Internet marketers are gradually seeing the profit in, and sliding into mini importation business in Nigeria.
This is to an extent, thanks to the presence of Aliexpress which has no doubt made the availability of affordable products popular.

Chinese manufactures have accounts on the platform, and they sell their products directly to you.

The extra expenses made by wholesalers is excluded, and we can get the products very cheap.

Now we will be seeing a brief introduction to mini importation business in Nigeria and what you need to know about it.

Introduction To The Mini Importation Business

Prior to now, the business of importation of goods was left to the hands of Anambra State multi-millionaires and other wealthy men.

You need to gather millions of Naira, and sometimes combine with others to be able to order goods.

This caused a kind of monopoly, and the prices of goods were pretty high.

Aside that, young entrepreneurs weren't getting the chance to do the business. You cannot even get a loan from the bank for the cause, it is a huge financial risk.

Things began to change, and the internet was taking over.

Aliexpress and Alibaba came into the scene, and there was a huge revolution. People could now order goods directly from China, and it will be delivered to their locations anywhere in the world.

It wasn't all about comfort, and entrepreneurs once again saw a big market opportunity.

They were thinking!

What if we import goods to resell as if we are consumers? It looked like a great idea, and mini importation was born!

Best Websites For Mini Importation Business In Nigeria

Owned by the Alibaba Group, Aliexpress and Alibaba are two of the best websites for mini importation business in Nigeria.

They are not the same, but they do not have much differences.

Aliexpress is for retailers, and you can order single products.

Alibaba is for wholesalers, and there are minimums to products you can order.

Simply put, importers purchase products from Aliexpress as samples before placing orders on Alibaba.

Manufactures all have stores on Aliexpress, and you can just order small units to check out the products.

Another top product source for Nigerian mini importers is 1688.com, and they have a lot of 'cheap' products.

Majority of mini importers stick to these three, and from reviews they are the best.

Things You Should Know About The Mini Importation Business Before You Place Your First Order

Like any other businesses, you should do a market survey before you begin your mini importation businesses.

I have seen and heard stories of a lot of people who failed, and it is all because they didn't do good researches.

We will be seeing five key things every mini importer should take note of before beginning.

• Import only products in demand

Many Nigerian mini importation business owners make the mistake, and their products are stuck with them for months.

Before you place your first order, take a market survey.

Make sure whatever you are trying to order is in demand, and people will pay for it.

A simple way of doing this is by visiting Jumia.com.

• Select a product category ie electronics
• After that, choose a seller score
• Then you select a high rating

You will see products that have high ratings in your niche.
Click on a few of them, and check if they have received a rating the current month.

If yes, you just found a hot, selling product.

• Avoid products with size

Products such as shoes, shirts are trousers are not always easy to sell online.

People do not always buy them, and sometimes return the orders to you after buying from Jumia.

Personally, I have made a good number of purchases online, but never bought a shoe because I have very big legs.

I have to go to the market and test the shoes I like before paying for them.

• Don't order a particular colour of products

While importing, make sure to select a wide range of colours.

Don't stick to black, maybe because your immediate friends are cool with it.

Mix up the whole thing.

For instance, if you want to order 100 units of a particular product, you can make 20 white, 20 black, 20 red, 20 golden and the remaining ones brown.

No matter who, they will have a choice in your stock.

• Consider the prices of your products

As a beginner, go for the the cheaper but quality products.

You can get wrist watches, hair growth cream, tooth whitening products and many other things at very affordable prices.

There are a lot of products you can purchase for less than ₦1,000 each, and resell them for anything above ₦4,000.

• Check the weight of your orders

The customs don't charge for goods weighing below 1kg, and so you have to stick to that.

Pick different ranges of products, and make sure they don't exceed the weight to avoid being called to pay extra money for clearance.

What Do You Need To Start Mini Importation In Nigeria?

There are no much things needed to become a mini importation business owner.

Some of them include:

• A laptop or mobile phone with internet access
• An active email account
• A good e-commerce website for selling your products, you can also consider getting a Jumia or Konga seller account
• Your capital

Goods Suitable For Mini Importation In Nigeria

Some of the goods suitable for mini importation business in Nigeria include:

• Expensive but low-size goods

These include things like wrist watches, charges etc.

Importing bulky products will mean paying more importation fees, and they do not always go well for selling online.

• Hot Selling Products

Importing memory cards might be a financial error, but stuff like wrist watches are things everyone would love to own.

Use the tips I taught in section 3 to check for hot selling products before you place orders.

• Un-prohibited items

There are things that are prohibited for importation by the Nigerian government, or need some licence before they can be brought in.

Some of these things are being sold on Chinese e-commerce stores, and they will ship if you place an order.

Getting a refund for shipped products is worth a lot of headache, and you would never like to experience that, so it's best to avoid such items.

• Exclusive products

People have heard a lot about wrist watches, why not import one with some extra functionalities? People will be excited about owning such, and it means better market for you.

How To Pay For Your Goods

I paid with my credit card on Aliexpress, but there are also other options such as Western Union.

The credit card option is the best, especially when it comes to getting a refund, it goes back to your card.

Make sure the card you will be using still has enough days before it expires, there may be a need to get a refund and it will be more complicated.

How To Avoid Fraud While Shopping On Aliexpress, Alibaba and 1688.com

There are not usually cases of fraud, but we know the Chinese can be very funny at times.

To avoid fraud and low quality products;

• Make sure to read other customer's reviews
• Avoid ridiculously cheap products, Santa Claus only shows up in Decembers
• Never chat with your seller outside the platform, no one will use that as an evidence should a case arise
• Make sure you receive your products before marking them delivered
• If you have an issue with a seller and they tell you something like that you should mark it resolved, so they sort the issue out with you, say NO! The issue might affect their reputation on the platform, but marking it resolved is very risky, and the platform will never help you again if it is not rectified.

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