Would London order from you? A diaspora-readiness checklist for Lagos brands

Plenty of Lagos brands have customers in London, Houston and Toronto who already love the product. The question is whether those customers can actually buy without sending a message first.

To show what we mean, we built two made-up Lagos skincare brands and looked at them the way a buyer in the UK would.

Brand A and Brand B (made-up examples)

Brand A has beautiful photos, good reviews in the comments, and a bio that says “DM to order”. Prices only appear in naira, and only when you ask. There’s nothing about shipping.

Brand B has the same photos. Its bio says “Ships to UK, US & Canada”. A pinned post lists prices in pounds and dollars. The link in bio goes to a checkout that works on a UK phone and takes a UK card.

It’s the same product. Brand B gets the order, because the buyer never has to ask.

Diaspora buyers aren’t hard to win. They’re easy to lose, usually at the first question they have to send.

The checklist

Score one point for each “yes”. These are the questions a buyer abroad is silently asking.

1. Can a stranger see where you ship?

A short line in the bio or on the site, such as “Ships to UK, US & Canada · 5–10 days”. If you don’t ship abroad yet, say so, and say how to buy from abroad (for example, through a friend or relative in Lagos).

2. Can they see the price in their currency?

Not an exact exchange rate, which changes, but a clear guide price in £, $ or C$, plus the shipping cost or a range.

3. Can they pay without a DM?

A checkout or payment link that accepts foreign cards. A buyer abroad will rarely set up a naira transfer to a stranger.

4. Do they know what happens if something goes wrong?

A one-line returns or replacement promise, and how long it takes.

5. Do they know when you’ll reply?

If questions do go to WhatsApp or email, say when you answer, in their time zone. “We reply within 24 hours, Mon–Sat” is enough.

6. Can they see that others abroad have bought?

Reviews or tagged posts from customers abroad, shared with the customer’s permission. If you don’t have any yet, skip this point. Don’t invent them.

5–6: ready. 3–4: close, so fix the gaps before you advertise abroad. 0–2: you’re relying on people who already know you.

Why this matters more than another nice photo

A diaspora buyer usually discovers you through someone else: a friend’s post, a cousin’s recommendation, a wedding. That moment of interest is fragile. If the first thing they have to do is ask a question across time zones, many will put it off, and “later” often never comes. That’s our view from building these systems rather than a measured statistic, but the fix is cheap enough to be worth doing either way.

Selling to Nigerians abroad, or planning to? Book a free call. Name a competitor that already ships well, and we’ll compare you both by hand before the call, then walk you through what we’d fix first.