Hamburg-based secondary market research firm yStats.com has released a new report titled “Africa B2C E-Commerce and Payment Market 2022″. The report tells of the growth potential of the expanding online retail in the region and details market sizes, consumer behavior and payment method developments for 5 African countries.
Mobile Commerce in Africa is accelerating
Mobile commerce in Africa is especially promising, as the MENA region has the second highest share of M-Commerce sales when compared to other regions worldwide. Overall rise in the Internet connectivity also contributes to the growth of B2C E-Commerce, with the number of Internet users expected to rise by over 10 million this year alone, according to projections cited in the yStats.com report. As of last year, only a small single-digit percentage share of overall retail sales in Africa were online, indicating a large growth potential.
The biggest B2C E-Commerce markets in Africa
The three largest online retail markets in Africa in 2022 remain South Africa, Nigeria and Egypt. In South Africa, around a high double-digit share of individuals searched for a product or service to buy online or visited an online retail site/store in 2021. Furthermore, the top product categories in South Africa include electronics, fresh food and household appliances. Nigeria enjoys an online shopper penetration rate of close to one-quarter, with over half of the population using the Internet in 2022 – almost double the share when compared 2017, according to the findings cited in the yStats.com report. Furthermore, Egypt has a continuously growing E-Commerce market, with online retail sales projected to grow by around one-third from 2021 to 2024.
Increasing mobile payments help drive Africa’s online shopping boom
According to findings in the new yStats.com publication, one of the main drivers of online retail development in Africa is the growing use of mobile payment methods, going hand in hand with the increased use of the Internet and making purchases online. In Kenya, the share of E-Commerce spending generated through a mobile phone was over 50% in the country. Mobile payment transactions in Kenya are on the rise and experience a continuous double-digit growth. Not only that, but almost three quarters of the population in Kenya owns a mobile money account. Nevertheless, cash remains a popular payment method used by online shoppers in countries such as Egypt and Morocco.
