Drinks.ng has acquired a 200sqr ft warehouse in Gbagada area of Lagos in a strategic move to integrate offline platform into the online drinks seller.
Speaking with newsmen in Lagos, Lanre Akinlagun, founder/chief executive officer,drinks.ng said the move was basically to connect more with more consumers through effective offline distribution system. He noted that the online business had integrated offline into its platform in order to boost distribution and visibility. “We have integrated offline into our platform for two reasons. The first is to improve our distribution. Nigeria is a very unique country. A lot of things happen differently here. So drinks are one of the things that as much you can get them anywhere, it still relies much on impulse purchases. For instance, people know they want to drink but they don’t necessarily plan for it.
“This makes it very difficult for people to purchase drinks online. But there is a trend we noticed with other online ventures which we are building on. We have realised that a lot of people research online and purchase offline. So people are able to go to our website, see our stock and the prices we offer, and then book it and tell us to keep it at the store and then come by the store later and pick it up. “It is that physical element that is prevalent in Nigeria’s business environment that we are trying to key into. People will not impulsive buy and pay for drinks online, they want to see it first and that is why I think the Iroko style where people research online and buy offline is what is most suitable for products like ours”
He added: “The reason why we have moved offline is not to become big player in the offline world but to merge our online visibility with our offline distribution. And also to give people more reason to trust with our physical presence. It’s also for an extension of our marketing tool because it is easy for us to get referrals through word of mouth, if we have offline presence. But the main point is to increase our distribution. There are people who come into our stores and make orders now because with certain products, there has to be a physical element.” According to Akinlagun, this business model will also help the business reduce operational cost and improve logistics as well.
Ben Uzor
