How To Start Home Delivery Business In Nigeria

Home Delivery Business Overview

You call it home logistics business, I call it home delivery business. Whichever way, we are saying the same thing. Home delivery business only involves the movement and management of goods and services, inventory procurement as well as maintenance and distribution of information, personnel and material goods and services from the point of production, sale or distribution to the home of clients and customers.

Home delivery business does not produce anything as goods or services. What it entails, therefore, is the transfer of products and services from one point to another, specifically, to clients’ homes.

In the process, therefore, a communication chain is created between the buyer and the seller. So, it’s simply about products and services mobility to the home.

Read Also: How to Start Food Delivery Business in Nigeria

The Market Structure

There is a prevailing market for home delivery services in Nigeria because goods and services must move from the point of production to the final consumer.

Logistics and home delivery business cut across all facets of life in this country and its popularity seems to rise by the day, especially with the advent of e-commerce.

Goods must move from the company’s store or warehouse to the final consumer. As such, there is a high level of profitability in this business.

Risk Factors To Consider In Starting Home Delivery Business In Nigeria

One thing that is peculiar to home delivery service is the issue of missing packages or delivery or wrongful deliveries to the inappropriate or wrong person.

That is why you need to get the recipient to which the goods or services are delivered to, to sign or you obtain a copy of his or her ID card to confirm that he is the rightful person to get the package. This can be achieved by designing a datasheet where both the recipient and sender will sign and authenticate.

Read Also: Konga Express Delivery Contact Addresses in All 36 States, Nigeria

Profitability And Nature Of The Business In Nigeria.

Depending on your location, home delivery businesses charge different rates. In a place like Lagos, for example, you can deliver a good for as low as 200 Naira, sometimes N500. But when done in bulk, you are bound to make more money from the venture, although the cost per product may significantly reduce.

Requirements For Starting A Successful Home delivery business In Nigeria.

Business Plan & Feasibility Study

You need a functional business plan to run this business successfully. This will give you a sneak peek into

1. The required starting and working capital

2. The cost of tools, equipment and where to get them cheaper

3. The financial estimates of the business – both long term & short term

4. Your business’s mission statement and;

5. Your intended promotional or marketing strategies.

Business Registration

Home delivery business does registration with the appropriate organs of Government. Start with getting a business name from the Corporate Affairs Commission of Nigeria (CAC).

Afterward, proceed to get licensing from the Standards Organization of Nigeria (CAC), National Agency For Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and other allied bodies.

Funding & Capital

You need at least Seven Hundred Thousand Naira (N700,000) as capital to run a successful home delivery business in Nigeria. This will be required for the purchase of equipment, a motorbike, the hiring of a driver or cyclist, materials, stationery and office rental.

Equipment & Tools

Some of the equipment needed to run a successful home delivery business in Nigeria include stationery, mobile phone, a cargo bike, a plastic container to convey your client’s goods and services, inventory materials and other logistics tools.

Conducting A Feasibility Study

During your feasibility study, you should come up with a list business who may require home delivery services. This should include but not limited to local businesses such as grocery stores, gift shops, offices, and shops as well as large organizations such as pharmacies, restaurants, banks, hospitals etc.

The other category of potential customers for home delivery business in Nigeria are the elderly in the society. So, you should try to do a pick and drop service for them too and make some money off it.

Coverage and Accessibility

Try to limit yourself in this business to the confines of your town or city. When, however, you get more exposure and experience in the business, you can expand and extend it to all frontiers of the society.

Read Also: Top 10 Pay on Delivery Online Stores in Nigeria

Employing A Bike Rider

The place of the bike rider in a home delivery business is very important. Anyone you hire for this role should have a sound knowledge of the delivery city or state.

He should also have good phone manners and should be trustworthy since you’ll be dealing with lots of finance and physical products.

He should have a functional mobile phone to communicate with customers and clients and should be fluent in both spoken and written English language.

He should, in addition, possess awesome communication skills. As a matter of fact, your bike rider should be a smart person who is apt and agile.

Basic Sustainability Tips

To start and run a successful home delivery business in Nigeria, certain things are required of you.

First, you must know what exactly you wish to accomplish in transporting or home delivery business and the distance you’re going to be cover in the process of doing this.

Secondly, you must be sufficiently armed with relevant information on the pricing, rates as well as materials which can be delivered at certain times and the certain places.

Thirdly, you need to come up with an appropriate budget which can get you the equipment, power supply, supplies, logistics and business registration.

Your startup capital, therefore, must be sufficient to cover the business expenditure at least for the first few months of establishment.

Advertisement & Business Promotion

Putting all I have mentioned above in place is one thing but getting customers to patronize your business is another thing.

You need to go out there and scout for customers rather than waiting for them to come to you. Try to know if local businesses around you will need your services and try as much as possible to offer your services at discounted rates to encourage more people to patronize you. Your feasibility study should answer this question.

When it comes to doing effective advertisement, therefore, the social media Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. as well as the traditional mass media such as magazines, posters, the radio, the television, newspapers etc. is the place to go.

Read Also: These Three-In-One Smart Chinos Trousers Goes for 25K in Jumia

Business Branding

You cannot overwrite the importance of branding as an advertorial measure in this business. One potential to exploit in this direction is to brand your motorcycle or delivery van, displaying your contact details attractively using vinyl lettering or by painting the details of your motorbike to make it attractive to people.

Profitability Strategies & Conclusion

When you overprice in this business, you have bound to lose a lot of customers. However, it should not be beyond the limits of your business productivity so as not to look inferior. It should not be too overboard so that potential customers will not run away.

So, keep your price at the equilibrium and make it affordable by both the high and the low of the society, so good enough to cover your expenditures so that you will not incur losses in the process of offering services to the society.

Read more business insights here

📢 We are hiring writers!