The WhatsApp Business app, used widely by small sellers across Nigeria and Africa, offers free features built for commerce — a product catalog customers can browse inside the chat, automated greeting and away messages, and quick replies to common questions — making it one of the lowest-cost ways to start selling online. Instagram and Facebook Shops let sellers tag products directly in photos and posts, while marketplaces such as Jumia (a pan-African e-commerce platform headquartered in Lagos) give sellers access to a much larger built-in customer base in exchange for listing and commission fees. Because online buyers cannot physically inspect a product before paying, trust signals matter even more than in a physical shop: clear photos from multiple angles, honest descriptions of condition, visible reviews from past buyers, and a clearly stated return or refund policy all reduce the hesitation that stops online shoppers from completing a purchase.