Business
Newsday
As much as everyone is tired of hearing about the pandemic some two years later, there have been some silver linings for us in the Caribbean, if you have been paying attention. One of them is the fact that people have started to realise that they have needed to change their business model and start to learn how to tap into a wider market.
Now for many who have been accustomed to selling on Facebook or Instagram, responding to DMs, sending customers a Google form to place an order and having their clients pay for the goods either by bank transfer or cash on delivery, shifting to an e-commerce model and being able to serve clients outside of TT, may seem like a stretch of the imagination. Yet in 2022, serving clients outside of Trinidad and Tobago has never been easier.
There are quite a few ways to go about getting interest from other countries, getting paid from international clients and having your products delivered worldwide and in the Digipreneur column, we will be covering them all but this week, we are going to focus on a solution called Caribshopper.
So who and what is Caribshopper?
Caribshopper is a global marketplace committed to transforming Caribbean goods from marginal to mainstream, by connecting creators of amazing Caribbean products to consumers living away from “home” and those curious about the culture.
Since its launch in January 2021, Caribshopper has shipped over 9300 products to 48 states in the US, Canada, as well as London, UK.
Caribshopper handles the fulfilment and logistics for merchants on its platform, payment processing and aids in customer acquisition needed for Caribbean merchants to successfully sell direct-to-consumer in the US and Canada.
If your products are in the following categories then you should take a good look at getting listed on Caribshopper. The categories they focus on include food and drink, beauty and wellness, home and living, jewellery, apparel, paper and novelty.
Registration is pretty simple, interested merchants head over to www.Caribshopper.com and click on “Become a Merchant”. A rep from their customer success team will reach out to you and get you onboarded to the platform.
Where Caribshopper shines in some key areas? They guide you through how to properly take product photos and if you can’t do it yourself, they can take the photos for you at their head office. They teach you how to write the product and sales copy to be able to entice and best describe your goods. If you are unable to do it for yourself, their team can have the copyright of your products done for you.
They also provide you with marketing kits to help you create social media content for your products.
Once you are listed on your platform, how Caribshopper makes their money is that their team works with you on the pricing of your goods. They guide you on the cost of similar goods in the US/Canada market, you the merchant give them a price and they mark up the goods in-line with what is in-market and that allows them to handle the payment processing and logistics so that you do not have to.
Once an item is bought from the platform, you will be able notified of the sale and you have two options to get your products to the Caribshopper team.
1. You can deliver your sold goods to the warehouse over on Francis Road, Maraval.
2. Arrange with the Caribshopper team to have your items collected by their couriers. This option is available for Tobagonians.
Once the item has been dropped off/picked up, the Caribshopper team gets the products to your clients in the US/CA within five days of them placing their orders.
Now let’s tackle the question that I know has been burning through your mind, the money, how do you get paid.
Well, I got some good news for you. Caribshopper handles all of the credit card payments from international clients so you don’t have to worry. They remit the funds to you twice a month into your bank account.
If you decide to register with Caribshopper, you can still have your website or register with other marketplaces of your choice, you are not locked into any exclusive agreement.
I would highly recommend checking them out and getting listed. Caribshopper is solving some key problems for us here in TT. Getting into the US/CA market, payment processing, logistics and generating US dollars for your business.
For more info on building your business online and monetising, check out KeronRose.com and you can also listen to the Digipreneur FM podcast, available on every podcast directory.
