Most
of the commodities consumed in Nigeria come from overseas — even though we’re
making effort to become industrialized but right now we are yet to get there.
There are commodities out there that when brought into this country would sell
like pure water, so how do you go about bringing these goods into the country
in a legal way to earn mega income?
Until
now import business used to be the exclusive right of people with plenty of money
and technical know how, people who can travel around the world and all that.
But right now, the story has changed; you can actually import goods from
overseas right from your bedroom without having to travel anywhere! One thing
special about imported goods is that people get to respect it more than the
locally made type (not necessarily superior in quality though) and tends to
patronize it more. Let’s face it — import business is a very big business but
you need to know how to go about it to be able to make a lot of money from the
goods you imported, you need to start by knowing what comes first and second
and so on. So how do you proceed to setting up your import business?
1.
Look for hot Products
In those days you’d need to travel to many countries to
be able to identify products to import. Now, you can seat back at the comfort
of your bedroom and do it on the internet. Look for trending products or some
that are not in the country presently that you think people will love.
First
of all, bring small quantity into Nigeria to see how people will react to it.
That is, to quantify the acceptability of the product before importing. If a
product is not acceptable, there is no need to invest your hard earned money
into it because it wouldn’t sell to make you your money back. You must do this
initial product trail by bringing small quantity first to see if people going
to like it. After you showed it to your potential customers and they like it,
make estimate of the quantity they would demand based on their interest and use
the data to judge the volume of goods to be imported. Use the same process to
get your subsequent products. Until the product become a household name.
2.
Where to get the Products
Like I said before, you don’t have to travel overseas to
get sample of the product — you can get it on the internet. Go to merchant
websites like Alibaba.com, Ebay.com, etc. or just Google the ‘keywords’ where
to import goods from — browse through the sites to see the type of products
that may not be in the Nigerian market already. Place your order by paying
using your electronic Credit or Debit card (ATM Card). Most Nigerian Banks now
have cards that are acceptable on these sites. You may write money through
other means like bank deposit or money transfer. Once you’ve paid for the goods
with shipment cost included. The next thing is to wait for the goods to arrive.
You may not need the services of a clearing agent if the import is through
premium Currier services Like DHL, UPS and others.
3.
Sell off the Products
You must have talked to your potential customers about
your soon to arrive product using the sample from the previous product sample
you brought in. Now that you have the main products, Get the product to them
and sell off at whole sale price to make your profit. Then repeat the process
to as many times as it remains profitable. To be able to increase your capital,
you need to reinvest your gain from the first and second trips until you have
enough money to import in mega quantity. Check from Nigeria import and export
promotion commission (I’m not sure if that is their real name) to see types of
products allowed into this country.
