Nigerians and Kenyans are “more risk accepting” compared to South Africans when it comes to online shopping and using different modes of payment options for purchases.
This is according to Ericsson head of mobile commerce sales EMEA, Rajiv Bhatia, speaking on the sidelines of the Mobile Money and Digital Payments conference in Johannesburg, South Africa this week.
“In Kenya, it’s mobile money,” he said.
“People have gone through the process of trusting a phone to manage their money – the openness to try new models like online purchases we feel is a little bit more than in South Africa,” said Bhatia.
According to Bhatia, South African consumers; though, are more cautious about online shopping.
“In South Africa people have been very used to banks and physical broader banks to manage their money so there is a lot of fear that online details can be stolen,” he added.
A MasterCard study released in March this year found that 90% of South African online shoppers say that better security would convince them to spend more online.
The report titled “MasterCard Online Shopping Behaviour Study” also indicated that 42% of the respondents don’t want to shop online because they are afraid of a potential lack of security.
Bhatia explained that South Africa has developed infrastructure, which includes large retail chains and large retail supermarkets that slow the adoption of online shopping.
“Physical trust and safety in markets like Nigeria and Kenya is a bit less than it is in South Africa, people here feel safe.
“Whereas people in Nigeria and Kenya find that the convenience of just ordering things online and getting them delivered is worth the risk sometimes,” he concluded.
– itwebafrica.com
