Mobile phones leading access to internet in Africa —Anammah, Jumia boss

Jumia Nigeria, the leading online market place, has confirmed a steady increase in the adoption and use of mobile phones in Nigeria, as recorded on the Jumia online market place.

The Chief Executive Officer of Jumia Nigeria, Juliet Anammah, who presented the White Paper report on Africa Mobile Trends in Lagos last week during the Mobile Africa press conference to herald the Jumia week, said the study looked at how the market has aided mobile internet use, the consumer behaviour 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 fifteen countries that generate more than 80 per cent of Africa’s GDP, which include Nigeria, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Ghana and nine other African countries.

According to Anammah, the mobile phone category continued to be the most popular among Nigerian shoppers on Jumia, both in terms of number of items sold and in terms of revenue generated. The sales of smartphones, she said, jumped up by 394 per cent between 2014 and 2016, mostly driven by an increasing range of smartphones price points.

“About seventy four per cent of website visitors on Jumia, use their mobile phones. This is in comparison to 53 per cent of Jumia Africa customers. One of the main vehicles of this mobile trajectory is the increasing adoption of smartphone device by consumers,” Anammah said.

She further explained that there was a decrease in feature phones from six per cent in 2015 to four per cent in 2016, while smartphones sales recorded increase in sales from 94 per cent in 2015 to 96 per cent in 2016.

Based on the steady growth of smartphones, the Senior Vice President, Jumia Nigeria, Mr Shobhit Pandey said Jumia Nigeria is targeting over 50,000 sales of smartphones during its Mobile Week programme scheduled to hold from April 24-30 in Lagos. He said the Mobile Week, which is in its third year, offers excellent product launch, discount on mobile devices, and bundle offer, which further drives down the cost of mobile devices and its accessories, including bundled data.

Speaking on m-Commerce beyond browsing on mobile, Anammah said the trend since 2013 was for people to use their mobile phones to browse and look up products and then purchase them on their desktop. She however said customers now check and pay for orders from the mobile app or the mobile friendly version of the website. She explained that the current trend, using smartphones to browse and make online purchase, would continue in the future, based on current figures.

Jumia partners like Motorola, Huawei, Tecno, InnJoo, Infinix, Gionee, among others, promised to showcase their latest mobile devices at the Jumia Mobile Week.