Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Boost Your Brand: The Professional Edge of Product Barcodes in Nigeria

Transcript

Boost Your Brand: The Professional Edge of Product Barcodes in Nigeria · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:01
  Hello and welcome to the show. I'm taking today's recording at
• 0:04
  my desk and it's a full house. My in laws are still here, so
• 0:08
  expect there to be some interruptions in the background.
• 0:11
  Now, if you're new to the podcasts, the goal of this show
• 0:14
  is free business education. So if that's the sort of thing
• 0:16
  you're looking for, you are in the right place.
• 0:18
  Just make sure to share, promote and talk about the podcast so
• 0:21
  that your friends and family members in Nigeria and abroad
• 0:24
  can benefit from the questions that we tackle.
• 0:26
  They can do that by subscribing on Spotify, YouTube, Apple or
• 0:30
  any player of their choice and you in particular.
• 0:33
  If you have any sales or marketing questions by the time
• 0:35
  we're done, bring them to me. You can call, you can SMS, you
• 0:38
  can WhatsApp on 08064662140. Today on the show, I want us to
• 0:45
  look at something that I haven't spoken about before.
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  And as a matter of fact, I haven't even heard about it on
• 0:52
  any podcast anywhere. The reason why I came up was
• 0:56
  because somebody gave me a buzz a few weeks ago and it's like,
• 0:59
  hey bro, what's up now? I said I'm good.
• 1:01
  So, you know, you're the guy when it comes to business
• 1:03
  things. And I said, OK, no problem, let
• 1:05
  me see how I can help. And then the guy says, you know,
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  me and wifey, it's our business, we're making progress, blah,
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  blah, blah. I need to now put barcodes on
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  the product. So how far was the 411?
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  How do we go about that? And for the first time in a very
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  long time, I was absolutely stumped.
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  I had no answer because back when I was younger and I used to
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  dubble in writing, I did some research about how you get ISBN
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  numbers for your book. Because if your book is going to
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  be published, and hopefully I'm archived in one or two libraries
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  and you know, if you're going to sell it and market it, it helps
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  if you have an ISBN number. That's the number with barcodes
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  at the back of your book and you know, stuff like that.
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  So it makes your book look real professional.
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  And then of course, if your book is going to be kept in any
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  library is going to be in the right section, you know, stuff
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  like that. So ISBN numbers are a big deal
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  if you're talking about publishing a book.
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  But then it's skipped my mind that people who have to make
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  products, you know, if you don't believe me, the next time
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  anybody in your family gets ill and you buy drugs, you know,
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  just check out the back. You know, you see there all
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  those black and white lines, the codes, the product codes,
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  eventually, you know, so everybody who makes stuff,
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  whether it's baby diapers or cough syrup or bathing soap or
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  laundry soap or hand washing soap, or I mean, think about it,
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  if it's sold in the market, it needs to have those numbers at
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  the back of it. So for some reason I had never
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  done research into those sorts of things, so I was stumped.
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  So I told the guy, oh, you know what?
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  I know about ISBN numbers. I think it should be the same
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  thing. Let me go and do some research.
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  I'll get back to you. So anyway, I did my research.
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  That's the good news. The bad news is I wasn't able to
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  come up with much. But part of the good news is if
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  you're in that space, at least I'm going to be able to give you
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  some resources where you can continue the investigation
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  further. Because I had assumed that for
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  stuff that is that important, you know, the barcodes at the
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  back of your product, you know, you get your NAFTAC number, you
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  get your SON number, you know, standard organization of
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  Nigerian number, you get your, you know, all the number, number
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  and license license that you need.
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  I just assumed now when it comes to barcode, that barcode
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  information will be plentiful. I thought there'll be too much
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  information, but actually there's not enough information
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  that is out there. So at the end of this episode,
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  please bear in mind that if you're able to do this research
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  for your product and you're able to get barcodes, please, I'm
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  begging if the information I've given here was useful, I beg, I
• 3:50
  give my WhatsApp number at the beginning and at the end of
• 3:52
  every episode. No, reach out, let me know
• 3:57
  everything was helpful. Let me know what more you
• 4:00
  discovered and let me know in detail the steps that you went
• 4:03
  through so I can make another podcast telling people that.
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  OK, since our last episode where I spoke about how to get your
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  product barcode, at least now the podcast based in this doing
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  this, doing that has been able to get a back code for the
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  business. This is the step that he took or
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  she took and you know, so we can provide the useful resource to
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  people over here on the show. So essentially that's what we're
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  talking about today. Product barcodes, how do you get
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  them? Now?
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  Of course, there's no need to define.
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  Abby, should I define it? OK, yeah, since traditionally I
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  define everything, let me try and define.
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  So product barcodes, any time you go to the supermarket and
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  you buy something, you look at the back of the box.
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  Usually at the back of the box you see some black lines.
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  At the back of it black lines are white spaces.
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  That's what the product code is. Now the whole point of the
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  product code is you use it to identify each product.
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  So that's the reason why you know when you're paying the
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  sales, the the person at the desk who is scanning the thing
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  will take it and run it through the scanner.
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  It will just make problem and then it will show up on the
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  screen that you have bought, you know 12 bottles of soap, you
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  know, 2 packet of cigar, let's see what else?
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  6 packets of biscuits and 48 rows of tissue paper.
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  So nothing that you're scanning. Program, program, program.
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  That is the product code or the product barcodes.
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  So they make it easy for machines to read and understand
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  what product am I looking at? Now the good news is just like
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  with the ISBN for publishing for those are the barcodes that you
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  have at the back of your books. I mean just check whatever book
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  you happen to be reading. Now look at the back, you see
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  it, black lines and white spaces.
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  So there's a global standard for this sort of thing.
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  And so that's good. So it means you don't have to go
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  through the hassle of getting one for Niger and getting
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  another for America or getting another for the UK.
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  So if your product is going to be sold in Niger, in Cameroon,
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  in the UK, in Australia, you are just going to get one number.
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  And so that's good then what people use it for.
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  People use it for the supermarket.
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  They need it for inventory management.
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  Because, you know, next time you go to the supermarket, just
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  think about it. Go to the tissue paper section,
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  see all the different kinds of tissue paper, just tissue alone
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  and soap. I mean, that's a nightmare if
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  you have to manage and reconcile that thing, you know, by hand,
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  you know, how many Princess tissue paper do we have?
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  How many kitchen tissue paper do we have?
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  How many, you know, on and on the different brands.
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  The same thing with soap. How many locks do we have?
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  How many bleaching soap do we have?
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  How many carrot soap do we have? Purpose soap, black soap, you
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  know this soap, that soap so be a nightmare.
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  So making all these things makes inventory management very easy
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  for the supermarket. They're able to track stock
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  levels. You know how much we have and in
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  which location, you know, is it at the top of the shop?
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  Is it at the back? Is it shelf B6 or is it shelf a
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  22? You know, all those kind of
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  things. And the good news for you, dear
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  listener, those of you who are in the business, like my friend
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  and his wife who are doing the same thing, is because they're
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  just simply scanning program, program.
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  All they have to do is just get to the computer and they can
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  tell you exactly what's up. They can tell you, OK, boss, you
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  came here in January. You gave us 45 cartoons or soap.
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  I don't have 45 cartoon or soap. We've only been able to sell 22.
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  The remaining 23 they are, you will find half of it on shelf be
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  this and then the remaining half eye storage.
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  So that kind of thing really, really helps.
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  If you're the business owner and you have to go and talk to the
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  people in the shop, you want to know exactly how far, like since
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  I came in January, how much are the people sold those sorts of
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  things. So it makes your life a whole
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  lot easier. So if nothing else, and of
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  course, from the point of view of my friend and his wife,
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  that's the main reason why I don't want to get this thing
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  anyway, because if you don't do that, somebody has to go and do
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  this thing. Manual.
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  And of course, you know what manual means.
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  Manual means. I went, I checked in the store.
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  I think, I think, I think, and maybe we'll start quarreling.
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  I know I came with 45 cartoons saying I usually was 45
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  cartoons, I think was more like 43.
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  And then quarrel back and forth. You were looking at your diary.
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  You, you have different records, this person, they have the
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  current different records. You guys start to quarrel.
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  How much do you owe me? How much am I owe you?
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  What did I bring? What did I not bring?
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  You know, it's just a nightmare. So if you're going to be in this
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  kind of business like my friend and his wife, which just makes
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  sense, if you can just get this code, it will save you a lot of
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  stress. So inventory management, that's
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  the main reason why people do it.
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  Stock levels, location, traceability for the business
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  owner. Yes, traceability may be able to
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  trace and know exactly where did I send 45 cartoons last month?
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  Was it to dish shop or to dish shop?
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  Where did I send 22 cartoons? Where did I send six cartoons?
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  Where did I do this? Where did I do that?
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  So it helps then for big supermarket chains, supply chain
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  management, excuse me, supply chain management.
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  So those are OK. Well, I'll, I'll define, let me
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  just say that the same thing. Sure.
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  Inventory management is how much of what do we have in the shop,
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  Supply chain management is how much do we need in the shop?
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  How much inventory do we have to hold?
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  When am I supposed to place the order to bring new ones here?
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  And, and how based on the traffic we see in the shop, when
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  am I expecting certain kinds of things to move out?
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  So all that is supply chain management.
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  So for now, let's just say all join.
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  Then the standard for getting your barcodes is called GS One
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  capital G, capital S and then one as in Figure 1.
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  Then that's the body that's responsible for these standards.
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  And so if you want to get your barcode, essentially those are
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  the people that you have to last with the GS1.
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  And I'm wondering why did why did they come up with that kind
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  of, you know, super spy kind of name?
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  Because when I saw the things of GS1, I say, no, this thing can't
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  be legit. I just flash it.
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  I can't read my research and find out that, you know, it's
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  actually is legit. I mean, why not just have a
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  simple name like SON, you know, standards Organization of
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  Nigeria or the other one International standards book
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  number, you know, ISBN just like simple numbers and say you come
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  up with this code GS, one thing sounds like a scam.
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  So in fact, when I found them at first, I didn't want to show my
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  friend wanted to check and check and check like is this the real
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  IB is a scam? So GS1, those are the people
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  that you have to last with to get your numbers.
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  OK, well before I go into more details about the process, let
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  me tackle this question. If you're an SMB, should you
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  bother and like more things? The answer is it depends.
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  But like I've told you guys so far, it's going to make it
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  easier to manage your stock levels and location and
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  everything. So that will save you a
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  nightmare than waiting for somebody to go and reconcile by
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  hand. How many did I count?
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  How many could I find? So I think that's a good idea.
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  But now from a very practical level, some of you might not
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  like to hear this, but why Niger?
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  It kind of gives a professional image and you know, customer
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  trust and customer confidence. It's just the way we Nigerians
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  are. If you go to supermarket, you
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  buy a whole bunch of stuff. Everything has bar code.
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  And then this particular soap, this particular tissue, this
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  particular, this particular that, this particular in fact,
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  medicine, the medicine doesn't have bar code.
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  I'm assuring you may be like, OK, just a guess, but I think we
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  were like 50% of Nigerians zoom by.
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  If you go and buy your anti metatrine, lute, leukaem,
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  methatrine, you know all those anti malaria drugs and then they
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  bring 1. You just look here, you look
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  here. You didn't see backward.
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  I think some people just think this thing is fake and they
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  won't buy it. So from that very Niger level, I
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  will say, yeah, just go ahead and get your product backward
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  number. You'll help your thing look
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  professional, stand out. People have confidence that OK,
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  this is a real deal. You know it's not a scam.
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  So like I said, you need the barcode.
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  You should be looking at 4 GS one.
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  I'm not going to give the contact details that I found
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  because anyway, I want you to do your own research.
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  So just go on Google GS1 Nigeria, you're going to find an
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  address. The address is in Lagos.
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  I found an Abuja address, but to be honest, I'm not too confident
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  about that Abuja address. So these phone numbers, the
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  Lagos address and then an e-mail address for enquiries then well,
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  like I said and I've been saying on the podcast, please double
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  check, triple check, verify all the information that you get
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  over here because you know me just going to go and do some
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  research. And I put it like, that's just
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  me doing my research. So shine your eyes, check very
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  well. And like I said, if any of you
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  go through this process and the thing checks out, I beg get back
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  to me, let me know what's up so I can make a follow up episode
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  to let people know that, OK, this thing I found, it's
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  verified, it's trusted because one of us, one of the community
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  has gone ahead and sorted this thing.
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  So GS one capital G, capital S #1.
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  So you'll have to become a member of the GS1.
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  And then when you're a member of the GS1, you're going to apply
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  for a GTIN number that is a global trade item number GTIN.
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  That's what you'll apply for. So it's the process of applying
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  for this GTIN now that they will now create because of course
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  once they give you the number, then I'll create the barcode.
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  And like I said, it's universal. So you know that barcode, the
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  information will now be readable whether you're selling your
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  product in Nigeria, in Ghana, in Yugoslavia, in America or
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  Lithuania. So just that one number.
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  So you will now after that, it's up to you to now incorporate the
• 14:08
  thing into your product design, to print the barcode and then
• 14:10
  incorporate into your product design.
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  I was able to find some of these steps from some resources
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  online, but like I said, go and check yourself.
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  The website is www.gs1.org.org. So again, so excuse me,
• 14:28
  www.gs1.org. Capital G Capital S #1 not
• 14:35
  writing it. O&E write it as #1 then I think
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  that's all pretty much. Let me not stress this one.
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  Let me not stress it too much, especially since it's not my
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  area of speciality. I'm only making it because I got
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  lots of questions that are business related and this is one
• 14:53
  that I did not have an answer to.
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  I did some research. Hopefully there's some resources
• 14:57
  here that should be useful for you guys.
• 14:59
  So if you are interested, you're like my friend and his wife,
• 15:03
  they're doing soap or maybe you're manufacturing Nigerian
• 15:06
  baby diapers or what else, or you want to start your own brand
• 15:12
  of table water. OK, People who sell pure water,
• 15:17
  I don't think people who sell pure water bother with back
• 15:20
  roads. I haven't seen back roads on
• 15:21
  pure water, but I've seen back roads on on table water like
• 15:26
  your Nestle water and stuff like that.
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  So if you're getting into these kinds of businesses and you're
• 15:31
  interested, please take this information, verify this
• 15:36
  information are big verify. Like I said, I couldn't find a
• 15:40
  lot. I just assumed that on this kind
• 15:42
  of thing, I would have found too many resources.
• 15:45
  I assume the problem will be how to scale down all the resources
• 15:48
  that I'm getting. Well, unfortunately, there's not
• 15:50
  too much information that is out there.
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  So verify the information that I've given.
• 15:56
  If you come across some new resources, let me know.
• 15:59
  And please, if you go ahead and you apply successfully, let me
• 16:05
  know the outcome. Also let me know where I was
• 16:08
  wrong so I can come back and clarify errors and you know,
• 16:11
  give people more guidance so the other people who need product
• 16:14
  barcodes can be able to hook themselves up.
• 16:19
  So that's all for today, folks. Remember, if you have any sales
• 16:22
  and marketing questions, bring them to me.
• 16:25
  You can call, you can SMS, you can WhatsApp on 08064662140.
• 16:33
  Even if it's not a sales and marketing question like product
• 16:35
  barcodes. I'll do my best, so thank you
• 16:37
  very much for your time and attention.
• 16:39
  I'll catch you, dear listener, at the next episode.