YCFOnline: Be Ankaranified; Chiquita's Deck

Chiquita's Deck provides beautifully made African Inspired Items like rings, bangles, belts, shoes bags and more. Chiquita's Deck focuses mostly on women and it is meant to bring out the sparkle in every fashion lover.

Read our Interview with Chiquita's Deck below;

Tell us a little about Chiquita's Deck?

Chiquita's Deck is a trendsetting company that engages in beautifying people (especially women) with our traditional and uniquely Nigeria made African fabrics. We have a number of items that would make you stand out from head to toe ranging from our Alice bands, hats, earrings, neck pieces, brooches, rings, bangles, belts, shoes, slippers. The list is almost endless and it would be a tad boast to say we have the most competitive pricing so far, but yes, we do.

How long has Chiquita's Deck been existing and how many people are running it?

Chiquita's Deck has been running for close to 2 years now and we've been growing not just in size but in expertise and numbers. At inception, we started out as a company that was Co-founded by two people but as time went on, we realigned our priorities leaving just one person with the mantle of ownership. This change deterred the original setup and plans we had as a company which caused a lag at some point but we came up with another plan which was "just keep moving" and it worked like magic and We've been doing well ever since.

Which is the fastest selling of all your products?

All items on Chiquita's Deck are cash cows to us. They all provide steady income and profit. However, we should not bank on just these items we produce and use that as an excuse not to come up with creative ideas that can also keep us far ahead of our competitors in the market.

Are your products ready-made or custom made?

We love giving our customer's the freshest, dopest custom designs they desire. Why so is because it is easier fulfilling a custom order in a short period than waiting for an item to be bought which might take so much time. The main reason why we stuck with custom made items is that people have a lot of desires/requests whenever they try to patronize us. They see an item and want it in a different color or design leaving the ready-made item(s) redundant for a longer period before it’s sold off. What I'm trying to say is that you can’t always predict a customer's mind .The best you can do is ask for what you think they like, Upon their request add a little blend of our idea to it if they are not certain, get their orders processed under an agreed specified date, that way, everybody goes home happy.

What makes Chiquita's Deck Unique?

Our CEO, Is a perfectionist on every level and this has somewhat affected the way we do business. We add 101% professionalism and it has paid off so far but it’s sad to say it has its cons too because it stops speed whenever it is required. It’s safe to say professionalism; competitive pricing has put us on the edge over others.

How do customers make payment?

This is a very good question. People especially Africans (Nigerians Inclusive) don’t feel comfortable paying their hard earned money to a "faceless" entity or individual(s) (I call it faceless because most of our reach to the outside world is via the internet) because of the fear of being defrauded or just sheer uncertainty. Now, how we convince these set of people is through professionalism whence dealing with them. To create some form of confidence in our clients, we tell them (especially those based in our home location) to make half payment and upon delivery balance up. Normally, we should have had the option of paying upon delivery but when we started, people abused that privilege and just lose interest in paying at all. For customers outside our home location, they are required to pay in full and they bear the shipping cost to their destinations.

What are your shipping/delivery methods and where do you deliver to?

We are global, that’s the aim and objective every company should and want to have; to be a global business. We ship worldwide given the clients bear the shipping costs. For orders within our home location, we personally ship out and for others; we hire the services of competent logistics companies to do the job for us.

Are you based online only or offline too----If online only what are the challenges faced with online business?

Any business that has not imbibed the culture of the global marketplace which is the internet is a joke. For you to be out there, you need to be out THERE! The internet has done a tremendous work in taking us where we are today. It just gets the job done in an easy manner. Nobody has the time to print fliers and distribute to the public, companies just starting up don’t have the money to do a radio or TV ad. The internet just sums all these medium up and gives it to everybody at once. There are challenges when your business is more of an online business but the benefits outweigh the cons. It would be another story entirely if I am to start listing the challenges of e-business. We have formed some sort of concentric circle around the web and it has been working well for us. However, you can never rule out the advantage of having a location which creates some form of security in the minds of people. Not everybody is internet savvy and as such we can’t shove them away because of that. We are based in Surulere, Lagos, Nigeria.

Here are some of my Chiquita's Deck picks;