Beyond Cloning Websites

#1 · December 25, 2017, 9:38 PM

Most times, there are things great American companies do that few can match in Africa. And that is the reason why they succeed because they deliver great services to their customers. One of these special services is the Amazon Prime Wardrobe.

Prime Wardrobe lets customers try on clothes [at home, Amazon is an e-tailer] before they buy them, and can return them for free, if they do not like the clothes. This service is available to Prime members at no extra charge and gives customers one week to decide whether they want to keep what they ordered.

Imagine if any of the major ecommerce companies in Nigeria could offer such a service. That will reduce the inertia to spend money as people will know that if they do not like the product, they can return it. However, it would be a very hard program to execute in our trust-challenged society, as tracking people or punishing them for not returning items would be nearly impossible.

Tekedia Mini-MBA edition 16 (Feb 10 – May 3, 2025) opens registrations; register today for early bird discounts.

Tekedia AI in Business Masterclass opens registrations here.

Join Tekedia Capital Syndicate and invest in Africa’s finest startups here.

You give Western companies the trust-advantage: a key reason no one can copy Amazon effectively because our ecosystem makes such services unmanageable. And the very reason why we need to engineer a model of ecommerce that can work for us since the trust factor is severely lacking, digitally.

#2 · December 27, 2017, 1:35 AM

Ofcourse there are limits to what one can copy, depending on how 'challenged' your environment is. Somebody in this part of the world shouldn't even bother mimicking something like prime wardrobe, else be sure to close down soon. This is because, aside from having home addresses that could be difficult to verify, someone could still pick up the clothes, and then WEAR THEM to a function, and still return them; telling you that they don't 'fit in'. Sometimes what many businesses operating here miss out on in their models, is to properly analyse the unique traits and characteristics of the local customers. Even those who take up insurance cover still find a way to create 'artificial disaster', just to ensure that they get back most of the premiums they have paid. Thinking global could be limitless, but executing locally will surely introduce limits. If you are able to strike the right balance between the two, that's what makes you an intelligent executor, no doubt!

Tekedia Forum

Beyond Cloning Websites

Share this:

Like this: