African B2C Fashion Marketplace and Its Need for Digital Exposure

Scraping off the typical image of hunger, poverty, and illiteracy, Africa is slowly etching its name in the eCommerce market. And undoubtedly, fashion, among all other industries, is the show stopper in Africa too.

The digital user insights revealed that there are currently about 18.43 million eCommerce users in South Africa, which are expected to increase further to 6.36 million users by 2021. Now, let's talk about fashion.

Fashion or apparel—that includes clothes, shoes, and accessories; is, was, and will always be, on high demand. Known to be one of the most significant B2C eCommerce market segments, the global size of the fashion industry, is estimated to grow further at 10.3 percent per year, and reach a total market size of US $872.6 billion by the end of 2023, which means, fashion is a forever trend.

Why fashion eCommerce needs digital exposure?

Establishing an online presence is not enough today since there are millions already with that. To make your presence felt in the crowd, you must let people know about you. In short, you need to market yourself digitally. While doing that, you have to keep innovation, mobile, and social influencers in mind, especially in fashion, as they are what attract the customers the most. Along with new strategies, you must accept the latest digital movements as well to stay ahead in the competitive queue of fashion eCommerce and the e-marketplaces.

Digital Practices

African B2C Fashion Marketplaces Must Implement

Choose the right platform—How your online presence is made also contributes a lot to the digital exposure; you can get. Hence choosing Magento for a multi-vendor e-commerce marketplace, or switching to it can benefit you a lot because Magento is like born for eCommerce. Their compatibility is unmatchable. Some of the reasons why everyone prefers the Magento commerce platform are its ease of use, presentation skills, ability to deliver an unforgettable shopping experience, and vast customization features.

Provide compelling mobile experiences—The number of people using smartphones outnumbers people using a desktop in Africa. Mobile commerce is riding high in African countries due to increased smartphone penetration. The ease of online payments has opened doors to a lot of mobile wallet providers as well. Hence for a fashion business to spice up in Africa, keeping customers hooked to your mobile app by providing personalized content, design, and styles can help increase the conversion rates and sales of your online store.

Follow the trend—Fashion keeps changing now and then. People love to wear the latest trends, and if the store has everything old-fashioned, no one will even bother to take a look. Hence, keeping the flavor of fashion always fresh is the most important thing to do. Also, mind the areas you are serving. Like for African countries, they love to explore new things in fashion, but while offering some products in particular regions, check whether it is affordable for them or not.

Influence more people—There are still many old-school mediums; markets, street-hawkers, informal retailers who are selling in a confined space, or disconnected areas—even today. And very often clashes take place between them, which is why Africans now prefer online shopping more than the messy offline ones. Therefore, marketing your fashion B2C marketplace over there will encourage more people to shop from your store.

Partner with the right collaborators—Africa has a lot of tribal communities whose livelihood is based on their handmade products. They are so beautifully handcrafted that anyone would love to have them. Collaborating with them will not only help your fashion eCommerce get a worldwide demand, but will also help them with their earnings. Though it might be challenging to convince them, there is no harm in giving it a try.

Personalization always wins the heart—People of Africa love their culture, tradition, language, etc. the most. They are incredibly proud of their country, and love to have their African-ness in anything. So, allowing them to add their African element in fashion will make them fall for your store.

Social media sharing—As said before, Africa is no longer a backward continent. It is growing remarkably well. Almost half of the population are using mobile regularly, daily, which means they are also actively on social media as well. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. are used extensively in Africa, which indicates that digital marketing can only bring good in Africa.

Final thoughts

Just because the image of Africa was not so impressive many years back, doesn't mean it is still the same today. Africa is slowly turning into an eCommerce hub where everyone will soon be battling with each other to survive the competition. Be it a grocery or fashion, eCommerce in Africa is a golden gate, which can bring in lots of goodies if tapped right—for which, you need a multi-vendor marketplace software solution built at the hands of experts like us, MobiCommerce. Contact us now for more details.