Nigeria’s biggest e-commerce platform, Hicolumn, has been launched with exciting freebies of shopping vouchers to social media advocates for online purchase of goods at choice stores on the mobile app, close to their neighbourhood.
The launch, which was held in a stylish mode, was well attended by social media enthusiasts who see the Hicolumn e-commerce Tech as a veritable platform that is designed to take advantage of the weaknesses of the existing online market in Africa, with unparalleled services.
The high points of the event includes the delivery of a Hicolumn package with a drone to top-notch Nollywood celebrity, Tayo Sobola, popularly called Sotayo Gaga, an indication of the up-to-the-minute innovation entrenched in the services on the e-commerce App, and her online shopping on the platform which was delivered before 20 minutes. The swift delivery to her was also an attestation of Hicolumn’s uniqueness.
Also contained was the presentation on how the three Hicoluumn e-commerce mobile App which comprises the Hicolumn Customer, Hicolumn Merchant and Hicolumn Delivery Apps are connected together and work as one Enterprise Resources Programme.
This was illustrated by the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Uche Elekwachi, who said the platform will transform the online market in Nigeria and Africa with its innovative mobile app that will give merchants the ability to sell their goods to widely dispersed customers.
The event took place at the Radisson Blu Hotel, GRA, Ikeja, on Thursday, November 26, 2020, in Lagos, the Centre of Excellence.
Sotayo’s fans were over-the-moon with the gift vouchers to shop from a wide range of merchants and stores which had downloaded the mobile app for active participation on Hicolumn within 30 minutes, and with the execution of delivery activities in 20 minutes, with the same quality, same price and faster than physical presence at the stores.
In his remark, Elekwachi explained that the cutting-edge e-commerce Tech ensures that customers’ usual places of shopping are made available for them to choose or change current location from where orders are made.
He affirmed that it is designed to revolutionize the e-commerce space in Africa, and offers stores, merchants, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with existing and verifiable businesses, the opportunity of participating on the platform after their presence on the mobile app, without any cost attached to it.
“Merchants can register and setup their stores for free after downloading the mobile app within 30minutes. This is without difficulties and they will start getting orders from consumers, without any delivery facility, as Hicolumn delivery partners will do that free without additional cost to store owners and merchants; but merchants/stores should only ensure availability of goods in their stores for packaging and delivery after receiving payment,” he affirmed.
He reiterated the words of the popular Microsoft Founder, Bill Gates, which states that “if your business is not on the internet, then your business will be out of business,” which, implies that Hicolumn wants to eliminate the factors that have prevented SMEs from being active participants in the e-commerce sector, by giving them a platform that removes those impossibilities.
Elekwachi pointed out that Hicolumn is offering SMEs, merchants and stores a platform to become super strong, active online and not to lose business focus, especially in this period of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic when people engage in online shopping.
This gives them the opportunity of leveraging the Internet to serve or sell to their existing and prospective customers anywhere and anytime, without the customers physically visiting the shops.
The e-commerce Tech is also set to create over 100,000 jobs before the end of 2021, with large-scale youth empowerment as well as a significant increase in the patronage of locally made goods.
The benefits that will accrue to merchants and stores on the e-commerce mall include increased profitable sales; reduced cost of operation with less than five employees; proper inventory management; and elimination of threat posed by the current e-commerce system.
Others include empowering merchants with the same capacity of an e-commerce global giant; customers’ retention on full scale; reduction of operational cost; business enhancement through effective online promotion; increased merchants’ focus on core operations; and opportunity for massive promotion and customer acceptability.
