Alaba Market: Piracy Business Worth Millions in Nigeria

Founded in the 1970s, Alaba International Market, located along the Lagos-Badagry Expressway is by far the biggest electronics market in the West African sub-region. Thousands of people throng the market daily from as far as Ghana, East Africa, Togo, and Benin Republic to buy a wide range of items such as computers, broadcast equipment, television, videos, household appliances, refrigerators, video games, generators, security equipment and CDs. The market has a mixture of individual customers and retailers who bulk-buy for their shops across Nigeria and West Africa. Manufacturers also ensure that their products are represented in the market. Retailers from all major Nigerian cities come to the market for their supply of electronics and allied products. To an ordinary man on the street, Alaba market is just a thriving market but behind the business transactions in the market is an unquantifiable piracy business of all kinds.

The situation has got so bad that even record label owners now come to the market to make distribution deals. Top music stars such as PSquare, Tuface and Nice were recently reported to have made bargains with some known music pirates in the market to sell off outright the right to some of their albums. The move is believed to be a clever attempt to put the responsibility of marketing their album on the pirates since they determine which CD and DVD sell in the market. A businessman in this sort of business in the market told our reporter that every reasonable artist who wants to succeed must come to negotiate with them.

Speaking to our reporter, he said: “If an artist has a recorded album and wants it marketed, all he needs do is come to us, because we are the market. What we offer to pay depends on an artist; if it is an

established artist, we could pay up to N60 million for a three-year contract, but if it is an artist that is yet to be established, we might offer them N1 million since we are taking a risk and we don’t know if the public will accept the artist’s album.”

A new dimension was recently added to the piracy business as two persons were arrested in the market for allegedly pirating DSTV signals. The suspects John Andy and Valentine Ezenwaka were arrested for importing, selling, and distributing devices capable of illegally accessing DSTV’s broadcast signals to members of the public.

They were arrested last Friday by Police from the Special Fraud Unit, SFU. The suspects are believed to have made huge sums of money selling the decoders which transmits all DSTV channel at no cost to the user.

As the piracy business continues to thrive in Alaba market, many have called for the closure of the market. Recently, the chairman of Copyright Society of Nigeria, COSON, and Mr. Tony Okoroji added his voice when he advised government to seal the market.  Okoroji opined that since Alaba market has become a haven for piracy, it makes sense to close the market.

The traders in the market however disagree with the idea, saying that other genuine businesses go on in the market and that it will be injustice to close a market because of a few individuals.

—Henry Ojelu

Read more from Pmnewsnigeria.com 

From CRM to CEM: Has anything changed?

There was a time when we had sales men, later it was changed to Sales Rep., and now we have Sales Executives. Initially, I thought there was a big difference in their responsibilities atleast in my country, but I soon found out that it was a mere change in nomenclature, their activities are still the same.
Same thing is happening in the Services industry, we now talk less of Customer Relationship Management and more of Customer Experience Management. Unfortunately, the change in name has not changed anything about how the consumer is managed.

What is going on here? Why is there such a big difference between the words and the reality? Why is it that whilst the words have changed from CRM to CEM, the indifference to building emotional bonds with customers continues? Is it a lack of understanding? Are people in business simply ignorant and so they need more education from the likes of customer experience gurus?

I say that a shift to an authentic customer orientation, one where the focus of the company is to come up with value propositions and customer experiences, that enrich the lives of their customers (and all the people who have to play their part in making this happen) requires transformational change. It requires a complete break with the past and operating from a radically different context. It is the kind of break that the caterpillar makes in order to show up as a butterfly. And that is a big ask for almost all of us especially large companies that are doing ok.

Read more at Customer Experience, “Being Managed Or Handled”

Briefly On Customer Experience

Spend a lot of time talking to customers face to face. You’d be amazed how many companies don’t listen to their customers.” -Ross Perot

If you do build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful.” Jef f  Bezos, CEO Amazon.com

Customer experience (CX) is the sum of all experiences a customer has with a supplier of goods and services, over the duration of their relationship with that supplier

 

The best experience a customer can have is when your products meets  his/her expectations. This can only be achieved when you make out time to talk to your customers, discussing about what motivates or disturbs them about your business. 

This helps you to understand how and what they feel about your product/service or business generally, and it also gives them that sense of belonging.

For the business, it helps you to build a better strategy, and a more customer oriented business.

What You Need To Know As A Business Owner?

As the CEO of your company, part of your responsibility is to know your business, your industry, your competitors and your customers. Frank De Raffele shared 4 things a CEO must know about his business in his article, “Four “Knows” to being a great small business CEO”

1       Know What is Happening in Your Industry Now

 Having this knowledge will help you determine how events in the industry will affect your business over time, as well as preparing your business for the future. You need to know what is trending and how it is relevant to your business. Not only do you need to know where the industry will be but you need to know how it is going to transition into the future.  

Don’t wait until everyone knows what needs to be done before you, else you will be playing ‘catch up’ or ‘keep up’ and that will be hard when they have a bigger budget than you do. Being current earns you customers trust and builds your credibility in the industry. Adapting is easier when changes occur in small than in big business.

2.     Know That Technology is Your Friend. 

A recent study showed that over 70% of small business owners are yet to adopt technology in their businesses. Successful businesses are leveraging on the huge benefits of technology to lower cost of operation, and at the same time, reach-out to more actual and potential customers.

Technology, whether in form of new software, smart phones, websites, internet marketing, gizmos, gadgets etc. If it can help you market, sell, run or manage your business more effectively then you need to know about it and use it even if it means engaging someone to keep you up-to-date on the newest trends in technology in your business.

3.     Know When Your Target Market Shifts.

 Do you know the demographics of your customers? Market characteristics are changing very fast. The set of target market you had maybe 10 years ago has changed. Even if they are the same people, their style of decision may have changed and even the factors that influenced them to buy years back may not be the same today. Make efforts to identify changing variables within your customer base. You must be strategic in your thinking and your decision making. Don’t always rely on yesterday’s sales record; know when the customers are moving.

4.     Know and be the leader that is needed.

Don’t just be “a” leader, be “the” leader that is needed.  As businesses grow, shrink, struggle and thrive, your employees are watching to know how you react to crisis.  

 As a leader, your employees will respond to situations in the business as you respond. Show them that you are capable of handling crisis, and that you can lead them out. The more respect, confidence and trust they have in you, the more influence
you will have with them. Be the leader that they need, not just who you think you should be. As the CEO it is important to know the pulse of what is going on with your people.

Culled from:

Four “Knows” to being a great small business CEO by Frank De Raffele.

March 7, 2011 Hudson Valley BUSINESS JOURNAL