Penetration of Online Shopping in Nigeria

Online Shopping is unarguably now a global way of life and the knack to shop using online platforms has crept into the fabric of every society around the world. Nigerians as a people are die-hard shoppers and to say we tag along faster when a new trend emerges is not a false assertion. From time to time there will always arise a need, needs are meant to be prioritized and actualized over time and this is what actually makes the big difference between shopping offline and shopping online.

Online shopping as a global phenomenon has found its place in Nigeria and every day that goes by more and more people now depend on online sites like Jiji.ng or postwanga.ng for purchase or sales of basic, home or personal effect appliances that would usually take a physical walk-in to achieve. The narrative of how a people who would usually depend on stores, shops and street vendors to make purchases who suddenly now do so in a very fast, safe and convenient way using online platforms or webpages is no way a small feat.

Penetration of online shopping in Nigeria is evident in the class of the populace who depend on several available online shopping options. The elitist class who can be unarguably said to be the early adopters of online shopping in Nigeria have a penetration ratio of 9:10. A very important class of Nigerians who contributed by far the largest number of adopters and have continuously set the online shopping trend are the middle-class. With a penetration ratio of 5:10 the middle class with its wider margin and youthful cadre of people are the main wheel of its adoption.

Some key factors have created a break-neck situation for online shopping in Nigeria. These factors are bedeviled by common societal flaws that have proven over time to be a challenge to several areas of digital disruptions. Some of these major drawbacks for online penetration in Nigeria have been financial inclusion, online literacy, technology adoption, data or internet penetration. Upon these situations highlighted a lot have played in favor of online shopping penetration in Nigeria.

How do Nigerians typically make use of online shopping sites?

The dynamism of the entire process makes it easy for everyone to shop online. Tons of goods and wares find its way to online shelve or virtual stalls from where would be buyers request product for purchase. Typically, an average Nigerian online shopper would visit a classified site like OLX, Postwanga or Jiji in search of needed good or ware, once this search is accomplished and the need is found within a reasonable cost the seller is contacted and the buyer arranges to see the good before he or she makes the payment.

Major cities like Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano have shown by volume of recorded transactions as cities with the highest online shopping penetration. Analysis have also shown that cars have been top of the scale for buyers and sellers demand and supply.

Lastly, one easy way to safely be onboarded on the online shopping bandwagon is to ensure you’re doing all your online shopping using reliable classified platforms, there are quit a handful out there but I would recommend Jiji.ng, Postwanga.ng and olx.com.ng as the most reliable anytime, anywhere.