Today, Jumia Uganda has released its mobile report ahead of its looming Mobile Week. It joins Kenya and Nigeria also published their mobile reports recently. But, all reports say that cash-on-delivery is still, by far, the most preferred.
According to the reports; In Uganda, 83% of shoppers prefer to pay cash-on-delivery. Nigeria and Kenya come second and third with 67% and 58%.
The reports say because “it enables buyers to examine the item they receive before paying for it. If the item is good, the customer pays for it. If the item is not the same thing seen on the website, the customer can reject the item on delivery.”
Mobile Money is also becoming a preferred mode of payment, especially in the East African countries.
In Uganda, 16% of the shoppers preferred paying with MTN Mobile Money. The same pattern was noticed in Kenya with 40% of the shoppers using Mobile Money for payments. It should be noted that Jumia Uganda doesn’t accept payments from any other telecom company. Perhaps because MTN is an Investor in Jumia Group.
But, the second most preferred mode of payment in Nigeria is credit Credit and Debit Cards. With 23% of shoppers using it and only 10% using Mobile Money.
The reports also confirm the fact that Africa is still a mobile-first continent. With 77% of the shoppers in Uganda using Mobile phones. The same trend is noticed in Kenya and Nigeria with 65% and 79% respectively.
Also read: Jumia Uganda starts using DHL and Aramex ahead of Mobile Week
“The mobile-first trend is also prevalent among Jumia Vendors, of whom the majority access their seller accounts through the seller centre app on their mobile phones,” the Ugandan report says.
The Kenyan report noted that “the shift - although gradual - from Jumia.com to the App is a commendable development, and we hope to see a higher conversion in 2018.”
Other interesting statistics are devices sold and gender of shoppers.
Hong Kong-headquartered Transsion Holdings is still the leading phone company in Africa. The company manufactures Tecno, Infinx and Itel brands.
Across the three Jumia markets, Infinix and Tecno are the leading brands. With Infinix leading in Nigeria and Kenya while Tecno leading in Uganda.
The average price of a smartphone on Jumia platforms across Africa dropped from 99$ in 2016 to $96. With Uganda having the biggest drop in the three markets. The price dropped from $135 to $83.
“Jumia has seen and welcomed a downward trend in the average price of mobile phones. from 167 USD in 2015 to 83 USD at present. The penetration of largely low-cost Internet enabled handheld deuces by a variety of brands has contnbuted [sic] to this shat [sic]. Uganda has embraced Asian brands hke [sic] Tecno. Infinx and For who have further contributed to smartphone democratization. A new smartphone brand, Slml, has gale as far as setting its smartphone price pant at under 100.000 UGX,” the report noted.
Lastly, Men are shopping more than the women across all the three markets. For example, in Uganda, 68% of the shoppers on the platform are male. The number is 65% and 63% for Kenya and Nigeria respectively.
“Predictably. Jumla attracted more male shoppers than female shoppers in 2017 - which can be explained by the fact that, in Uganda, more men own mobile phones that [sic] women. This means that women represent the vast majority of the untapped mobile market. On Jumia, a majority of orders are delivered to men (68%), while women represent 32% of the overall deliveries made,” the Uganda report says.