Social Commerce is the Future for Female Shoppers in Africa

We all know that the way we shop has changed dramatically in the past few years. C-19 and the 4th Industrial Revolution are to thank for that. But how has the digital economy affected the way women shop in Africa and in Europe? We were curious to peer into the purses of women based in urban centres across Africa (Accra, Cairo, Khartoum, Kigali and Nairobi)[1] and the UK (Kent & London) on the advent of International Women’s Day to see if we could spot any interesting shopping patterns on either side of the globe. What is clear is that female shoppers in Africa use social commerce much more than their non-African-based counterparts and African women are more exposed to last mile delivery challenges around poor customer service and despatch riders getting lost. But what is common to female shoppers globally is that digital shopping is a given and the clothing segment is most popular.

Bricks and mortar retailers still have skin in the game but shopping exclusively face to face is a thing of the past.  

While C-19 lockdowns in 2020 meant that brick and mortar shopping took a huge hit[2], 2021 painted a different picture in some economies. In the US for instance, unprecedented growth in face-to-face retail shopping was recorded in 2021, outstripping e-commerce for the first time[3]. In Sub Saharan Africa, open air markets are dominant, particularly for food items[4] and modern retail channels are growing apace – there are close to 2000 shopping malls in South Africa, for instance[5]. Our survey reflects some of these trends: 55% of our female shoppers – evenly spread across Africa and Europe - buy over 50% of goods face to face. But only 5% of our respondents said they shop exclusively traditionally. One female shopper said she “likes to get out of the house and [use the opportunity] to take her child on an excursion”. At the other end of the extreme, 10% of our respondents said that they carry out close to 90% of their shopping digitally – interestingly, Khartoum is a city where this was expressed.

Social commerce en vogue en Afrique

The global social media penetration rate for 2021 was reportedly 53%[6] so it is little wonder that social commerce is also significant. In the UK for instance, 33% of consumers are buying goods through social media[7] while some studies of emerging markets such as Cameroon, indicate that 88% of respondents purchased goods via WhatsApp and 68% purchased through Facebook[8]. That the informal economy is so significant on the continent and that many of the vendors we’ve encountered over months of research have an IG or Facebook account rather than a website helps to explain why social commerce is growing in prominence on the continent. From our survey, close to 50% of female shoppers based in Africa purchase goods via social media while only a minority of our UK- based respondents do so. In most instances, the UK-based respondents purchase only a small amount via social media – under 10% of their purchases – while typically, the respondents based in Africa make 30% of their purchases through social media.

Clothing leads the pack for online product sales

According to some research, last year, apparel was the leading product segment for sales globally[9] and in the US, clothing accounted for close to one third of all online sales [10]. This tallies with what we discovered from our survey: 61% of female digital shoppers – fairly evenly spread across geographies - buy clothing, followed by beauty (44%) and household & books/stationery (39%).

Last mile delivery meets expectations

Over 90% of our respondents said that they were either satisfied or very satisfied with the products which are delivered to their doorsteps  but there’s still room for improvement. For our female shoppers in Africa, some of the ways in which they feel service could be improved include:

“More professional riders who know where they are going – frustrating getting repeated calls asking for directions and even some saying “come and get it from outside” -ie the rider is not willing to park and actually enter a building to deliver”.

• “Better customer service”

• “More detailed reviews for online purchases”

 For our female shoppers in the UK, some of the ways in which they feel service delivery could be improved include:

• “With clothing, more facilities to review accuracy of sizing”

• “More virtual try ons (a lot of makeup brands now do this) - could possibly help for clothing items”

• “Better availability of staff either face to face or providing a chat function”

• “Tracked delivery”

• “Simple checkout process and reasonable delivery costs”.

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We are an African-owned and managed firm delivering local knowledge supporting transformative and sustainable strategic decision-making. Do get in touch if you require assistance: advisory@songhaiadvisory.com

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[1] A big thank you to the women of Grace, Songhai Advisory’s space for African female change-makers, and women further afield, for participating in the survey.

[2] Wahba, P. (2021, January 7). A record 12,200 U.S. stores closed in 2020 as e-commerce, pandemic changed retail forever. Fortune.

[3] Brick And Mortar Sales Grew Faster Than E-Commerce In 2021. (2022). Forbes.

[4] Persistence of open-air markets in the food systems of Africa’s secondary cities. (2022). Cities.

[5] Bank, S. (2021, August 26). Modern retail on the rise in sub-Saharan Africa, but traditional trade still rules. How We Made It in Africa.

[6] Statista

[7] Paige, J. (2021, February 25). UK shoppers turn to social media to discover and buy new products. Retail Insight Network.

[8] GSMA

[9] Douglass, R. (2022, January 3). ‘Clothing’ was top online segment for global consumers in 2021. FashionUnited.

[10] Orendorff, A. E. D. (2022). Fashion Ecommerce Industry Trends: Stats and Strategies to Use in 2022. Shopify Plus.

 *Photo credit: Marcus Loke on Unsplash