Hicolumn e-commerce mobile App ensures free access, easy download

Hicolumn, e-commerce Tech, which made entrant into Nigeria’s online market sector in November, ensures free access and download of its mobile App by merchants, store owners, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with existing and verifiable businesses within 30 minutes. This is free of any registration charges. Chairman of Hicolumn, Benjamin Madu, said the mobile App which can also be downloaded by consumers from the Google Play Store and the Hicolumn e-commerce website comprises the Hicolumn Customer, Hicolumn Merchant and Hicolumn Delivery Apps. These are connected together and work as one Enterprise Resources Programme, designed to give visibility to neighbourhood stores and connect them directly to customers anywhere, anytime. 

Hicolumn gives merchants, store owners as well as SMEs the opportunity of leveraging the internet to serve or sell to their existing and prospective customers without the customers physically visiting the shops.

The e-commerce Tech also ensures customers’ usual places of shopping are made available for them to choose or change current location from where orders are made, for real comfort and convenience. According to Madu, “Merchants can register and setup their stores for free without difficulties and start getting orders from consumers. They don’t need any delivery facility, but they need to have goods available in stock for packaging after receiving payment from consumers.”

He said that consumers who have made purchase on the platform would have prompt delivery of goods within 20 minutes, with same quality, same price and faster than physically being at the stores. The e-commerce Tech has come to the rescue of merchants and store owners, who should see Hicolumn as a cutting-edge platform that has come to their neighbourhood, to enable them become super strong, active online and not to lose their business focus to foreign competitors currently entering their domain, especially in this period of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, when shopping is mostly done online.

Benefits accrued to merchants and stores partnering on the platform are 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.