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With YDS, you can buy, pay conveniently – Online store owner

Hajiya Surayya Ahmad is the Chief Executive Officer of Daily Store Online (YDS) a newly established e-commerce company in Nigeria and in this interview, she talked…

Hajiya Surayya Ahmad is the Chief Executive Officer of Daily Store Online (YDS) a newly established e-commerce company in Nigeria and in this interview, she talked about e-commerce in Nigeria and many more.

 

Did you work elsewhere before starting this?

Yes, back in the UK I have worked with two e-commerce outlets, that is Just it UK and Okazu UK before finally starting Daily Store Online (YDS) in Nigeria.

Why did you decide to start YDS?

I wasn’t the only one behind the establishment of YDS, it is an idea that I and my husband started together. We were both being driven by charity in the last 10 years and while we were in the UK we discovered that people were selling products to the middle-class Nigerians at about 200% to 500% price margin.

Therefore, we started it casually and went into the market with a very good pricing strategy and people are buying it everywhere. However, part of our long term strategy is to bring this brand down and promote made in Nigerian products. What we really want to do is to bring them down here so that our people can get employment and Nigerians are able to buy them at an affordable price.

This is the motivation behind YDS and also we have realized that Nigeria as it is there is a very low purchasing power and a lot of people do not have the money to afford basic necessity; that is why we came up with Pay Small-Small to enable people to buy things and pay conveniently.

What strategies are you using to attain this?

The introduction of YDS is mainly to ease the form of doing online business through the introduction of our Pay Small-small Scheme which is totally interest free and attracts no additional charges.

Are you into partnership with any financial outlet?

YDS is currently in partnership with Mini Store and we also have a partnership with Taj Bank to support the Pay Small-Small, that we have not concluded but all arrangements are in the pipeline.

The store is promoting interest free services, can you tell us more?

While in the UK we were able to buy everything in the house and we were able to pay for these things over 12 months. For us then, it was a life saver. In the Nigerian product financing, you will find something like 21% interest and as a Muslim you are not allow to take interest; and for a low income earner, paying a 21% interest is huge.

What we are doing is to make people buy things easily and get the product financing for a lot of basic home products, car financing and for the ability to spread payment is what has kept us moving. Many goods made in Nigerian products are being produced by people who are not aware of e-commerce.

How do you intend to bridge the gap?

E-commerce in Nigeria isn’t as fast as it is in other countries as our people are reluctant not to order things online due to cash issues. So what we planned to do is to take one cluster at a time. For example we have the home stuck coming up and under this we have incorporated carpenters, people in the wood market, art and craft practitioners among other artisans involved in the making of home things. These are all local people and we directly or indirectly involved them in the e-commerce chain.

Does delivery have additional cost?  

Interest free doesn’t mean profit free, there is a profit elsewhere but not from the consumers.

 

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