Africa’s leading e-commerce platform, Jumia, has published its first Africa e-commerce report, Jumia Africa e-Commerce Index 2021 with a Nigerian section, which leveraged data from the company’s platform to illustrate the importance of shopping online in a pandemic context.

The shift to everyday products during COVID-19, is part of a broader economic transformation led by the continent’s young, urban and tech savvy population.

The effects of the pandemic, combined with dedicated commercial and marketing efforts on the Jumia side, led to a shift in our product category mix with everyday product categories including Fashion, Beauty and FMCG categories accounting for c. 57% of GMV in 2020, up from 44% in 2019.

Jumia Nigeria CEO, Massimiliano Spalazzi said: “Since the COVID-19 outbreak, e-commerce has played an important role by supporting sellers, consumers and communities. Many businesses have joined Jumia to keep their business running and to grow. Consumers used Jumia for their daily needs and seeked convenience and competitive prices on the platform too.”

E-commerce played an important role during the pandemic by providing solutions for both businesses and the communities they serve. Jumia’s partnerships with various brands and organizations have enabled SMEs to connect with millions of consumers online.

According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), internet businesses in Africa, including e-commerce which sits at the heart of the digital economy, could add US $180 billion to the continent’s GDP by 2025. “COVID-19 led to a surge in the use of digital solutions, including e-commerce. This was particularly demonstrated with domestic sales rather than cross border e-commerce. Food delivery, essentials, and pharmaceutical goods were among the top performing online shopping categories,” said Torbjorn Fredriksson, Head of E-commerce and Digital Economy, UNCTAD.

Lagos city leads the list of cities with the most volume of orders on the Jumia logistics Network in Nigeria. Jumia Nigeria has more than 11,000 sellers, having achieved gender parity with 51% of sellers on the platform as women. 81% of Nigerians shop online with their smartphones, with 19% access the online platform through desktops.

The Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency, Inuwa Kashifu Abdullahi said; “E-Commerce is critical to any digital economy because when you consume a service, you need to make a payment and you can only do that through e-commerce."

Many consumers turned to JumiaPay, the payment platform for the first time during the pandemic, mainly for safety reasons and for the enhanced services on the app like bill payments.

The report was done in collaboration with UNCTAD, IFC, Mastercard and others partners, highlighting the impact of e-commerce on the African economy.