New Telegraph

Report: Online shopping rises to 51% in Nigeria

More Nigerians are now embracing online shopping leading to a rise in the number of online shoppers to 51 per cent of total shoppings in Nigeria. According to the latest Ericsson ConsumerLab report, a survey of 2,000 respondents between the ages of 15–79, revealed that more Nigerians are willing to continue online shopping even after COVID-19. Ericsson in the report noted that online shopping in Nigeria stood at 35 per cent before the COVID- 19, adding that the pandemic pushed the figure to 51 per cent. “Before COVID-19, the amount of online shopping in Nigeria stood at 35 per cent out of the total number of all shopping events, both online and at physical stores.

“During COVID-19, this figure increased to 51 per cent. Nigerian consumers anticipate their habits around online shopping will remain at a level of 44 per cent after the pandemic has passed,” it said. Ericsson said it found found that, when entering the “next normal”, consumers in Africa would have added an average of 3.4 online services to their daily online activities, while also increasing the time they spend online by 10 hours per week by 2025, in comparison to their pre-pandemic habits. “This move is also expected to bridge the gap between moderate and advanced online users, with the more moderate online users having introduced more online services in their daily life over the course of the pandemic,” it said. The report further established an increase remote working and online education in Nigeria.

“Due to the pandemic, the implementation of online education at schools and universities as well as remote working in Nigeria has increased to 72 per cent and 62 per cent respectively. Going forward online education and remote working are collectively expected to remain at a level of 29 per cent,” the report stated. Commenting on the report, Country Manager of Ericsson Nigeria, Sean Cryan, said the latest Ericsson Mobility report also positioned Nigeria as the third-highest mobile subscriptions additions globally in Q1’21. “Nigeria is growing tremendously, setting Africa in motion.

The growth can be attributed to the young, growing population, the increasing digital skills, and the more affordable smartphones. Correspondingly, this growth is reflected in the online habits of the country where the dependency on online activities for daily tasks is expected to remain high in the future,” he said. Meanwhile, the Ericsson Mobility report forecast subscriptions for the fifth generation (5G) technology will exceed 580 million globally by the end of this year.

According to the report, one million 5G subscriptions are being added daily. However, Nigeria, which is considered as one of the fastestgrowing telecoms markets in the world, may not have a share in the number. This is because the country is yet to issue any 5G license and will not do so this year, if the 5G deployment a timeline released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is anything to go by. According to Ericsson the forecast enhances the expectation that 5G will become the fastest adopted mobile generation. “About 3.5 billion 5G subscriptions and 60 per cent 5G population coverage are forecast by the end of 2026,” it added in the report. “However, the pace of adoption varies widely by region. Europe is off to a slower start and has continued to fall far behind China, the U.S., Korea, Japan and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) markets in the pace of 5G deployments,” Ericsson added. 5G is expected to surpass a billion subscriptions two years ahead of the 4G LTE timeline for the same milestone. Ericsson said key factors behind that include China’s earlier commitment to 5G and the earlier availability and increasing affordability of commercial 5G devices. “More than 300 5G smartphone models have already been announced or launched commercially. This commercial 5G momentum is expected to continue in coming years, spurred by the enhanced role of connectivity as a key component of post-COVID-19 economic recovery,” Ericsson stated.

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