’re better off having more than one supplier is you can have better chance of always having products in stock as opposed to depending solely one which can fail you a times; if one runs out of stock, you can always fall back on another.
Always reinvent your online marketing strategy
More sales lead to more profit. To keep the sales coming regularly, you need to be abreast with trends and new internet marketing practices to help you get in more sales.
Investigate what others are doing now to get in more customers, how can you copy or do better. Always keep your ears and eyes open for the slightest information that can help your business. Visit blogs and forums to see what other people are doing or saying. Be smart and creative in your execution.
Always have budget for publicity
Most merchants In Nigeria are so blindly looking for free things. Yea I know the world of internet there are a lot of free things. But if you base your business only on things that cost you nothing, you most likely would only remain on the average. Spending money to get money is the way to make more money in the online business. Get your books and calculate it out.
Sell across several online marketplace
Today, there are quite a number of online marketplace in Nigeria. Aside from the top guys like Jumia.com, Konga.com and olx.com, a lot more online marketplaces are fast growing too like cokodeal.com, dealdey.com, jiji.ng, vconnect.com etc. What this means is a lot more opportunity for you to expose your products to thousands of customers. The more you sell at the right price, the more you make more money and the more profit increases.
Business is mostly about rolling your sleeves and getting down to work hard to get results. Ecommerce in Nigeria is fast growing, new concepts springing up every day. Get your pen and paper and calculate out what moves you need to make to get your business regularly profitable. Get your strategy right and always socialize.
That’s it for now guys.
If you have any question, leave a comment.
Cheers!