2020 was one of upheaval, economies and businesses around the world were disrupted by the pandemic, leading to countless difficult situations.
However, one of the few silver linings was the forced acceleration of innovation with regard to commerce.
E-commerce was rapidly expanding even before the pandemic, but with physical retail being limited or shut down entirely, many consumers turned to e-commerce, sometimes for the first time, as the only alternative.
In many markets, this resulted in years or even decades of growth for e-commerce penetration in a single quarter.
According to a report by advertising company, Dentsu, brands need to embrace the potential of disruption in the digital economy in Africa.
The vision for commerce at Dentsu is one where media investments do more than drive attention instead they drive direct sales and personalisation.
For decades consumers looked for sales on the shelf of retail stores, but now that e-commerce has become democratized and there is convergence between brick & mortar and e-commerce businesses.
According to Dentsu, they have observed channel after channel being made shoppable through social media as with all the product innovations seen today, shopping is occurring everywhere.
The same actions need to drive commerce behaviour; from our experience doing e-commerce in Africa, it is underpinned by these 4 pillars; convenience, relevance, value, and trust.
Trust is the foundational aspect that underpinning the pillars mentioned and will be a key behavioural driver to drive commerce within consumer segments.
“Growing needs for convenience and safety have been the mother of invention and have helped us to overcome the “trust barrier”,” said Dawn Rowlands, CEO Dentsu SSA.
He said the African internet economy is one of the largest commercial and most impactful developmental opportunities of the past decade.
The mobile Internet is transforming life in Africa; it’s supported by growing local connectivity and mobility, and a dynamic, young urban population.
With a 28.5 per cent compound annual growth rate of the African Internet population since 2000, the Internet economy is becoming even more critical to reaching and supporting the continent’s 1.3 billion people.
The population growth projected between 2020 and 2050 will rise to 87 per cent growth in Africa.
According to Dentsu this growing population presents brands with an extremely unique opportunity to tap into the consumer base that is already engaging in the digital space.
