Electronic Commerce Development for the New Economy in Nigeria: Challenges and Prospect

Abstract

Electronic commerce includes performing transactions with customers over the Internet for purposes such as home shopping, home banking, and electronic cash use; performing transactions with other organizations through the use of electronic data interchange (EDI); gathering information relating to consumer market research and competitors; and distributing information to prospective customers through interactive advertising, sales, and marketing efforts. Benefits of e-commerce to companies include a wider potential market (i.e., global access); lowering of transaction costs; increase in the speed of transactions; improved economies of scale; minimization of human intervention in business processes; and unlimited access to product information for customers (Sesan, 2000). However, the emergence of electronic commerce has also brought with it a number of challenges, especially in the developing nations like Nigeria. This paper discusses the challenges of electronic commerce in Nigeria. In this study, the current status of E-Commerce in Nigeria is evaluated. The study highlighted the most important factors that needed to be considered in order to support the proliferation and advancement of e-commerce in Nigeria. The paper examines the challenges that is hampering the growth of e-commerce in Nigeria. The paper will equally survey the opportunities offered by ecommerce and lastly offer solution on how some of these critical challenges will be overcome.