With the largest population in Africa — including a sizeable if pressurised middle class — Nigeria is an attractive market for consumer electronic and durables brands, says Ozarh Kajee, business development director of market intelligence at GfK Africa.
Addressing the information gap in Nigeria’s durable and consumer electronics retail market
Yet only a handful of companies from the rest of the world have succeeded when they’ve entered this complex but dynamic market.
One of the major challenges organisations face as they enter Nigeria is a lack of reliable consumer insights and market data — in turn, leading to sub-optimal sales, marketing and merchandising strategies.
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With a population of around 220 million and Africa’s largest economy, Nigeria is a market that brands can’t afford to ignore. Yet many of the brands that have entered the country with ambitious growth plans have subsequently downgraded their presence or exited the market. Only those with go-to-market models based on deep insight into the local landscape have succeeded.
One of the major issues that companies face is that there’s a lack of reliable, structured, up-to-date information about Nigeria’s diverse retail market.
It’s hard for companies to source insight into market dynamics across a vast country with a complicated retail environment. Companies cannot easily get answers to questions such as which brands are stocked and where, which are recommended by staff and which channels to market are the most efficient and effective ways to reach the customer.
What’s more, the Nigerian market has changed considerably since the start of the Covid-19 crisis in 2020. Trends such as accelerated adoption of e-commerce, higher inflation and a volatile exchange rate have all dramatically reshaped the structure of the middle class, how retail channels operate, and the behaviour of the Nigerian consumer.
Many companies are still basing their strategies on research and insights that date back to before the pandemic.
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Businesses need access to robust market insights to recognise sales opportunities and optimise their strategies and tactics for promotional planning, pricing and sales opportunities across channels and categories.
Yet in Nigeria’s case, it’s difficult to stay on top of developments, digest data, detect the signals from the noise, and make the right decisions.
