There aren’t a lot of insightful statistics about the Nigerian ecommerce industry. But the few that emerge provide some pretty interesting revelations.
Picodi, a Polish e-commerce website operating in 32 countries including Nigeria, has produced fresh insights on customer metrics for the Nigerian ecommerce industry. And the 2018 data is pretty enlightening.
According to the company, the average Nigerian ecommerce customer spent just N40,000 in 2018. In comparison, the average US consumer spent $1700 (N608,481) in 2016. That’s a whopping difference and suggests, as we’ve always known, that ecommerce isn’t really strong in Nigeria.
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Picodi data shows Nigerians tend to spend less online when they shop with their phones.
This is rather odd considering the high number of smartphone users.
On a whole, the average Nigerian shopper spent just N14,100 when they shop with their phones. This is far less than the N17,600 and N19,100 users spent when they shopped with their computers and tablet devices.
Digging deeper, Nigerian iPhone users far outspend their Android counterparts online. iPhone users spent on average N16,600 compared to the N13,400 recorded for Android users.
Surprisingly, Nigerians spent more money online on groceries than any other item. Other items like electronics, clothing and home appliances were among the top five items Nigerians bought online. Purchasing goods from China was also a favourite among Nigerians in 2018.
Data also shows Nigerian men spend more online than women. 63% of Nigerian online shoppers in 2018 were men, compared to 37% for women.
And like everywhere across the world, young Nigerians are most likely to spend online. An incredible 56% all Nigerian ecommerce spenders in 2018 were between the ages of 25 and 34. Those between 18-24 years old accounted for 17% shoppers. While those above the age of 44 accounted for 27% of Nigerian ecommerce shoppers.
Looking at this age breakdown, it’s not surprising at all. Those younger than 24 years old are largely still dependent on parents and least likely to get paying jobs. So it’s not surprising they spend less online.
Moving on, the peak month for Nigerian ecommerce spending is not December. Rather Nigerians spent more (N25,808) in January than any other period of the year. The next highest grossing month is April, with N22,936. For the rest of 2018, average monthly spending hovered around the N9,000-N15,000 range until November and December. December figures stood at N17,691 for obvious reasons.
And while January is the peak month, Picodi reveals that November records the highest number of transactions. But the November figure of N18,657 is really all down to the Black Friday phenomenon. Although Nigerians distrust it, Black Friday is still a pretty decent period for ecommerce to thrive in Nigeria.
