10 Profitable eCommerce Business Ideas in Nigeria

With the restriction of movement around the world caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, there is no doubt the demand for e-commerce business models will take an upward spike. Brick and mortar stores will look to find a remote way of selling and delivering products and services to customers. For startups and entrepreneurs, who already understand the e-commerce product models, the key decision would have to be made on what constitutes the best eCommerce business idea. While there are no one real best eCommerce business ideas, the key is to find one that will work best for your interest, strength, and skills and is still considered viable in the Nigerian market space.

To help you, below is the list of the best trending e-commerce business ideas in Nigeria as of 2020. These e-commerce business ideas also work if you want to combine your brick and mortar store with an e-commerce web store.

1. Books, Ebooks & Digital Products Niche

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The quest for knowledge and skills acquisition in Nigeria is at an all-time high. This has made the demand for resource materials soar high. With the unemployment rate soaring high there is a great demand for startups, entrepreneurs and even the employed to shore up relevant knowledge areas as a way to enhance the chance of success as they venture into new or existing businesses. The knowledge areas could involve business, politics, motivational or personal development. Ebooks, audio, and video media resources make it easy for people to engage themselves better.

The sale of physical books is also in great demand but it only gets profitable if the shop owners engage in smart partnerships with other partners like fulfillment and card processing agencies. One of the leading online bookstores in Nigeria – Bookville World did a very good job at this: From being a brick and mortar store based in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria, Boldfruit creative agency helped it set up an e-commerce web store that promotes not only the physical books but also digital resources like downloadable ebooks, audio, and videos. They also have a modern online payment system that has the customer pay with bank, cards or SSD. Delivery rates are served you add your chosen products to the cart thereby helping the customer see the delivery cost in real-time. Today the delivery nationwide and globally.

2. Sports Watches and Smartwatches Niche

Watches are used to tell time but in today’s modern world they are a statement of fashion. Adding that to the capacity to aid monitoring of your work out performance means it one of the profitable eCommerce business ideas in Nigeria. While there would be the temptation to sell all categories and brands of watches, it’s not the best way. Its always better to start with a particular category (sport watches and smartwatches are recommended) and possibly a specific brand. For example, Upbuyers.com started with only Shark Sport Watches which was easy for them to promote because the focus was on a particular brand. Just like Boldfruit did for Upbyers which they developed they help there client with advisory on how to set up their eCommerce business ideas stores.

3. Natural Skincare Products For Women Niche

Women love beauty products and natural ones are even better, but that doesn’t mean that you’ll easily sell immediately you drop down into the eCommerce world. This is a top trending e-commerce business idea. There is an increased demand for natural organic skincare products among women in Nigeria. The reliance on chemical-based skincare products has gone down as awareness of the impact of the chemical on skin and the environment grew. Some of the trending products in this market include: facial cleanser, mineral sunscreen, body scrub, and facial oil. One of the best strategy if you are looking to adopt this niche and if you are looking to make your products authentic is to go private label. This saves you the time and resources you would need to produce yours unless maybe you have the time and knowledge required. You can always choose manufacturers who can sell white-label versions to you so you can brand a resell.

4. Eco-friendly Baby Toiletries and Everyday Products Niche.

There are products whose demand cannot just go away as long as baby care is involved. So will the demand rise most especially in a time when the many places in the world are in lockdown due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic. There are indeed many neighborhood shops selling this set of items but that’s where the whole idea of wholesale strategy comes into play. A local dropshipping eCommerce business ideas strategy between manufacturer, logistics agent, and the customer would make a lot of sense if you do not have a warehouse. But if you do have some storage room or warehouse that could help you better control the customer fulfillment process. Kids influence billions of naira in household spending in Nigeria every year of which the major part is in toiletries. It is also certainly more profitable and future proof if you can invest in eco-friendly biodegradable products (e.g diapers) as the world continue to move in the direction of better sustaining the environment. Another example is the reusable food wrap.

You can purchase good quality biodegradable products in bulk and either sell online to retailers or consumers. It is important to note modern manufacturers are producing biodegradable versions of everyday products to support environmental protection effort. You can start now to key into this future trend as one of your eCommerce business ideas and gain first to market advantage.

5. Print On Demand (POD) Clothing and Lifestyle Apparel eCommerce Business Idea.

With the influx of innovative technologies, retailers are no longer confined to product inventory storage. One such modernization can be attributed to Print on Demand (POD) which has been impacting the cheap clothing and apparel businesses lately. You see them everywhere these days – celebrity or company branded t-shirts, hats, mugs, towels, etc. Print on demand is sure one unique e-commerce business idea that is growing in demand every day. Whether it’s for business, field promotions, sports you can set it up online and sell as you would sell on an eCommerce store. All you need is the source parent material (t-shirt, hat, etc) and then a message you can print on demand based on the customer’s choice of content or expert recommendation. T-shirts are the most popular and that’s why sometimes they get easily exhausted in the markets. It is due to this demand for print on demand service everywhere. With the T-shirt market already getting saturated, you can focus on some relevant micro niches.

6. Fitness, Weight Loss and Work Out Items eCommerce business idea.

The fitness niche is making steady grounds as one of the few viable eCommerce business ideas in Nigeria. The risks are less severe as the products and programs are timeless. The demand for High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) keeps rising as people look to it as a way to keep fit, beautiful, and healthy. Fitness equipment that can be sold includes: skipping ropes, dumbbells, medicine balls, and armbands. The dropshipping e-commerce models and video marketing makes a lot of sense in this area. You can also add training programs in the form of videos, ebooks, or both. These programs also do well as lead magnets.

7. Rent Luxury Fashion to Budget Minded Fashionistas

Create a marketplace that allows low spending fashion enthusiasts to rent luxury and expensive fashion from brand owners. Even though it might sound odd but it is proving a success in some areas like wedding gowns. An e-commerce platform that allows wedding gown shops to exhibit their wares could be a deal-breaker. Social media marketing will work very well for this niche. The opportunities could also involve renting of clothes over a specific number of clothes over a certain period. All it takes is a good strategy and the implementation will be fine.

8. Organic Food & Supplements for Healthy-Eating People.

One of the keys to living a healthy lifestyle is undoubtedly connected to healthy eating. Little wonder there has been a surge in demand for organic products. This includes organic snacks, nuts, sweeteners, beverages, teas, and gluten-free foods. With the relatively high cost of organic foods, you can make a sizeable gain if you source from close to the producer. So if you’re inclined to selling foods and beverages then you could as well adopt this e-commerce business idea. It is a relatively huge market and the profit margin potential is excellent. While the store next door could also be your source point, note that it will impact your profit margin. The way around is to market aggressively so you can make up for it with higher sales volume.

9. Handmade Jewelry, Art, Bags & More

Times have changed. In time past, exotic luxury brands were popular in the fashion industry and exclusive to models. The preference has shifted to handmade and minimal jewelry with a touch closer to culture. people are beginning to appreciate it more when it is less. This area is seeing more attention so publicizing it through your eCommerce could be a very good way to go. It is easier to promote considering the high performing social media platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook is set up to promote this because of the nature of the images. Another interesting thing about this niche is the freedom to be flexible with your selling price as there is no real market pricing structure for this niche at the moment. So selling on your eCommerce store helps you better than when you put it out in general merchandise eCommerce stores. As for the supplies, you stand a better chance if you source directly from the craft maker and not popular stores like Aliexpress or Amazon. Go directly to the craft maker and request to retail the product. The Dropshipping model is a good way to go in this case. This does not apply to pieces of jewelry only but also handmade hats, bags, etc.

10. Health and Safety apparels.

With the Covid-19 virus pandemic, there has been a huge demand for safety apparel like nose masks and other related apparel. With no end in sight coupled with the deteriorating economic condition it’s imperative we adjust our lifestyle to the threat.

A recap of profitable eCommerce business ideas in Nigeria.

With the constantly evolving economic landscape in Nigeria, lots of other eCommerce business ideas abound in Nigeria. You need to engage in holistic market research to help find where there is growth potential. The key to success is for you to identify the pain and problem of people within a niche face and find a way to profer solutions in the form of products or services. The next important thing to think about is how you want to handle your inventory and product sourcing. Some people like the idea of making their own products and others hate the idea of their garage full of boxes. Another often ignored but a key element of success is your marketing. This goes with good customer service and selection of quality products and services to sell.

Boldfruit Brand Agency has been doing lots of great works to help startups, entrepreneurs, and brick and mortar stores set up profitable e-commerce and online stores complete with setup of digital marketing infrastructure.