Nigeria’s Yudala acquire drones ‘for fast delivery’

Yudala, Nigeria’s latest e-commerce platform says it has acquired drones to speed up delivery of goods ordered by its customers.

This move, the company said, is a way of overcoming the traffic challenge issues in the major Nigerian cities.

Prince Nnamdi Ekeh say that customers would get different experience of online retail with the launch of its online shopping bay, while noting that the company got necessary approvals from authorities before it acquired the drones.

Yudala had launched its Offline Stores Division with simultaneous roll-out of four stores in Lagos: two Experience and two Smart Stores  in July before following it up with the unveiling of its e-commerce platform.

The e-commerce company was later to roll out more physical retail stores in various locations across Nigeria including Abuja, Owerri, Asaba, Warri, Port Harcourt, Ibadan and Uyo, according to Ekeh.

“We have acquired a few drones and working with partners in Asia to develop and deploy these Integrated Drones to avoid vehicular traffic in major cities in Nigeria. We are working to secure appropriate permits from the relevant government agencies. This will go live soon as we live up to our mandate of setting new milestones for the online retail business in the country.”

According to him, “we are extremely delighted with the reception of Yudala Online and the massive hits received on Yudala.com from the moment we went live on Monday. This is testimony to the fact that this is the revolution in e-commerce which every Nigerian has been waiting for.”

He adds that, “for the first time ever in the history of e-commerce in Nigeria, the customer no longer has to face the uncertainty of where to turn for support. We offer core after-sales support on both warranty and out-of-warranty products purchased from our online platform or from any of our offline stores nationwide.”

The company executive says that when customers buy from Yudala, “apart from the secure, safe shopping experience you enjoy on the website, every product carried on our platforms, either online or offline, comes directly from the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). As a result, there are no issues of grey products finding its way into your hands. You also get to enjoy all risks cover (except theft) from Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc. on every product purchased from us. These are the bases for the Yudala management taking responsibility for every product purchased from and delivered by us.”