Trust has always been a major factor keeping shoppers from shopping online thereby limits the growth of e-commerce.
But the COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the importance of addressing this barrier.
In a survey by BusinessDay, some experts provide these solutions on how to improve or build consumer trust as it is the cornerstone of customer relations in the e-commerce market.
“Testimonial videos not Whatapp messages from your clients goes a long way in building trust. The videos must show them appreciating and giving good recommendations about your business or product,” Tolu Craig, founder and business lead at PTwebs, a digital solutions firm said.
He also added that online vendors should have money backed guarantee if the consumer gets the wrong product or he is not satisfied. “Give clients a commission on every referral they give, it works and goes a long way”.
According to a 2017 global survey from the Centre for International Governance Innovation, 49 percent of people say they are increasingly concerned about their privacy online, and lack of trust is the main issue keeping them from shopping online.
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Damilola Shinkaye, chief executive officer of Kovitex noted that online businesses should start with securing their websites by having a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), an encryption-based internet security protocol that protects users’ information.
“Vendors should make the buying journey easier from seeing the product to getting to the checkout point e.g through emails. And have an e-commerce website that makes sure that the internal processes are done well enough so that you don’t mix up inventors,” Shinkaye said.
Last year, the rapid spread of COVID-19 and lockdowns that restricted movement of people, made businesses realise that maintaining some form of revenue stream is to leverage the importance and opportunities in the technological space by pushing their products online
And a recent Mastercard study on consumer spending revealed that over 81 percent of consumers in Nigeria have been shopping more online since the onset of the pandemic, as purchases such as mobile data, with apparel, beauty products and fast-moving consumer goods surge of online.
“In Nigeria, everybody wants to be an entrepreneur but they lack the technical know-how to do business, funds in trying to survive and having the right partnership with a strong online marketplace e.g Jumia,” Elijah Bello, a tech expert said.
Jumia, a popular online marketplace has raised the bar in terms of how e-commerce business is done in Nigeria. “Until businesses learn to live up to that standard, I don’t think e-commerce will transform,” he said.
A recent article by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) says that e-commerce offers developing countries new ways of building economic advantage, creating jobs and enterprises, and facilitating progress towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The organisation further stresses the need for governments to create the enabling environment for e-commerce so that businesses that seize those opportunities will be well placed to benefit from it.
Some of the recommendations are having e-commerce readiness assessments and strategy formulation, information communication and telecommunications infrastructure and services, trade logistics and facilitation, payment solutions, legal and regulatory frameworks, e-commerce skills development, access to financing for e-commerce and empowering women entrepreneurs in developing countries.
