8 | The Lion King
Cover Story
a peak of 1,659 orders placed within
one hour and processing over 100,000
packages during the sales.
A $300 billion potential Af-
rican internet market
The MGI report notes that an average
of 25% of urban Africans go online daily
and this proportion is expected to rise
over time as internet and smart phone
penetration increases on the continent.
The change in consumer behaviour
is helped by a pick-up in e-payment
systems across the continent.
If the current trend in internet and smart
phone penetration continues, MGI es-
timates that the result could be a leap
forward in Africa’s economic growth
and development with the internet
contributing some $300 billion to Afri-
ca’s GDP by 2025.
E-commerce has been shown to in-
crease shopping appetite, reduce costs
and expand retail sales to previously
unreachable markets. This will have a
positive impact on the economy and
open new opportunities for businesses
and individuals.
For individuals, there is little to fear in
the growth of e-Commerce. For the
new shopping malls emerging across
the African continent, the fast growth
of e-Commerce is something to be
concerned about in the long run as
Africans get more comfortable “clicking
and buying.”
Are the brick mortar malls
doomed?
But the catch-on of the Click-and-Buy
culture is not expected to globally wipe
out the malls. Brick and Mortar Malls
have their advantages especially as a
social meeting point for humans. What
will rather happen is a mix of e-Com-
merce and traditional brick and mortar
malls existing side by side especially in
the urban areas. Many traditional shops
are already online giants in their own
right. For example, in the US, Best Buy,
Walmart and many of the big retailers
all have online malls, which display the
goods that they also have in their brick
and mortar stores. Argos in the UK op-
erate a unique mix of online and brick
and mortar model where the goods
can be ordered online from the com-
fort of your home or from store-based
computer screens or catalogues and
then picked up at the store. So, while
the Jumias, Kongas and other online
giants will thrive, the Shoprites are not
expected to completely go the way of
the dinosaur.
