Following
the recent down turn in the international price of
crude oil and its effect on oil dependent economy like Nigeria, the Nigeria
president, Muhammadu Buhari has reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to
foster development of non-oil sectors and the speedy diversification of the
country’s economy. Reacting to the president’s plan, experts have continued to
urge the president to focus on Trade and Commerce and how technology can be used to drive it.
Trade and Commerce is fast becoming an indispensable
component of the non-oil sector of the Nigerian economy. The Wholesale and
Retail space for instance currently accounts for about $100 billion. This
according to a McKinsey report has a potential of increasing to $300 billion by
2030.
Speaking on how the growth in Trade and Commerce can be
enhanced for national growth, the Media spokesperson of Supermart.ng, Oluwatayo
Alofun noted that there is need to create an atmosphere for buyers to buy more
and sellers to sell more. He noted that when sellers are able to make more
sales it leads to business expansion which automatically creates room for more
employments and also contribute to national growth.
According to him, “the current traditional Wholesale and
Retail business as we have it today is generally unorganized. What e-commerce
companies like Supermart.ng
has done however is to organize the market such that consumers can get
everything they want in just one spot. This makes them to buy more. This
explains why supermart.ng
has partnered with leading supermarkets and
local markets to put up a one stop shop online with over 60,000 items including
Fresh food, foreign products, Nigerian ingredients, general groceries and baby
products among others which will be delivered to buyers in as early as three
hours of order”
In order for this to be possible, a chain of different job
roles have to function together. In the case of supermart.ng for instance,
there are merchandisers who go out to take inventory of the products, there is
also a team of personal shoppers who professionally picks the products and
package them. After the packaging, there is a team of well-trained drivers who
ensures that products are delivered in good condition to the buyers. A team of
customer care attendants also exist to ensure that customers are satisfied with
the service. In this way, e-commerce is creating jobs across multiple industry
including operations and logistics.
In essence, the use of e-commerce in the diversification of
the economy will not only increase revenue but will reduce unemployment through
creation of multiple jobs.
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