How to Shop online in Nigeria

Posted by Felix Okoli on Thursday December 27, 2012 11:39:23:

The number of online shopping sites are growing in Nigeria as internet usage and literacy also increases. More Nigerians now shop online unlike in the past when visiting local stores was mostly the norm. It has even become easier for Nigerians to shop as most online stores list their prices and offer products and services people need on a daily basis and at various locations too. There are stores that offer free deliveries as well as pickup options for buyers shopping for physical goods.

Things needed to shop online

To shop online in Nigeria, here are the basic things you'd need:

- A Payment card e.g. ATM card, Visa card, Mastercard, Etranzact, Verve, Interswitch card.
- Online shopping website
- Verified email address and/or phone number
- Internet connection

How to shop online

- Go to your preferred shopping website
- Log into your account or register as a new user
- Search or browse for the products/services you want
- Add items to your shopping cart
- Go to checkout
- Ensure that it takes you to a secure url i.e. with valid https://
- Make online payment with your Payment card
- Get a copy of your online receipt
- Your item would be made available to you soon either via a pickup or home delivery

Payment cards used for online shopping
In Nigeria, the common means of payment at online shopping sites are debit cars which are normally cash backed cards that can also be used at ATMs. You can use them to make payment after making your order at online shopping sites. Credit cards are also growing in acceptance but mostly available to salary earners. Some of these cards are powered by Interswitch or Etranzact and supported by Visa and Mastercard international. When making online payments with a card, you'd need to provide the card number, expiry date, security code and PIN. The payment made would be credited to the seller's account while it would be debited to your account as a buyer.

Online shopping websites
There are a lot of online shopping websites in Nigeria and I would just list some of them here. You can buy things ranging from food, clothes, jewelleries, books and so on.

- www.jumia.com.ng
- www.lazyappetite.com
- www.shopaholicng.com
- www.naijastyles.com
- www.buyright.biz
- www.quickteller.com
- www.etranzact.net
- www.mannabooks.com
- www.wakanow.com
- www.naijastyles.com

There are a lot more sites and if you know of anyone, you can add them here.