The TRW Consult team was recently privileged with an invitation to attend a market forum jointly organised by Lagos Business School (LBS) and Nielsen, a global market research firm. The discourse was insightful with many take-home for organisations who wish to engage their consumers for increased market share and those that desire to be at vantage for the biggest market boom ahead.

The leading speaker, in a presentation titled Understanding and Winning with the Evolving Shopper and Retailer, emphasised that despite the current economic challenges, Nigeria is at the forefront of consumerism in Africa. This is because Consumer Confidence in Nigeria remains positive, despite tough macroeconomic environment. And, at an index of 129, Consumer Confidence in Nigeria is the second highest in the world, with just a point behind India (130) which tops the list of Global Consumer Confidence Index.

Another important highlight from the Forum is that, whilst Nigeria is the largest economy in Africa today and the 26th largest in the world, with a GDP of $510billion and about 40 million people in the consuming-class, in 15 years’ time, Nigeria’s GDP would have exceeded $1.6 trillion with a whooping 160 million people in consuming-class! This is a 15-year projection, and the interesting thing is that Nigeria has a knack for proving the bookmakers wrong in a positive way. Remember the story of MTN and other Telcos.

Meanwhile, the fact that there is a coming boom does not mean every business operating in Nigeria will benefit from it. Some will do, while some will be submerged in the avalanche.

It is said, understanding the evolving consumer, shopper and retailer environment is critical to winning in current and emerging economic climate. To buttress this point, the main speaker shared his experience whilst working as Group Marketing Manager of a major industry in the 90s. He said they had a problem then as a product of the competition was outselling theirs by an unbelievable margin. After different levels of research, they discovered that the platform the competition deployed to catalyse this fast-selling product had long been instituted in the 70s. So, the foundation of the problem they were grappling with in the 90s wasn’t something that came by stroke of luck. It was an offshoot of a well thought out strategy plus consistent application. That was a turning point.

Now, back home, what strategy do you have in place to engage your customers/audience for increased market share today? What are you doing presently that will give your competition headaches in future when your machinery start to tick? Are you poised to be the go-to business in your sector in 15 years’ time when the Nigerian consumer market class would be 160million people from the current 40million? Would the decision makers then identify with your brand? Are you engaging them now and imprinting your brand in their consciousness?

One of the learning points from the LBS/Nielsen Market Forum is that 54% products fail in Nigeria because they are UNABLE TO STAND OUT. In addition, the best way to elicit greater customer response and build customer loyalty in the emerging economic climate is by digitally connecting with your consumers using the social media and online adverts, because with 143 million registered mobile subscribers and 83 million internet users, the best place to catch, engage and keep your brand in their face is online. And here at TRW Consult, that is what we help our clients to do.

We offer More Options of what can be achieved to increase your market share, and with us, the Possibilities are simply Endless…

Hotlines: 08188708026 | 08036427593 | 08054259757 | 08128516964

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