“Shipping with Yudala” Treasure Truck
Now that Yudala has become one of the category-king ecommerce operators in Nigeria, it would be a good idea if it begins to build the infrastructure for nationwide ecommerce operation in Nigeria. With many local branches Zinox (Yudala parent) has across Nigeria, Yudala/Konga combo begins with a promise.
Yet, it needs to pick some ideas on what Amazon is doing. Those things would work in Nigeria, at least in the top 10 major markets. UPS and FedEx are getting heat as Amazon is now a full-logistics company.
Amazon is gearing up to compete directly with UPS and FedEx, according to a new Wall Street Journal report. The so-called “Shipping with Amazon” program will be an end-to-end shipping solution, with pickups from businesses and shipments made to consumers, per the report.
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This should not be surprising to anyone following Amazon’s moves on the logistics front – the retail giant has its own fleet of cargo jets, its own warehouses, its own last-mile contract couriers and can even act as an ocean shipping agent, just like both FedEx and UPS. It’s been reported for a while now that Amazon would eventually compete directly with its longstanding delivery partners.
Yes, even Amazon does not have to rely entirely on UPS and FedEx because any cost saved makes it possible to offer products at competitive rates when compared with offline shops. Yudala has to build assets on logistics and then sign-up last-mile delivery partners across major Nigerian cities. It needs scale to make the unit economics work, and with Konga in the fold, the numbers will move north over time. I want to see “Shipping with Yudala” Treasure Trucks.
The ecommerce sector is not really for kids, or anyone who isn't sure of what to do with his/her spare time. It's a serious business , much more serious than setting up and running physical shops.
As it's always the case, money (plenty of it) is the principal requirement, then from there you talk about good heads to make responsible use of the money, which is where customer service comes under.
For now we do not know if Yudala/Konga combo will be able to break that inertia, which in turn breeds uncertain, resulting to dysfunctional operation. Amazon is still pouring in money, researching and innovating; it says a lot about what it takes to remain relevant in such a challenging sector.
It's a serious business, to see the glory, the hard job needs to be done first; and logistic arm of it is the lynchpin.
Nice insights .
