Ayo Alonge and Uche Henry
Micro, small and medium retail businesses in Lagos and beyond are yet to maximise their full potential in terms of technical know-how, innovations and access to credit; hence the need for government and relevant agencies to revamp the sector.
This was the view of the Director, Lagos Retail Festival, Dapo Ajeniya, during a two-day Retail Festival and Exhibition in Lagos, recently.
Speaking at the event, Ajeniya said the exhibition exposed retailers to some business tips and other information that would promote their businesses; howbeit, retailers still have more to explore in retailing.
“This is an avenue that allows retailers to come out of their shops and learn, network, and connect with people that matter in retail businesses. Through this, they have learnt research and development, do promotions and unlearn certain knowledge.
“As we cap up this exhibition, we expect retailers to go beyond average in terms of Return On Investment (ROI), service rendering, market turnover and expansion, because they have learnt a lot trends,” said Ajeniya.
He charged retailers to keep learning and relearning and offer more than tangible products to customers to their market segment, adding that after sales services go a long way in reinforcing sales which translates into increase market turnover.
His words: “Retailers must go beyond the short service they offer customers and offer those services that appeal to customers’ emotional and psychological senses, while we work with finance institutions for easy access to credit and hope the new government will make the environment business friendly and provide incentives for SMEs to thrive.”