Global logistics and transportation company DHL has revealed that Africa offers enormous growth potential for e-retailers given that online shopping is in its infancy in the region.
According to the company’s Shop the World report, emerging markets offer the highest growth potential for the eCommerce industry.
“Although global e-retailer Amazon celebrated its 20th anniversary in July, eCommerce companies in Africa are only now beginning to mark and / or accelerate their presence in the marketplace. An example is Nigeria online retailer, Jumia, which despite being founded only two years ago, is quickly gaining market share within the country which reiterates the region’s potential,” said Sumesh Rahavendra, head of marketing for DHL Express Sub Saharan Africa.
“Globally, it took over 2 000 years for a formal monetary system to evolve and over 600 years for a formal banking system to be implemented. It’s taken over 50 years for credit and debit cards to be introduced and still not every person has a bank account. With all these milestones that have taken place in the evolution of commerce, it goes to show that how we shop (e-commerce), is still in its infancy.”
The DHL Shop the World report revealed that technology on the African continent is a hindrance in terms of connectivity.
“But we are noticing a rising trend in retailers growing significantly due to advances in this area. According to figures by the International Communications Union, 16% of the African population have internet access, up from 10% in 2010,” DHl said.
