It is no longer a news that mini importation is the next best money milking machine, it has been proven time without number that it is better than most of the online business out there but most don’t like to go into it perhaps because of the fear of shipping
they don’t believe their goods will ever reach them in Nigeria, what if it get grounded, what if I lose my money this is the response from most of them when you ask them to do mini importation and you know what there is nothing to be afraid of once you no your onion you will surely make money from it.
Gone are the days people lose their goods there are now various way you can use that will safeguard your shipment; it will be listed in this article
In all the countries of the world that you can buy from and sell at high price in Nigeria, China top the list in fact most of the company in America and Europe situate their manufacturing arm in this country making them the top country in the world when production is concern. You can get any material there at a cheap price which makes them feat for mini importation.
To clarify this article; it is about how to start mini importation from China to Nigeria we will based solely on that purpose not digressing.
What is mini importation?
Mini importation in another word is a small scale importation. Before small business rely on importation agent for their goods and in so doing are left with small profit, the analogy is that a supplier sell goods at 10 dollar importation agent will buy and sell it to you at $20, you on the other hand will sell to your customer at $30 but mini importation take away the importation agent and allow you to deal directly with supplier therefore increasing your profit, isnt that good.
Though there are some risk involve like buying from fraud supplier or buying poor goods, you don’t need to be afraid all of this will be dealt with in this article.
How to start mini importation from China to Nigeria
Knowledge
The first step to starting your mini importation business is to acquired knowledge, of course that is exactly what you are doing now but I want you to take it further by talking to someone in your neighborhood combining that with what we will be teaching here you achieve success quickly.
Note: not that this content cannot help you it just that practical beat theory any day, you get it.
CAC registration
If you have money please do well to register with the CAC (Corporate Affairs Commission)it will help you avoid future confrontation from the authority which may arise. You can do this with #10,000 to #15,000 depending on the person or company handling it.
Business plan
It is better to have a writing plan that will guide your step even if it is just a one page business plan write it, it will keep you focus and prevent you from shining object syndrome.
At the later date when you need loan for your mini importation business you will need to rewrite the plan to that of traditional business plan.
Select your niche
The next step is to select a niche of product you want to sell and if you already have I will like you to check if it is what people are looking for.
To check head over to google and type in the name of the product you want to start selling and add Nigeria to it, if it is in demand google will auto correct it for you.
The second step is to head over to SEMrush and insert the keyword (product) into it, it will show the number of people searching for that product per month; choose any product with above 100 search volume per month.
To further check login to buffer and insert the product name, you will see the trend and volume of that product.
Do this for at least ten products in the same categories and if 6 out of the product tick your boxes go along with that category (niche)
List of product that you can import form china to Nigeria
- Hair wigs
- Sport wears
- Floor tiles
- Doors and windows
- Roofing sheets
- Plastic pipes
- Eye lashes
- Moisturizers
- Lipsticks and powder
- Bracelets
- Attachments
- Classic perfumes
- Bathing soap
- Infinix phone
- Tecno phone
- Samsung phone
- Ear pods and bluetooth
- Portable bluetooth speakers
- Screen guard and phone pouches
- Flash drives and memory cards
- Phone batteries, screens and touchpad
- Chargers and USB cords
- Wi-Fi and hotspot accessories
Find a supplier
Gone are the days where you will have to go to China before you can ship to Nigeria now with a phone you will order whatever you want to buy and it will be deliver to wherever you are.
There are three way to get supplier in China for a someone living in Nigeria and they are
Use sourcing agent
Sourcing agent are people or company that help buyer to source for supplier and goods, buy it and ship it to where the buyer is, they are based in China and know what going on.
They will determine the MOQ (Minimum Order Amount), cost and shipping method in short you will leave everything to them. It is a good choice if you are doing mini importation for the first time but note; it is very costly therefore not advisable.
Directly from Chinese factory
This is very cheap but I warn you it is risky, it is for those that now the in and out of mini importation.
Here you will contact and buy from the factory directly, if you are good with negotiation they might help you deliver the product to wherever you are
Online marketplace
So far this is the best method for a newbie mini importation business, here you will visit the popular marketplace that will be listed below search for product you want to buy, pay and input your address, it will be deliver for free by the platform or you can use a premium shipping method which is very fast.
- DHGate
- Alibaba
- AliExpress
When you are buying form this platform please do well to check their rating and customer review, you will want to deal with supplier that have above 4 star rating and good reviews
Making your payment
If you use marketplace you need to make payment once you click order, to make payment there are two options available, you can pay through the platform with your credit card or bank account, once you pay the platform will sheep the good to you for free but it might take forever between 29 to 39 days and I know you will not want to wait that long; you need to make sale to your customer, buy more and sell to reduce the time you will need to make use of the second payment option
Pay with logistic company
Logistic company like DHL and others will ship your product to you within 4 days though it is costly but save time.
To use them, you will not be making payment on the marketplace platform, once you find product you want to buy click it and copy the payment lick into the space provided by the logistic company, they will place the order and ship it to you.
Marketing
The next step is marketing and it is very crucial, if you did your feasibility study well (your product research) well you will have little problem here. Below are the ways to market your mining import products in Nigeria
Ecommerce plus SEO
The surest way to market your product is through ecommerce, it is easy and convenient though at first it can be hard but once you get it right you will be making your money for life, your advertising cost will reduce.
To start buy domain name and hosting, with #10,000 to #50,000 you will setup a starter woo commerce sore in Nigeria but if you have much capital go for foreign host which
will cost between #50,000 and #100,000 once set up start writing blog post that will attract traffic from google for instance if you are selling phone write article like; top ten phone in Nigeria, phone spec in Nigeria. Give it six months and you will start seeing traffic coming from Google.
Social media
Social media is another way that look like SEO, set up social media account, post picture of the goods you are selling frequently and not only that post content that will engage user
for instance if you are selling cream write content about acne to further boost engagement write controversial topic like “stop using soso cream to cure your acne do this instead” with that kind of content people will start liking your page and follow, you before you know you will become authority in that niche and people will start contacting you to buy.
SEM (Search Engine Marketing)
If you want quick result go for SEM which stand for Search Engine Marketing . Since google is he most used search engine in Nigeria register for Google AdWords and
Crete a campaign but you must have a ecommerce store to do so or a landing page.
This is how SEM works if you spend 1$ per click at a start, once you start having high CTR compares to other in the SERP, Google will reduce your cost to like 0.5 dollar thats the magic make sure you create campaign on what People are looking for, Google like it and it will reward you with less fee.
Social media paid marketing
You can also use social media for your advertising but not as effective as SEM. You will pay click on your ad banner , it is a quick way to sale your product but ensure you have a landing page on ground.
Poster and flyers
If you are in a closed neighborhood like campus flyers, stickers and poster will make sense just make sure the design is top notch this is what will attract reader.
Offer reduce price
people like to get product for a reduce price, you will hear them telling their friends how they buy product for a small price it boost their ego, for a start reduce the price of your product compares to others even if it is as low as #20 people will buy it for that sake.
Referral
You can also take the route of referral to have more customer for anybody that bring you customer give them something in return it might not be money, you can give them a product in return or less price on whatever they buy, just think outside the box.
Challenges of mini importation form China to Nigeria
There is no business without its own challenges, mini importation has its own, I’m not trying to scare you but to prepare you for what may come
Bad supplier
This is one of the first challenge of mini importation, bad suppliers can be fraud that will receive money but no product in return or supplier that will send you substandard product.
This is common for those that use marketplace method and those that buy directly from factory, to avoid this, at a start use sourcing company that has a presence here in Nigeria and China. If you can’t do this make sure you verify the supplier you are buying from.
Though there is a mechanism in place like an escrow but the fact still remains the same a fraud can outsmart a beginner.
Cost of shipping
The more dollar rises the more the shipping fees goes up, it keep getting worst every day and there is little you can do about this than to buy what your money can carry.
Also the issue of spending limit has also affected a lot of mini importer to avoid this search for foreign apps that can give you virtual dollar card that you can load with naira and save in dollar.
Clearance
If you use a premium shipping company you will have little problem with clearance but if not, you might have a problem because once the platform use send your product it will land at Nipost and your goods might be loss before getting to you and if it did not lost you will have to wait for like 25 days before you can get your products.
Cost of shipping form China to Nigeria
1 2kg = $15
3 5kg = $7.0
6 45kg = $6.8
46 100kg = $6.4
101 300kg = $6.3
301 500kg = $5.7
501 1000kg = $5.5
1000 3000kg = $5.2 per kg
Conclusion
Above is how to import form China to Nigeria
Mini importation from China to Nigeria is still profitable and it will continue to be for many years to come, if you keep peeping from the fence it won’t help you, it will better to take the bold step and start.
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