At the start of this week, we got the news that Amazon will now be shipping to Nigeria. We even went on Twitter to get reactions to the news. Some people were happy, others raised questions. As it turns out, Amazon’s coming to Nigeria is over-hyped. Let me explain.
For the past two days, I have been scouring the Amazon website for the list of products eligible for shipping to Nigeria. So far, the selection has been disappointing. No iPhones, no Samsung S5 or S6, no makeup products (don’t ask why I was looking for makeup products). I can’t ship 50 Shades of Grey, a Macbook Pro/Air or a Samsung Note to Nigeria. All these are products on a list I made. The plan was to compare Amazon’s prices and cost of shipping versus buying them off local eCommerce stores.
At the moment, I have been able to place orders for a PlayStation 4 console and a Nikon D3200 professional camera, on Amazon and Konga and Jumia. Here’s the breakdown:
As of this morning, the Dollar to Naira exchange rate is NGN199.05 to $1. The Nikon D3200 camera costs N98,918 ($496.95) on Amazon, minus shipping and handling, and import fees deposit.
Meanwhile it costs N137,500 on Jumia. Adding the shipping and handling and import fees deposit on Amazon will bring the total up to around NGN119,739 ($601.55). So, ordering the camera off Amazon is 13% cheaper than ordering it off Jumia.
On Amazon, the PlayStation 4 goes for a total of N101,259 ($508.71), which includes shipping and handling fees of NGN16,800 ($84.40) and import deposit fees of N4,840.90 ($24.32).
On Konga, it costs N95,000. That’s a 6% difference. It’s cheaper on Konga
So, it’s cheaper to order a PS4 from Konga than from Amazon. However, ordering a Nikon D3200 from Jumia is more expensive than ordering them from Amazon. It is possible that in the long run, Amazon will find a way to lower shipping costs in strategic areas while also improving their shipping selection for Nigeria.
Photo Credit: luxuryluke via Compfight cc
