Survey Shows Rapid Growth in Online Shopping in Nigeria

At 51 per cent, the 2016 Online Shopping Survey Report by Phillips Consulting has revealed that in-store shopping is still the preferred mode of shopping by Nigerians.

The survey obtained by THISDAY wednesday surveyed 3,390 consumers.

However, the latest result when compared with similar Online Shopping survey carried out by the firm in 2014, showed a significant increase in those who prefer to shop online than in-store, which was 49 per cent. The survey revealed the degree to which the adoption of online shopping was accelerating in Nigeria.

Virtually all respondents (97%) currently shop online at least a few times per year, up from 2014’s value of 75 per cent. While shopping, the largest share of respondents (28%) spend between N50,000 – N100,000 shopping online within a year, a value that remained largely unchanged from the 2014 results.

However, the survey highlighted that “despite the unchanged value of online spending by each customer, the large increase in the number of shoppers and the frequency of their shopping indicate an overall increase in revenue in the online retail space.”

The survey also highlighted several customer preferences while shopping online.
Specifically, it pointed out that convenience remained a critical factor, as most consumers enjoy the luxury of being able to shop from home (21%) and at any time of the day (15%).

Furthermore, it stated that online shoppers are also becoming increasingly sophisticated as they demand more from the online shopping experience, such as a wider variety of products, better deals and the availability of customer reviews. With regards to preferred products, most are likely to buy consumer electronics (23%) clothing and footwear (23%) and household appliances (15%).

The pay-on-delivery system was highlighted as an online shopping trend that showed no signs of decline among Nigerian shoppers; 78 per cent prefer to pay for items upon delivery, rather than pay in advance.
It also stated that cash and point of sales (PoS) payments was equally on the increase, as 39 per cent of respondents preferred these payment options.

However, when asked about the problems they experience most frequently while shopping, the respondents still have issues with the delivery process as over 22 per cent of all problems experienced while shopping were due to deliveries that are either delayed or do not arrive at all. This was onsistent with the 2014 findings as well.

Confirming the Nigerian digital revolution, mobile devices were revealed as the most common devices used by customers for shopping online. The proliferation of affordable smart phones in Nigeria played an important role in the improved adoption of online shopping.

Precisely, about 55 per cent of respondents use this medium to shop online, while 45 per cent shop using desktop computers. When shopping on mobile devices, most (55%) prefer to use the retailer’s mobile website, instead of using the retailer’s mobile app (37%) or a social media app such as Facebook or Instagram (8%), showing that shopping via social media is still an emerging trend in Nigeria.

When asked about their preferred online retailers, respondents strongly favoured Jumia (46%; up from 38% in 2014) and Konga (32%; up from 25% in 2014), both superstores that have been in operation since 2012.

Compared to the previous survey, the latest report showed that Jumia and Konga were more popular than ever, strengthening their positions as the top two preferred retailers in the country.

“However, retailers such as DealDey and OLX struggled to retain their top positions; DealDey, although still the third most preferred retailer, experienced a significant decline in popularity among customers, while OLX was selected as the preferred retailer by only 1% of respondents (down from 10% in 2014).

“Demonstrating how rapidly trends are changing, Yudala emerged as the joint third preferred retailer after only a year of operations in the e-commerce space, by deploying a multichannel operational strategy, in which physical stores are established in key locations to support its online shopping platform.

With regards to the quality of service rendered by online retailers, 52% of respondents revealed that they had experienced problems shopping online, similar to the 2014 results (51%). On a positive note, the satisfaction levels with the issue resolution process have improved significantly; whereas only 45% of issues were satisfactorily resolved in 2014, this proportion increased to 59% in 2016,” it added.