According to a March 2013 survey by market research firm Jana, South Africa has registered the highest percentage of mobile phone users (67 percent) who have bought products online using their mobile devices at least a few times. Kenya has ranked last with 56 percent of mobile phone users sometimes buying online.
Research also points out that mobile phone users still represent a relatively small proportion of the population in many of these countries and these individuals are the likeliest to be able to access the internet. In India, eMarketer, another market research company, estimates that 43 percent of the population will be mobile phone users in 2013. In South Africa, GSMA Wireless Intelligence unveils that mobile phone user penetration has reached 66 percent in 2012.
When it comes to main reasons for buying online via mobile devices, respondents have declared that convenience and price are the most important ones. The ease of using e-commerce websites, the overall online shopping experience and the selection online vendors offered were less critical.
With regard to what was hindering e-commerce among mobile phone users, delivery time has been mentioned as the greatest obstacle in each of the reviewed countries. In South Africa, Nigeria and the Philippines, finding a reliable internet connection has ranked as the second-biggest challenge, while in Kenya and India security concerns have trumped internet connection difficulties.
The same source shows that eBay is one of the most preferred destinations for shoppers in all the five countries, reaching among the top five e-commerce websites in each of them. OLX, an online classifieds website, has also ranked among the top five e-commerce websites in India, Kenya and South Africa. And Amazon and Google were also in the top five in Kenya and Nigeria, with Google as the number 1 e-commerce website in Nigeria.
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