Introducing SkulMart - The problem, and SkulMart, the solution

SkulMart has been around since 22nd July, 2020. From that time till this moment, we've added many improvements, all to make business management effective in school environments.

In this article, we addressed the problem we're solving as well as the solution we're offering.

Introduction

In various university settings, you'll find many business owners -- some selling shoes, clothes, or even offering services like graphics design -- all of them with one common goal, to reach out to many students in the school. Some of these business owners have customers outside the school, but undeniably, their main target customers are within the school being their current hemisphere of contact.

The Problem

Limited methods of managing their business!

The following limitations were discovered from a case study using Kwara State University business owners.

1. Limited advertisements

Sellers strive to get their products announced around the school and they about this in various ways, some of which are:

• regularly uploading on their WhatsApp status (those tiny status dots)
• sending broadcast messages to friends to help them "repost" on their status
• announcing their products and services in groups
• to name a few

While these methods can be potentially effective if used well, such sellers are only limited to their mutual contacts. It remains a big challenge in getting their products in front of non-mutual students in their environment.

2. No detailed portfolio!

When a buyer contacts a seller, the seller would have to send the buyer loads of images to state what they are selling. Although some sellers have social media pages where they can point to new customers, most of the time, the products on those pages have very little information attached to them. For example, lack of product ratings and reviews, and even, a full description of each product.

3. No track of orders

Some do this manually, and some don't at all. We believe keeping track of orders helps you determine what your buyers want more and gives you room to restrategize. It's difficult to easily revisit previous sales when you do things manually.

4. Limited means of validation

Sellers depend on their friend's "hyping" as a means of validation. "Yes, I trust him, he sells good shoes". Apart from this, there's no other way the new customers can trust your brand. This can create doubts when people are about to purchase from you.

The Solution

SkulMart!

These aforementioned problems might seem harmless, but they go a long way in limiting one's business. We created SkulMart as a more effective solution for business management in Schools. Not just for sellers alone, but buyers too. Here's how:

1. We give sellers a portfolio

You no longer have to send images to customers when they reach out to you.

All you have to do is give them the link to your profile, and right there, they can discover what your brand/business is all about, the products (plus images) you sell as well as the information (such as ratings, reviews, full description) attached to those products.

2. You can be easily discovered

SkulMart is an online market for your school. When a buyer is looking for products, they can jump on SkulMart to search for them and if a seller offers what the buyer is looking for, the seller stands a chance of being discovered.

This means, regardless of the audience limit of your WhatsApp status, you can be discovered on the SkulMart store by literally anyone.

3. Easier to track orders

When buyers make orders, we save them for the seller and buyer.

For buyer:

For seller:

This helps the seller keep track of orders right from the pending state until it is closed. Also, the buyer gets to manage orders from their dashboard in which they can confirm orders they've received or write reviews on orders.

4. A better means of validation

When a new customer visits a seller's profile, they get to see the ratings, reviews, number of products sold, and other information. Without friends hyping that seller, the buyer can be convinced that the seller they're about buying from is "confirm". This of course requires that the seller has successful orders on our platform.

5. No credit market, No running away with money

In addition to the above solutions, our system offers something secured. When a buyer makes an order, we receive the money immediately. The seller does not get the money until the buyer receives the order. The buyer claims to receive the order by clicking on a "Confirm Order Received" button for the order in their dashboard. If the buyer doesn't receive it, the money remains with us. This integrated method helps us avoid fraud problems, as we hold the money until the transaction is complete.

We're the middleman that ensures both parties are satisfied with the transaction 😇

For cases where the buyer may refuse to click the confirm button even after receiving the product or the buyer fails to deliver the product, our support system comes in. We reach out to both parties to verify the complaint and act accordingly - like refunding the buyer or crediting the seller.

Conclusion

There are still many challenges that business owners in schools go through to get the best of sales, but SkulMart, being an online store, makes business management seamless for buyers and sellers.

The sellers manage their products online and the buyers make their orders from the sellers of their choice.

There's so much more to what SkulMart offers and hopes to offer, but I don't want to overwhelm you with all of that in this article. You'll get to see them as you start using our platform and also in the future articles.