WooCommerce of Botswana: Interview with ziigie.com

We sat down with TSHEGO to learn more about how woocommerce helps her convey ideas, and her unique challenges faced by African e -commerce entrepreneurs in southern African.

Tell us information about ziigie.com.

Why do you start starting a business? What are you selling? Ziigie.com is a handmade product market; at present, all products are manufactured in Botswana in order to expand the influence to other parts of southern Africa in the future. The range of products sold from hand -made chocolate sticks to hair care products, and then condiments such as jam. We even have handbags, books and music for sale.

When I created ziigie.com, I want to help manual manufacturers sell their products to sell their products. To a wider market. I will find that many people are doing great things in Botswana, but their market scope is very limited. Many potential customers don’t even know what these craftsmen must provide. The purpose is to create a space for these craftsmen, which can not only come into contact with a wider market, but also sell them to these audiences.

You describe it as a new method of Botswana.

What is your biggest challenge? The first big challenge was to find suppliers. The digital world here has little trust, so it is difficult to make people provide their products in our market. This is a situation where there are chickens or eggs first: Suppliers want to first see it running, but we first need them to let it run.

Fortunately, a group of people accepted this vision, and they were our first batch of suppliers. Once this happens, it will be much easier to find more suppliers. As long as there are a few sellers available, we can quickly get the 3 we hosted today0 suppliers.

I know you from the beginning very well. Will the vision be realized through e -commerce?

Or have you considered the idea of \u200b\u200bopening a physical store first?

I never thought of opening a physical store. From the beginning, we wanted to open an online store, mainly because it was easy to expand and much cheaper than physical stores. In addition, the coverage is much larger. Our goal is to expand the buyer’s group to the area where the supplier is located. Opening a physical store may change that area slightly, but it is far from us to double the market’s goal.

Do you see that the mentality of e -commerce is changing?

We did see some changes. There are few stores in Botswana to provide online shopping services, so we expect that this may take some time, but when we interact with our customers, we see that customers are accepting e -commerce. They started to buy online.

When changing this mentality, we must overcome two main doubts: payment and delivery. First of all, our local customers do not trust the use of credit card payment. \”How do you plan to deal with my credit card information?\” Secondly, you need to build trust, that is, you will receive the package delivery after you pay.

When opening our e -commerce store, we noticed that we are investing a lot of time and energy Education. We must explain what this process will look like, and how long it takes for each step of the process. We can also point them to them detailed privacy policies. In addition, we have seen adding actual addresses in our store to establish confidence. If there is a problem, our customers still know how to find us. Adding actual addresses to our store can establish confidence. If there is a problem, our customers still know how to find us.

What we started to make traffic move more is more interaction with people. We also issue coupons to influential people to promote. Through word -of -mouth marketing, it is much easier to convince us. They have seen friends or family shopping with us, and they are more willing to try it by themselves. In addition, it can be seen in physical spaces to help us. For example, we went to the handicraft market and spent time talking to potential suppliers and customers. Actively make our brands and teams more graceful, Thus eliminating some boundaries. They are no longer just handling the computer screen.

At some time, you decided to start using WoOOCOMMERCE in your store. Why do you choose Woocommerce?

I chose WOO because it is easy. I have no coding or programming background. Although some people also help me in this regard, I want an easy -to -understand system. When it comes to the entire process, you don’t want to punch in the dark. In terms of processing orders and management products, I hope to understand everything so that I will not rely on others. If I log in, I hope to do at least some basic things myself.

How easy is it to obtain data from WOO. We try to make our business decisions data -oriented. We have many customers who help us subdivide and locate specific users. Woocommerce is also very friendly to this. On the contrary, what are the most challenging things when you cooperate with Woocommerce?

When we started it, our website was very slow. It is difficult for us to understand why it is so slow. Fortunately, at the e -commerce conference held by Cape Town, we can chat with some developers of the Woocommerce team. They checked our website and provided us with some amazing skills to improve performance. I can now be glad to say that these days our website is much faster than before that meeting. We have received amazing support from the WOO team. Which plug -in will help optimize your Woocommerce store?

I really like the small part of the currency converter. We have not deployed our international website, but I have seen how surprising the price of the local currency is. In addition, when we were chatting with the WOO team, we discovered this expansion. When we are about to launch international shipping, we definitely hope that this expansion can provide motivation for our stores.

If you can give a suggestion to the owner of the south of the world, you will be

What? In many countries in the south of the world, one of the reasons for the small e -commerce scale is the lack of digital trust. My biggest suggestion is to focus on education. It is very easy to build an online store, but it has a series of unique challenges. Most of these challenges are non -technical. In addition, don’t let these challenges disappoint you. You can also enjoy the fun of e -commerce. During this period of Ziigie.com, I learned a lot. Working in a new industry, at least for our country, it is also exciting to keep me in our country, but it is also very exciting to stand at the forefront of pioneering new markets. Become a leader in developing your country’s e -commerce industry! A team of encouraging people can greatly help solve this problem. When I founded ziigie.com, I was a person, which was a slow and boring process. It’s hard to see other views. Once I have established an excellent team with different opinions and opinions, it will become more energetic. Entrepreneurship is a marathon, and sometimes you feel tired. In these cases, in those more difficult periods, others are inspiring.

Entrepreneurship is a marathon, sometimes you feel tired. In these cases, in those more difficult periods, others are inspiring.

What are the unique technical challenges you handle the target market? We heard that mobile currencies are very popular in Africa.

In terms of payment, we must be creative. We have accepted a lot of different options: those who do not want to provide credit card details can deposit directly, people who do not mind can use PayPal and mobile payment. Most people in Botswana use the latter.

We will turn from PayPal to MyGate because it supports our local currency. The cost of handling payment here is much higher than many western countries, so we have been looking for better solutions.

To enable myGate, you need to buy Woocommerce Mygate extensions, add it to your site, and create an account at MyGate.co.za/signup/. Simple! Our movement is still manual process: customers send mobile currencies to us, we manually confirm the order. However, we are considering integration with Orange Money so that we can automate this process.

ziigie.com is a market.

What is your favorite product? I am ashamed, I must choose one. Let me give you the top three. The heel lip balm is one of them. My partner’s previous heel was very bad, and now they are gone, so every time I use that jar, I will order another on my website.

I also like Maungo’s craft jam. They have a \”old loyalty\”, and it has a Malura base with strange and white wine in it. Finally, I like our plush toys -we sell giraffes and hippos. They are excellent gifts for children, but they can also be used as exquisite decorations. They are a good talkist.

Finally, what does Ziigie mean, why do you choose it as your store?

It has no meaning! I am playing with my son, wandering around and making strange sounds. When this sound is made, I think: \”Wait a minute, it sounds cool for a corporate name.\” Now, whenever he sees it when he sees it When something related to ziigie.com, his face will lighten up and call it \”

My

ziigie\”.

– Thank you very much for your interview, I wish you all the best!

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