Presentation for Women in Tech Africa conference. Cape Town, March 2019

1. CAPITALIZING ON (E)COMMERCE
OPPORTUNITIES TO MEET THE
NEEDS OF THE AFRICAN MIDDLE
CLASS
Women in Tech Africa 2019

2. UNIFIED
COMMERCE
R&D COMPANY
SNOWDOG

3. OPEN
SOURCE
COMMERCE
MAGENTO

5. 55 (49) DIVERSE
COUNTRIES
ADD TEXT HEREMIDDLE CLASS
‣ 350 000 000 according to
African Development Bank
(AfDB)
‣ 32 000 000 according to
Brookings Institution
‣ 100 000 000 according to
IPSOS

6. KEY
CONSUMER
IDENTIFIERS
BY IPSOS
ADD TEXT HERECONSUMER
‣ Have a disposable income (not
spending more than 75% of income
on utilities)
‣ Employed, run a business or in
further education (often all together)
‣ Have secondary school education
and more

7. TOP 10:
CONSUMER
CLASS
GROWTH
ADD TEXT HERECONSUMER

8. AFRICAN
SHOPPER
MYTHS
CONSUMER
‣ Africans are conspicuous consumers
- overestimate demand for status-
enhancing products
‣ Africans are adopting Western
habits - tradition and culture plays
important role
‣ Africa will repeat China-style
consumer “revolution” - rather
steady but not revolutionary
expansion

9. AFRICAN
SHOPPER
REALITY
CONSUMER
‣ saving culture - not for retirement,
but for emergencies
‣ small units vs bulk buying
‣ brand power - strong position of
local engagement
‣ tradition plays important role
‣ deep understanding the origins of
food
‣ huge role of informal economy

10. ~1%
COMMMERCE
e-commerce vs retail

11. RETAIL
COMMMERCE
‣ Marketplaces
‣ Shopping malls
‣ Local stores

12. COMMMERCE

13. MALLS
HAVE TO
CATCH UP
COMMMERCE
Most of our tenants offer online
shopping platforms for customers
and this also motivates the others to
follow suit […] Currently we are in the
process of partnering up with Google
for further technological
advancements
Olive Ndebele , General Manager for Menlyn Park

14. COMMMERCE
0
15
30
45
60
Desktop Mobile phone Tablet
38%
55%
60%

15. TOO LATE TO THINK JUST ABOUT
E-COMMERCE
COMMMERCE

16. JUMPING DIRECTLY TO UNIFIED
COMMERCE IS A WAY TO GO -
WITH CONSISTENT AND UNIFORM
INFORMATION ACROSS CHANNELS
COMMMERCE

17. CHALLENGES
COMMMERCE poor infrastructure
power shortage and data transfers
underdeveloped logistics
pick up points are one way to go
payments methods
cash and micropayments
cross-border issues
taxes and regulations

18. IS THERE A PLACE FOR
INDEPENDENT SMALL PLAYERS?
COMMMERCE

19. OPPORTUNITIES
- PLATFORM
TECHNOLOGY IS
NOT A PROBLEM
COMMMERCE
‣ Marketplace
stores
‣ SaaS platforms
‣ Open Source
platforms
‣ Social network
commerce

20. COMMMERCE
‣ Marketplace stores

22. COMMMERCE
‣Global brands - experience inspired by
other emerging markets but localized

23. COMMON
KEY
SUCCESS
ELEMENTS
COMMMERCE
‣ ecosystem of loyal users
‣ building trust
‣ right tools
‣ payment and micro-payment
partnerships
‣ fulfilment and logistics
‣ correct merchandising
‣ deep customer insights

24. THANK YOU!
Kuba Zwoliński / Twitter: @snowdog / https://www.magentoassociation.org