Today, Jumia Uganda has launched its Annual Mobile Report highlighting the 2017 main mobile industry trends, ahead of this year’s Mobile Week. Here are 12 things you need to know about Uganda’s mobile landscape.
1. Uganda has 44% Internet Penetration Rate – which is above the Africa average – and currently ranks 15th in Internet Usage Across Africa and the Pearl of Africa is becoming a mobile-first country with a 70% penetration implying that on average, there are 7 active SIM cards for every 10 individuals.
2. Uganda has 2.6 Million Ugandans active on Social Media. Consumers are becoming increasingly self-directed in their buying habits, leveraging Social Media to research and inquire about products without setting foot in a brick and mortar store.
3. 30% of Jumia Uganda’s platform traffic comes from Social Media. Social Media is really key to e-commerce in this industry.
4. Lower Price Point Smartphones still leading the pack in sales volumes. TECNO, Infinix, SAMSUNG, FERO MOBILE, NOKIA. TECNO is top Smartphone brand in Uganda while Infinix is Africa’s top smartphone.
5. The Average Price of Smartphones sold on Jumia continues to dip year-on-year with a reduction of -38.5% in price last year that’s $83 , $135 in 2016 (a reduction of -19% in price) and $167 in 2015 while for the rest of Africa was $96 last year, $99 in 2016, and $165 in 2014.
6. Uganda has embraced Asian brands like Tecno, Infinix and Fero who have contributed to smartphone democratization. A new smartphone brand, Simi, has gone as far as setting its smartpone price point at under UGX 100,000.
7. The preferred Method of payment on Jumia is 83% Cash delivery, 16% on MTN Mobile Money the only accepted cashless payment provider at the moment and the 1% is not defined.
8. The male gender purchases more mobile phones than the female gender. That’s 68% male and 32% female. Predictably, Jumia attracted more male shoppers than female shoppers in 2017 which can be explained by the fact that, in Uganda, more men own mobile phones than women.
9. Mobile remains foremost in browsing the Jumia Website with 77% of the traffic while 23% is on Desktop.
10. Jumia monthly traffic has grown by 50% from 200,000 in 2016 to 300,000 in 2017 users accessing the online shop every month for popular items like mobile phones, watches, men’s fashion items like sneakers and formal shoes.
11. 49% of Jumia Users are from Central Region that’s majorly Kampala and Wakiso, 20% in the Northern Region, 18% Western Region and lastly 13% in the Eastern Region. And most purchases sold in the Central region are mobile devices.
12. The most used browser by shoppers on Jumia is 35% Google Chrome, 25% Android WebView, 14% Opera Mini and 26% are undefined while for the rest of Africa is 40% Chrome, 29% Android WebView, 10% Firefox, and 10 are undefined. This means Chrome is the preferred browser in Uganda and Africa.
