How Much Does Ecommerce Fulfilment Cost in Nigeria?

If you’ve asked a few fulfilment companies for prices, you’ve probably noticed the quotes are hard to compare. One gives a storage rate, another a price per order, a third a delivery fee by zone. That’s because fulfilment is several services bundled together, and each one is priced on something different.

This guide breaks the cost into its parts so you can work out a realistic monthly figure for your own business.

The four parts of a fulfilment bill

Some providers also charge for receiving stock (counting it in), packaging materials, or moving stock between cities. Ask for these up front so there are no surprises on your first invoice.

Storage

Storage is usually the smallest part of the bill for a seller with fast-moving stock, and the biggest for one with slow-moving stock. The rule is simple: products that sit on a shelf for months cost more to store than products that sell in a week.

At Movnn, storage starts from ₦200/month and the first 7 days are free. Your total depends on how much space your stock takes up. (See what we store.)

Pick and pack

This is the labour of turning an order into a parcel. It scales with order volume, so it rises as your sales rise. That is the point: you pay for the work when there are orders, not for packing staff on quiet days.

Delivery

For most Nigerian sellers, delivery is the largest single cost, and the one with the most room to save. The biggest factor is distance between where your stock sits and where your customer lives. A Lagos-to-Lagos delivery costs far less than sending the same parcel from Lagos to Kano.

That’s why where you store matters as much as what you pay per order. Stock kept in a hub close to your buyers means shorter, cheaper trips. We cover this in detail in how to reduce delivery costs for an ecommerce business.

Returns and failed deliveries

A failed delivery costs you twice: once to go out, once to come back. Customers who aren’t reachable, change their mind at the door or ordered on impulse via social media all add to this. Keeping delivery times short is one of the best ways to reduce it, because the longer an order takes, the more likely the customer is to cancel.

What doing it yourself really costs

Many sellers compare a fulfilment quote with “free”, because they pack orders themselves. But in-house fulfilment has costs too. They’re just spread across rent, salaries, rider payments and your own time. To compare fairly, add them up for one month:

Then divide by the number of orders you shipped that month. That figure, your real cost per order, is what you should compare with a fulfilment provider’s quote.

A worked example

Here is an illustrative example. These are made-up figures, so use your own numbers. Suppose a skincare brand ships 300 orders a month from Lagos:

• Store-room rent of ₦1,800,000 a year works out to ₦150,000 a month.
• One packer at ₦120,000 a month.
• Packaging at ₦30,000 a month.
• Riders and waybills at ₦450,000 a month, because a third of orders go outside Lagos.

That’s ₦750,000 a month, or ₦2,500 per order, before counting the owner’s time or any lost stock. Two things stand out. First, rent and salary are paid whether the brand ships 100 orders or 500. Second, the interstate orders are dragging the delivery bill up. A fulfilment provider changes both: fixed costs become per-order costs, and stock placed in a second hub turns interstate deliveries into local ones.

What makes fulfilment cheaper or more expensive

• Where your stock is stored. Closer to buyers means cheaper delivery.
• How fast your stock sells. Slow movers rack up storage.
• Product size and weight. Bulky items take more shelf space and cost more to deliver.
• Order volume. Higher volumes usually mean better rates.
• Failed delivery rate. Every failed attempt is paid for twice.

Questions to ask any fulfilment provider

1. What do you charge for storage, and how is space measured?
2. Is pick and pack priced per order or per item?
3. How is delivery priced within the hub city, and to other states?
4. Do you charge for receiving stock, packaging or returns?
5. Is there a minimum monthly spend or contract length?
6. Can I see my stock and orders in real time?

How Movnn prices fulfilment

Your Movnn price depends on three things: how much you store, how many orders you ship and where your customers are. There is no lease, no staff cost and no rider retainer. Storage starts from ₦200/month with the first 7 days free, and you can use warehousing, fulfilment and delivery together or on their own.