How Peppa Strengthens Consumer Protection In Nigeria
The safety and protection of consumers are always a top priority for every government keen on improving its citizens’ welfare. This is because, when consumer protection is amiss in any clime of the world, there is bound to be a domino effect on the socio-economic landscape of that country or region. It means that a lack of consumer protection would affect the buying behavior of the consumer, and which would in turn negatively impact businesses.
Nigeria is the most populous Black country in the world, with a population of over 110 million people. This huge population base has played a significant role in having a large number of consumers interact and buy different products for varying purposes. This has also helped the establishment of local and international businesses leveraging this large population that has given rise to a wide range of consumers that are customers of different products.
However, it is a rule of thumb that the proliferation of businesses would give room to the selling of both original and substandard, healthy, and expired products by various sellers. This is owed to the fact that every seller/business wants to make a wide profit margin from the teeming consumer base that is in Nigeria. As such, many businesses may not be committed to providing products that would meet the satisfaction of consumers at the best value for their money – instead, the sellers are after making sales and growing profits.
The Role of CPC in Nigeria
The consciousness of the Federal Government of Nigeria in clamping down on businesses that are not committed to meeting the satisfaction and safety of Nigerians culminated in the establishment of the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) in 1999, which is a government parastatal under the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment.
The primary functions of CPC are to:
- Eliminate hazardous products from the market
- Provide speedy redress to consumers’ complaints
- Undertake campaigns will lead to increased consumer awareness
- Ensure that consumers’ interests receive due consideration at the appropriate forum
- Encourage trade, industry, and professional associations to develop and enforce in their various fields quality standards designed to safeguard the interest of consumers
However, in light of the above functions, the question here is “How robust has CPC been able to discharge its duties towards the protection of Nigerian buyers who are the consumers?” This is a rhetoric that can only be answered by the council.
It is common knowledge that the advent of the internet has paved the way for the development of e-commerce and social commerce businesses taking center stage to compete with brick-and-mortar businesses that have been in existence for many years. But social commerce, in its turn, is taking advantage of the ready-made potential customers that are active social media users to enable businesses to sell their products to them.
Today, there are various small and medium-sized businesses available on different social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. Some of the products you can now buy on these social channels are groceries, electronics, shoes, bags, jewelry, clothing, cosmetics, and whatnot. This means that there is almost anything you can not buy on these social media platforms in Nigeria.
Therefore, the question that needs to be raised here is “How has CPC been able to work on consumer protection on these social commerce platforms?” It is a known fact that most social media businesses are informal because a preponderance of businesses on these platforms do not register with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). Hence, this may pose a difficulty for CPC to adequately work on ensuring buyers’ protection who are the consumers.
For every problem, there is a possible solution around. Therefore, the lack/inadequate protection for social commerce consumers has led to Peppa availing itself to uphold standard practices of safety and protection on various social media platforms.
What Is Peppa?
Peppa is a peer-to-peer (P2P) social commerce platform that functions to ensure the safety of products and payments on social media. It is Africa’s leading P2P platform that connects buyers with sellers to establish a favorable trade between the two parties.
This platform provides an alternative to buying products on social media, and that is the creation of the Peppa Hub – on which buyers can purchase their preferred products at the best prices. There is also an online storefront for sellers to set up their businesses on Peppa to reach broader potential buyers on a user-friendly platform that is easy to navigate. Therefore, Peppa is a platform designed for both buyers and sellers. But, there is another feature that Peppa uses to forge a sustainable relationship between buyers and sellers – the escrow system.
How Peppa Helps Consumer Protection In Nigeria
There is a need for every social media buyer in Nigeria to be under the coverage of consumer protection. This is why Peppa is taking that giant stride to ensure the safety and satisfaction of these social media consumers are guaranteed. This is achieved with the aid of the Peppa escrow system.
Peppa escrow system is a technology that acts as the middleman between social media buyers and sellers to ensure the commitment of sellers and satisfaction of buyers in completing the terms of the agreement to purchase.
How this system works is that a buyer pays for a preferred product to the escrow account and the money will remain in this account until the seller has delivered the product to the buyer, satisfactorily. Let’s reiterate that the buyer (consumer) must be satisfied with the product before the seller can access the payment locked in the escrow account.
Therefore, this idea would eliminate issues of low-quality products being delivered to the buyer or other issues that may not be favorable to the buyer. With this, Peppa is guaranteeing apt consumer protection for buyers making purchases from social media in Nigeria.
Alternatively, buyers can always use the Peppa Hub to buy their preferred products at the best prices. But the bottom line is that Peppa reinforces consumer protection with its escrow system.
Conclusion
The safety and satisfaction of consumers must be a top priority for every business, as they tend to grow in sales and profit margin. Even as there is a consumer protection body in Nigeria that is saddled with the responsibility of safeguarding buyers, it is our belief that its function may not be robust enough to cover the protection of social media consumers.
However, Peppa is stepping up to this challenge to proffer a sustainable solution for the safety and satisfaction of the teeming consumers on various social media platforms.
Download the Peppa app on Google Play Store or Apple Store to ensure your consumer protection.
