Lower-priced Asian Smartphones, most searched items by Nigerians on app – Jumia

An indigenous online mall, Jumia Nigeria, says lower-priced point Asian Smartphones remained the most searched items by Nigerians on its mobile app, a week after the launch of its Black Friday Campaign.

Its Chief Executive Officer, Mrs Juliet Anammah, said on Thursday that the lower-priced point smartphones continued to drive demand and purchase.

According Wikipaedia, Black Friday is an informal name for the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, the fourth Thursday of November.

“It has been regarded as the beginning of the country’s Christmas shopping season since 1952, although the term “Black Friday” did not become widely recognised or used until the early 2000s.’’

Our correspondent reports that Jumia Black Friday started on Nov. 2.

It had in the past attracted thousands of customers to the platform on the account of benefitting from their discount sales

Anammah said that earlier in 2018, Jumia predicted in a mobile report that by year end, the average price of smart-phones would dip a bit further because new smart-phone brands were entering the market.

Jumia chief executive officer said: “We are not surprised by these trends, because in the last three years, we have observed an interesting trajectory of our mobile phones category.

“In 2014, the average price of smartphones was 216 dollars (N77, 760).

“It dropped to 117 dollars (N42, 120) in 2016, and dipped further to 100 dollars (36,000) in 2017.

“Asian mobile brands continue to build on their Africa-specific strategy by introducing lower price points smart-phones adapted to the profiles of African users.

“The Chief Transformation Officer, MTN Nigeria, Olubayo Adekanmbi, predicted the preponderance of low-cost smart-phones and the drive toward aspirational self-enhancement, coupled with exciting mobile operator-led propositions, will continue to drive smart-phone penetration.’’

She quoted Adekambi as saying that many first-timers would find a compelling reason to pick up low-priced smart-phones or second-hand smart-phones.

Anammah said that most of the smartphone brands searched for on the Jumia mobile app were Infinix Hot 6, Tecno, iPhone, Gionee, and Samsung.

She said that on desktop, in chronological order, brands searched for included: iPhone, iPhone 6, Gionee, iPhone X, Itel, Tecno, Infinix, iPhone 7, Infinix Note 4, and Samsung.

Jumia chief said that other searched items across desktop and the Jumia mobile App included: refrigerators, washing machines, human hair, shoes, bags, sewing machines, Indomie, generators, PS4, blenders and gas cookers among others.