How a Ghanaian startup is helping SMEs see growth by leveraging E-commerce

Growing demands of customers determine how businesses grow– if the business is serious about customer satisfaction. Now, there is no doubt that Information and Communication Technology rules the world; therefore to ensure customer satisfaction, there is the high need for you to add elements of this in your service provision and delivery/sales of your products. The easier for people to have access to your business, the better. And what easier way can people get access to your business apart from the internet?

Getting your business online is very crucial. How to set your target audience, ensuring that it ranks high in search engine results, having space to market the brand, putting in mechanisms to ensure that people can have the service and pay for same online without any headaches and get real-time statistics can be a daunting task if you are not really into e-commerce or running a business on the internet. But what if we told you there is an easy way out?

Internet penetration has seen a rapid rise in major countries in Africa and thus has created grounds for the influx of many e-commerce sites. Jumia, a Lagos-based online retailer, is dipping its finger in almost all major markets on the continent, cutting themselves an enviable piece of every pie. However, there is still space for business owners who want to have full control of their e-commerce business online to operate

Not everyone can afford the technology being implemented by the likes of Jumia, Tonaton, etc but there are 3rd party startups providing the opportunity for business owners to own similar technologies at a much-reduced cost with full technical support.

There is an online solution that will help you set up an online store with a domain name of your choice, access to delivery and payment channels and real-time statistics among others. Minafisi is here to help you.

Minafisi E-commerce platform

Minafisi is an e-commerce platform which allows SMEs in Africa to sell online conveniently, efficiently at an affordable cost.

So if you have a shop or business and need some online presence (website and online points of sale), rather then investing in a dedicated platform that will cost you, why not take advantage of this well

With just a few clicks, you can set up an online store selecting from the various themes available.

No design skills needed. You have complete control over the look and feel of your website, from its layout to content and colours. But before you select your theme, you need to sign up.

Signing up on Minafisi is as simple as you can think. Just visit https://minafisi.com/register.

Input your details and voila, you have access to your dashboard. Make sure to verify your email after signing up.

Dashboard

With a simple-to-access dashboard, you can navigate your way through easily as a first time user

Adding Products

Here is where you can add and delete your products. To add products, simply click on add product and fill in the details. PS. A stock keeping unit (SKU) is a product and service identification code for a store or product, often displayed as a machine-readable bar code that helps track the item for inventory. A stock keeping unit (SKU) does not need to be assigned to physical products in inventory.

Orders

Here is where you keep tabs on the orders that come through your shop.

STORE APPEARANCE SETTING (DESIGNER)

Themes are preset arrangement for the elements of your shop. You can choose from the theme list to customize the feel and look of your online store. Click on Publish Changes everytime you make changes to ensure they reflect on your shop.

Click on the screwdriver icon to edit your shop banners, logo, footer etc. You can set two or more banner images to give the sliding banner effect.

To go the extra mile beyond the theme you choose, you can use the setting feature under the Designer tab to further edit the feel of your homepage.

General Settings

The nut icon at the top right corner opens here. From here, you can configure your general store info, payment methods (premium feature), add your social media links etc. You can close your shop for a period too if you need to.

Premium Plan Features

Adding Custom Domain

When you upgrade to premium, you can connect your custom domain which you can buy from our website to your store.

Payment Options Configuration

Here, you can configure your payment options. You can allow cash on delivery, mobile money and bank transfer. We use Hubtel to process payments so as to allow Mobile Money and Visa card payment using Hubtel, sign up on Hubtel. After they verify you, find your “client secret and client ID” from your Hubtel dashboard and insert it here and start receiving your online payments on your shop.

Apps

Your premium account gives your access to apps which helps increase the experience on your shop and help you sell better. You can integrate your shop on Facebook to reach more people (This is more than sharing your store link on FB). You simply get the added value using these apps.

Blogging Platform + Extra Pages

Adding a blog to your online shop goes a long way to help you with your Search Engine Optimization and show your customers that you are a master of your business niche. Interesting blog posts can get potential customers to visit your shop. You can also add new pages with content of your choice to your shop. The menu editor helps you arrange your menu items, change the location of your menu icon etc.

Categories

You can add the categories of products you sell from here. This helps makes your shop easily navigable by your shop visitors.

The feel of the site is cool and easy to use. If you’re interested in growing your online brand, this is something you should consider seriously. For business owners that need help with customization, digital marketing, photography or branding service. The company has freelancers on site to provide customized services for you.

Minafisi Pricing:

You can now sell online with Minafisi.  They handle everything from marketing and payments, to secure checkout and delivery. Let Minafisi worry about the Technology while you focus on improving your service or product.

Your local e-commerce journey starts by clicking here.

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