Starting A Supermarket business In Nigeria? 10 Things To Know

Nigeria is unarguably the largest economy bearer of the continent placed side by side with its largest population size of over 250 million inhabitants

Starting a supermarket business in Nigeria has basic principles and concepts to evade financial downturn either before or through the expenditure

Without further ado, let’s quickly see how the fail-proof tips are concisely interpolated with each word in this blueprint

What is a supermarket?

A supermarket is a large store that offers a variety of foods and household products properly and categorically organized in shelves enclosed in a building

It offers more features than conventional retail vendors or local shop

Self-service: This enables customers to personally walk around the mall to shop for their desired items with enough avenues for a store owner to have a higher record of sales, as it encourages people to buy more than they intended

High discount: Supermarket offers special discounts, rewards, coupons,s and competitive prices than other small-scale provision vendors

What is the cost of opening a supermarket in Nigeria?

An average size supermarket could cost between #5 million-#10 million, while a standard size supermarket could take the North of #10 million

Below is a breakdown of possible start-up requirements for an average supermarket

How to start a successful supermarket business in Nigeria

Below are the crucial steps to start a successful supermarket business in Nigeria

Also Read: Business-10 untapped businesses to start with #50,000 in Nigeria

1. Create a full-blown business plan

This is business and should be treated as such with below thoughtful questions fully outlined somewhere either with specific or near to perfect answers to each, as far as money & sweat is on the line

1. What kind of goods am I venturing into?
2. What is my supermarket budget?
3. How much will the intended supermarket capital contribute to my success?
4. Do I have the required capital or do I need to start sourcing for it?
5. What qualities does the supermarket desire in staff?
6. Am I equipped enough with this expertise?
7. What is my supermarket SWOT [strength, weakness, opportunity, and threat] with available resources with me?

The answer to these determines your business structure right off the bat and also your beacon and roadmap to your first destination

2. Have a sufficient budget

Supermarket establishment is a capital-intensive project you can’t underestimate unless you want to stay in a child [sticking to mini mart standard]

Cost of rent and stock alone might leave you agape before average to little expenses in the chart start eating into your budget like a rodent

However, I won’t advise you to flinch or lose a bit of your confidence as every penny invested into your supermarket doesn’t only come out with profit but also gratify the financial move instantly

I mean you’re getting every penny thrown into your supermarket development not at once but gradually and instantly

Also Read: How to make money online in Nigeria top 12 ideas (2022)

3. Well researched location

The success of any supermarket in Nigeria, Africa, or from other geographic locations around the world highly depends on the intended spot

How competitive is the spot: does the spot has already established supermarkets or mini-marts around, and how saturated is it with these retailers

Is it a commercial spot: the best spot for your supermarket should be an area where human and business activities take place at a large scale

Purchasing power: you may have an area with high leg traffic with many business activities and still experience horrible sales if the purchasing power of the environ is low

You want a spot with average to high class [rich people] resides, not a poor or rural locale that uses the conventional market as their next go-to source right from their small scale in house provision vendor

Also, ensure you have enough space or parking lot facilities for your patrons before starting a supermarket business in Nigeria, to avoid losing them to the next supermarket with full mobility of their vehicles/bikes and accessibility

Also Read: 10 Highly Profitable Handworks To Learn In Nigeria To Make Money

4. Restructure the space

Start from creating a little compartment from your secured space, as the building may never be constructed with one in mind, and you know how detrimental it could be on your turnover running out of stocks for waiting out suppliers for weeks

You should obliterate any liable avenue where customers could take their money elsewhere out of not catering for their needs as at when due

Tile the floor, affix an efficient air condition system everywhere, put all the shelves in place if possible use the hands of an experienced interior designer to create a great shopping experience for your supermarket patrons with outstanding furnishing and adornment

5. Stocking & Arrangement

There are no better goods and product sources for your supermarket than manufacturers

Woke supermarkets go as far as importing goods directly from china supplier retail websites like Alibaba for a huge return on investment

It’s also a great initiative to network with other supermarkets to get supplier contacts

Getting multiple brands for the same products could work wonders alongside placing like goods side by side, more on this later in the marketing section

Supermarkets have been doing this all the year with most being bereft of placing like items together to establish a seamless shopping experience, as some patrons have been programmed to have like items not far from one another, otherwise, they’d just assume you’re running low

6. Constant power supply

You should have at the back of your mind that you’re 90% under alternative power supply from the grid, the power supply here is critically unreliable to not have either a spanking new generator set at hand or an efficient one that could work long hours

There should be enough light bulbs that illuminate everywhere for customers to quickly navigate your stocked shelves

7. Onboarding & Orientation

As much as your supermarket size determines your workforce so as your wallet requires honest employees regardless of safety or security measures put in place when starting a supermarket business in Nigeria, a little hole could sink a whole ship

Onboard loyal and trustworthy employees for your supermarket and equip them with strict but friendly terms and policy that makes them work in synergy at the same time resist incurring your wrath [violating rules]

Never also forget to factor the desired qualities [education background, indigene] you want in employees into your onboarding policy

8. Supermarket Registration

You need legal documents like corporate affairs commission [CAC], and a few licenses and permit to portray you’re in tune with the proposed location for your supermarket to avoid harassment from law enforcement agents either before starting your supermarket business or during the establishment

Also Read: How to start a successful business in Nigeria and the legal requirements

9. Marketing

Let’s start right from the inside first, do you realize bringing in customers is quite different from converting them or making them buy more than they intend

Don’t just tether only cashier to the table, allocate at least one employee that answers to their call whenever they need help, at the same time persuade but never pressure them, give recommendations but never project inferiority into them

Arrangement of your stock moves more than a needle, by placing toothbrush beside toothpaste, bathing soap not far from the sponge, laundry soap not far off the starch, cereal not far from milk, and more

Some patrons have just been programmed to storm out of the store to spend their money elsewhere when they can’t find items not far from each other

People search Google for the nearest supermarket, list your supermarket info on business directories for more exposure and customers

You want patrons as quickly as you open your supermarket for business, “printing, pasting and passing” enough flyers and handbills that publicize your store in the situated neighborhood will work wonders

Also Read: How Business Directory Can Increase Your Profit!

10. Security

Security starts from your money management, don’t just bank only on the cashier's intelligence, get an automated machine for the cashier to swiftly issue receipts to customers without rocking back and forth before getting the figures in check alongside proper accounting of sales

Ensure installing CCTV all-around your supermarket and stock for enhanced security

Verdict

You know you can just start right after you apply this blueprint, you don’t have to fill every corner with employees, use the help of either 1-2 trusted employees until you are flamboyant enough to scale up with CCTV and security personnel

You can cut fuel costs by powering up the store only when it’s dark either from cloudy weather conditions or when the sun is completely below the horizon

You just have to get started first and figure out the rest on the way

See you at the top!