Daily Distribution Business
Do you know that you can make money as a distributor in Nigeria? This article emphasises how to start daily distribution business in Nigeria and all the things you need to know to get started in this business
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No doubt, people are facing hard times in Nigeria. With the current economic recession; unemployment rate is skyrocketing, workers are not paid, those paid are getting half salaries and at the same time prices of goods and services are going up astronomically thereby making living difficult. Starting a right kind of business seems to be a way out.
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Come to think of it, do you know you can start a distribution business and make money? All you need to do is just to look around you to see which products people need and you can make money by supplying it.
This blog is the right place to be if you are interested in such a business as we provide you in this article with the needed information to start and be successful in such a profitable business. I implore you to take time to go through this.
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1. How Lucrative is Daily Distribution Business in Nigeria: A Case Study
Distributorship in Nigeria can be lucrative. There has been many success stories. In an article published by vanguard newspaper some years ago about Dr. Cosmas Maduka, the chairman/CEO of Coscharis Group of companies. He started as a distributor of motorcycle spare parts with a meagre capital of #350 around 1975.
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In his words as quoted by vanguard “I had my first breakthrough when I went to Boulos enterprises to purchase motorcycle spare parts. I stumbled on a new innovation, motorcycle crash ban and I bought several of them”.
He said further, “I sold everything the next day and joined the night bus again to Lagos to buy more. I did that four times in one week and my capital rose from #300 to over #3000″.
Cutting the long story short, Today, Dr. Cosmas Maduka is the sole distributor of BMW and one of the richest men in Nigeria. The big lesson here is not to be afraid of starting small and to have the determination to reinvest the profit to enable the growth of the business.
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2. Having good knowledge of the business
A distributor comes in in the supply chain as an interlink between the manufacturer the retailer and sometimes the final consumer.
Manufacturers of goods require channels through which to push large quantities of their goods to the consumer. The distributor purchase the good in bulk and then sell in smaller units to the retailer who in turn sell to the consumers.
Therefore, the whole idea of distribution business is buying large quantity of goods from producers, warehousing them and reselling to the retailer. As a result, one of the needs of a distributor is a warehouse to store and to distribute goods from.
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3. Getting to start the business
There are some requisite knowledge and skills one needs to have going into a distribution business. These include good negotiation skills, business and financial management skills, good commutation skills and networking skills. Here are some guides to starting your own distribution business.
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4. Learning
The key to success in any field of human endeavor is a good knowledge of that field. Distribution goes beyond the routine buying and selling. It can become tricky sometimes.
Therefore, an intending distributor should learn the business under someone who is already established in the business. By doing this, they would be able to manage effectively and efficiently any tricky situation that may pop up in the course of running the business.
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5. Carve your niche
In business, you have to carve your niche that is, where you want to specialize in. This may be food, electronic gadgets, clothing materials, machines, agricultural and agro-allied products and so on.
In doing this, you need to consider a number of factors such as ease of distribution and available market for a product, number of distributors dealing with similar products, what will differentiate you from competitors and so on. Proper consideration of these factors will help carve a suitable and creative niche for your business.
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6. Understand your market and customer base.
If you are an intending distributor you must understand your customer base. This can be achieved by clear definition of your target market. Depending on your product and your capital you may decide to distribute your product within your locality or sell across the length and breadth of the country.
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7. Get a warehouse
The warehouse will be center of your business. It is a commercial building where your goods will be stored and from where it will be distributed to the retailers. There are some factors you should consider in selecting your warehouse. It should be located close to your customers to facilitate prompt deliveries, it should be easily accessible by good road network, there should be possibility for future expansion.
There are some factors you should consider in selecting your warehouse. It should be located close to your customers to facilitate prompt deliveries, it should be easily accessible by good road network, there should be possibility for future expansion.
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8. Develop contact with manufacturers
As distributors solely depends on manufacturers for their goods. You must have a good network and relationship with manufacturers within your niche.
Distributors need to be registered with the manufacturer’s company and may need to meet certain criteria such as minimum quantity of goods to be ordered at a time, maximum interval of time between orders, provision of warehouse to accommodate the minimum quantity of goods to be ordered and so on.
As a beginner, gaining right to distribute for big companies may be difficult. However, one may start as a sub-distributor under a larger distributor and then expand from there.
One can also research into companies who are looking for new distributors.
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How to start daily distribution business in Nigeria
9. Connect with customers and build strong relationship with them
As manufacturers are important to the distributors, so are the retailers.
Building strong relationship with customers is imperative to the success of the business.
There is also need to develop appropriate marketing strategy in order to make customers aware of your business.
You can also attract customers by selling at lesser rate though still profitable for your business.
You can also attract customers by selling at lesser rate though still profitable for your business.
All these when done properly provide the initial support for the business and set it on a path of progress.