E-commerce fondly referred to as online shopping seems to be taking precedence over the traditional shopping model as the world continues to witness quantum leaps in the number of internet-oriented businesses. The rapid growth of mobile and internet technology in Africa and its attendant influence on consumer behavior have given e-commerce a new status as the future of shopping in Ethiopia.
While e-commerce can safely be said to be fast growing in Africa generally, we can safely say that there’s a large room for improvement when it comes to closing the wide gap as compared to other countries in Africa such as Kenya and Nigeria. But even though Ethiopia’s growth is slow technologically, with a population of 99 million people, it has big potential for the e-commerce market as a growing number of Ethiopians are now turning to online shops to purchase their goods from stores such as ethisouq.com, abyssiniagiftz.com and Kaymu.
However there are a still a number of challenges that serve as the bane of the rather slow growth of e-commerce in Ethiopia. They range from limited access to internet to government policies. For instance, internet is accessible mainly from Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia where over 3 million Ethiopians reside.
Internet cafes are the main sources of internet in the urban areas and are monitored by government for security reasons. This no doubt affects rate of internet penetration and discourages many from buying online.
Adequate infrastructure should be put in place to ensure steady internet access as this will encourage more people to shop online.
Internet penetration in the country is relatively low even though there are actions by government to expand access across cities in the country. Once the Ethiopian government continues to ensure availability of internet access, the benefits of e-commerce to Small Medium Scale Enterprises will be enormous since it helps them cut costs.
More importantly, Ethiopians should be sensitized on the advantages of online shopping and how it would not only help improve their lives but also reduce the rate of unemployment.
When proper internet infrastructure is in place, a seller on a platform like Kaymu would not need to bother about internet, warehousing and more; all they would need to do is list their products online and simply wait for shoppers to place orders.
On a final note, internet penetration rate in Ethiopia was at 0.4% in 2008; that internet penetration rate has now increased five-hold in a space of just 6 years. The growth may not be fast and it may not be a dramatic one like Singapore’s economic turnaround, but we surely can say that there is a future for online shopping in Ethiopia.