Alerzo provides working capital to retailers to keep businesses afloat and drive financial inclusion – CEO

Adewale Opaleye, the founder of alerzoa leading B2B e-commerce company, announced that the e-commerce company is using its cashless payment and lending platform Alerzopay to provide retailers, regardless of their economic situation, with working capital to keep their businesses afloat and to advance financial inclusion to the excluded informal retailers.

According to him, the integration of Alerzopay and the use of the POS machines in their customers’ stores improve their overall profit margins as retailers receive commissions for each transaction made on the platform.

He explained that with the advanced POS terminals running on the Alerzopay platform, retailers can act as intermediaries: process customer deposits and withdrawals to purchase goods or use them as cash, and process value-added services such as utility bill payment and others.

Opaleye goes on to explain that the beauty of e-commerce platforms lies in their ability to use technology to create opportunities for businesses, including micro-retail stores, and empower them with digital solutions to improve and increase their efficiencies .

He explained that a range of Alerzo’s technology-enabled digital solutions allow retailers to order and pay for goods and replenish online or offline via USSD. “In our Alerzoshop retail app we have a huge range for our customers to choose from and we offer free delivery to all of the 13+ cities we currently operate in. We are changing the landscape for them (retailers) with on-time delivery,” Opaleye explained.

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According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics as well as the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), micro and small medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) make up about 96 percent of Nigeria’s registered businesses employing about 75 percent of the national workforce and Contributing about 48 percent to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), it is clear that micro and small medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) are the bedrock of the economy.

Opaleye goes on to talk about the contribution of B2B companies to the economy, noting that it is worth noting that e-commerce platform operators in Nigeria contribute in no small measure to the advancement of MSMEs, such as Alerzo, a leading e-commerce Platform in Nigeria Nigeria is making strides in empowering retail business owners with its various innovations including credit regulations.

According to Opaleye, e-commerce platforms also provide warehousing and fulfillment solutions for suppliers while delivering ordered goods to retailers for free. For example, he said Alerzo has been offering free delivery services to retailers for over two years.

“For the last two years we have been delivering to informal retailers free of charge. With our delivery services, retailers save time, energy and resources that they would otherwise have spent on restocking. These benefits have resulted in 85 percent of our retailers reducing their two to four weekly replenishment trips to zero,” he explained.