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the significant window of opportunity that exists in the
creation of the e-commerce landscape and the demand
has only escalated owing to the pandemic.
Aided by the entry and consolidation of big retail While credit cards may still be uncommon,
players, a large number of informal retailers payments by mobiles and cash-on-delivery and
in Africa coming online, digital payments, an explosion of the buy-now-pay-later trend have
witnessed a high number of takers in the continent.
investments, and more purchasing power- Further aided by these big retail players, large
will eCommerce logistics in Africa rise to the numbers of informal retailers in Africa are gradually
challenge and unlock the growth potential coming online and the promise of e-commerce for
Africa’s small businesses turning a leaf for economic
that has the world and investors taking note? efficiency and poverty reduction for the continent
Lakshmi Ajay reports. seems to loom large on the horizon.
E-COMMERCE GETS A HEADSTART IN
AFRICA
As per Statista, e-commerce will account for 23% of
retail gross sales by 2022 and gross sales will hit $7.3trn
by 2025 as more Africans have entry to the web.
Among other key figures from various reports
of Statista, of e-commerce revenues that describe
the Africa story is that e-commerce ARPU (average
revenue per unit) in the 2017-2025 time period in
Africa stood at 93.82 Euro or $92.96 in 2022, while
the most valuable e-commerce sectors in Africa were
fashion, electronics, and media. The annual percentage
change in e-commerce revenues in Africa is 52.7% in
the 2018-2025 period.
Some of the dominant e-commerce players
operating in Africa and Egypt include Jumia, Konga,
takealot.com, Kilimall, Souq, bidorbuy, Zando,
Amazon, Noon, and SHEIN among others.
Based on various Statista reports analysing the
shopping behaviour of consumers, the number of
s the world began to shop online and more so visitors to e-commerce company Jumia was 379 million
after the pandemic, there was a growth of a in the 2017-2020 period, the country with the highest
digital audience in Africa that has affected the number of visits to Jumia was Nigeria as per a report
Afortunes of online retail in the continent. High on ‘Visits on Jumia on selected domains in Africa 2022’
internet penetration, the rise of smartphones, the advent and the monthly number of visits on takealot.com in
of digital payments, and the digital disruption caused 2020-2022 was 11.6 million while the monthly number
by the Coronavirus pandemic have all been factors that of visits on konga.com was 2.45 million in 2021.
signal how a new decade of e-commerce may be opening Alastair Tempest, the CEO of both the
up for Africa. E-commerce Forum Africa and the E-commerce
African nations like Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Forum South Africa also pointed out that some very
Ghana, Morocco, and Egypt have been leading the active entrepreneurs in Rwanda, Uganda, Mauritius,
charge in having digital audiences who consume online Senegal, and Morocco and countries like Algeria,
retail. Tunisia, Tanzania, Namibia, Cote d’Ivoire are
While internet penetration may be below average, taking to e-commerce in a big way. Clothing, shoes,
according to the analysis and data platform Statista, consumer electronics, and more recently groceries are
the internet users in Africa as a share of internet users popular segments bought online in African nations,
worldwide as of 2021 stood at 12.98% and grew from as per reports.
a mere 4% in 2009. The number of online shoppers in
Africa stands at 281 million currently, while countries CONQUERING THE ‘LOGISTICS
with the highest shares of internet users from the BARRIER’
continent were Morocco, Seychelles, and Egypt. Even as the growth opportunity of e-commerce in
Even if the rates increased considerably in the last Africa seems immense, many industry watchers believe
year, internet penetration is still under the global average. that Africa is only just at the starting point of its
However, despite being dismal these numbers point to e-commerce decade.

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