Dentsu Africa launches the wisdom series: e-commerce like never before

“The primary difference between insight and wisdom; wisdom involves a healthy dose of perspective and the ability to make sound judgments about a subject while knowledge is simply knowing. Anyone can become knowledgeable about a subject by reading, researching, and memorising facts... Wisdom is knowing when to say it.”

The journey begins with a report titled: e-commerce like never before. In this in-depth report we offer insights into the African e-commerce landscape and share frameworks from both global and local experts in Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria to name a few.

2020 was one of upheaval. Economies and businesses around the world were disrupted by the pandemic, leading to countless difficult situations. However, one of the few silver linings was the forced acceleration of innovation with regard to commerce. It’s no secret that e-commerce was rapidly expanding even before the pandemic, but with physical retail being limited or shut down entirely, many consumers turned to e-commerce, sometimes for the first time, as the only alternative. In many markets, this resulted in years or even decades of growth for e-commerce penetration in a single quarter.

There is no shortage of complexity when it comes to commerce and at dentsu; we keep it simple. Therefore, we developed a clear, actionable report on e-commerce that helps brands embrace the potential of disruption in the digital economy in Africa.

The vision for commerce at dentsu is one where media investments do more than drive attention – they drive direct sales and personalisation. Where every creative idea – on any channel – works harder to connect inspiration to transactions. Customer relationship management doesn’t power direct to consumer relationships, it connects data to supercharge the relationship value beyond conversation to conversion. This is Total Commerce.

For decades consumers looked for sales on the shelf of retail stores, but the reality is that e-commerce has really become democratised; we are seeing convergence between brick-and-mortar and e-commerce businesses. We have observed channel after channel being made shoppable through social media. The reality is that with all the product innovations we see today, shopping is occurring everywhere. The same actions need to drive commerce behaviour; from our experience doing e-commerce in Africa, it is underpinned by these four pillars: convenience, relevance, value, and trust. Trust is the foundational aspect that underpinning the pillars mentioned and will be a key behavioural driver to drive commerce within consumer segments. “Growing needs for convenience and safety have been the mother of invention and have helped us to overcome the 'trust barrier',” stated Dawn Rowlands, CEO dentsu SSA.

Why should the world take note?

The African internet economy is one of the largest overlooked commercial and most impactful developmental opportunities of the past decade. The mobile internet is transforming life in Africa; it’s supported by growing local connectivity and mobility, and a dynamic, young urban population. With a 28.5% compound annual growth rate of the African internet population since 2000, the internet economy is becoming even more critical to reaching and supporting the continent’s 1.3 billion people. And this number will only continue to grow.

The population growth projected between 2020 and 2050 will rise to 87% growth in Africa. This presents brands with an extremely unique opportunity to tap into the consumer base that is already engaging. Looking at your present strategy and adapting it for the future will be imperative as the scramble to own the third shelf is on.

To navigate a storm, you need a compass - let’s be your GPS as brands scramble to own the third shelf.