Nahimah Ajikanle Nurudeen
Nigeria has been reinstated as a ‘mobile first nation’ with 18per cent higher internet penetration than African continent.
The internet access which is predominantly on mobile was reaffirmed in 2017 edition of Jumia Nigeria African Mobile Trends Paper presented ahead of its third Mobile Week.
Speaking at a press conference on the preparedness of the annual event, the CEO Jumia Nigeria, Juliet Anammah said with the current internet penetration rate of 53per cent (97.2 million users) Nigeria has a much higher penetration rate than across Africa.
According to her, the third white paper presentation from Jumia which highlights mobile trends across Africa and specifically Nigeria affirmed 2016 projections of the country’s continuous increase in mobile internet connectivity.
This she said informed Jumia’s decision to make this year’s mobile week bigger and more exciting with discounts on all brands of mobile phones up to 50per cent.
According to her, “About 71per cent of website visitors on Jumia use their mobile phones. This is in comparison to 53per cent of Jumia African customers. One of the main vehicles of this mobile trajectory is the increasing adoption of the smartphone device by consumers. As predicted in our 2016 report, smartphone adoption continues to rise in Nigeria.”
She said mobile phone category continues to be the most popular among Nigerian shoppers on Jumia, both in terms of the number of items sold, and in terms of revenue generated.
Anammah noted that sales of smartphones jumped up by 394per cent between 2014 and 2016, mostly driven by an increasing range of smartphones price points.
This trend she explained is also driving e-commerce with average price for a smartphone on Jumia is $117, down from $216 in 2014 as well as drop in the share of sales of basic feature phones from 6per cent in 2015 to 4per cent in 2016 while the share of smartphones on the website increased.
She informed that the Mobile Week which runs from 24th to 30th, April will showcase launch of various smartphones from Jumia’s Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) partners.
Anammah said, “ The study takes a look at the how the market has democratized mobile internet use, the consumer behaviors driving increased smartphone adoption and the role of mobile brands, mobile operators and m-commerce in creating a synergy of an enhanced customer experience.
This year’s Mobile Africa Study was carried out in 15 African countries which generate more than 80% of Africa’s GDP – Algeria, Nigeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Mozambique, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and Senegal.”
Meanwhile, representatives of Jumia major mobile partners also announced their plans to launch new products as well as offering exciting discounts on existing smartphone models to further expand internet access in Nigeria via mobile phones.
The partners include leading global mobile phones manufacturers such as Infinix, Innjoo, Tecno, Samsung, Yezz, Huawei, Imose and others.
