By Olubunmi Adeniyi
Lagos. February 15, 2013: BuyCommonThings.com is to flag off delivery to new parts of Lagos to foster its vision of becoming Nigeria’s top online grocery retail store.
Olumide Olusanya, Chief Executive Officer, BuyCommonThings, who dropped this hint in an interview with Technology Times says the new entrant online retail service for common home needs will start delivering to customers in South West Ikoyi, Onikan and Lagos Island from February 17, this year.
“We are already pushing our services on the mainland and we are giving N1,000 airtime every day free for shoppers who register on our website for the Lagos Mainland roll out”, he adds.
BuyCommonThings.com promoted by PayMente Limited is the brainchild of Olumide Olusanya, a medical doctor, whose career experiences have navigated the e-payment, banking and financial services, among other industries.
Olusanya, who reckons that unfolding policy environment supporting new e-payment options beyond physical cash, is paving the way for services like BuyCommonThings to enable Nigerians shop from the comfort of their homes, offices or any other connected device and “have their products delivered to their doorsteps.”
He says that the company which began commercial operations in October, last year with its debut in parts of Lagos, the nation’s commercial capital, helps to save time and money for online shoppers who usually visit traditional markets, supermarket and stores to get their goods.
He says the BuyCommonThings platform provides the shopper with a wider opportunity to select their goods like household essentials, child care, personal care, frozen foods, beverages, packet and canned foods, among others.
Nigerians are becoming more aware of the possibilities and opportunities of buying goods online because the problem of taking out time to go to the market or supermarket to buy things is no more there, the company CEO says.
“The traffic on the Lagos Island is one of the major factors that discourage shoppers because no one wants to spend hours on the road before they can get what they want to buy”, he adds.
According to him, “we made life easier for our customers. We help to deliver order straight to door step. The process is to identify what you want to buy online, select and check out. Immediately, you get an email confirming your order.”
On the payment process, Olusanya says that shoppers can pay cash on delivery; they can pay through internet bank transfer, online and ATM cards.
“We do same day delivery. If you place an order on the website by 12 p.m., we promise you will get your order before 6p.m. on the same day and immediately we send you delivery advice”, Olusanya adds.
While commending the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Cashless Lagos initiative, he says that there are still more things to be done to make the programme more effective.
“CBN needs to look more into the service charges. Charges from the financial institutions are high. When merchant are charged high by banks, they usually don’t want to part with their margin, they in turn pass the cost to the end users,” he says.
He advises that to make the cashless policy very effective in the country players in the ecosystem need to review the charges associated with using e-payment channels.
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