Fashion Sales Reach An All-Time High As Nigerians Spent $1.82 Billion On Fashion Items In 2020

Nigeria is a highly viable market for the fashion industry. According to a report by PayU, Nigerians purchased fashion items online worth $1.82 billion in 2020. The report shows that Nigerians spent more on fashion items in 2020 than on any other e-commerce category.

It highlights unprecedented consumer spending growth in e-commerce in 19 high-growth markets. These markets, including South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria, had often been overlooked before 2020. The focus was usually on more traditional, Western markets.

The report examines four of the fastest-growing consumer sectors where PayU sees the biggest growth potential over the coming years. The big four are beauty and cosmetics; fashion and gallantry; digital goods; and education.

In Nigeria alone, shoppers spent $199 million on beauty and cosmetic products online in 2020. The report also highlighted that Nigeria has become the biggest e-commerce market in Africa with 76.8 million online shoppers. South Africa and Kenya come next with 63 million and 13 million online shoppers respectively.

Nigeria has 46% internet penetration and has the same e-commerce penetration rate of 37% as South Africa. Kenya sits at 25% for e-commerce penetration and 31% for internet penetration. These rates indicate a good potential for e-commerce growth in these markets as most of the internet users in both nations buy items online.

Fashion shoppers will spend $225 billion in 2021

With the large amounts of money spent on beauty, cosmetics and other fashion items in Nigeria in 2020, Nigeria is a ripe market for the fashion industry. Even amidst the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown, Nigerians purchased many products from fashion retailers online, according to the report. Being a fashion and culture-conscious nation, this does not come as a surprise.

During the lockdown, we saw style influencers rocking cute fashion pieces, fashion brands creating amazing fashion collections, and fashionistas trending certain styles that people could rock at home.

With these numbers highlighting the country’s potential as a great market for the fashion industry, fashion entrepreneurs should explore more ways to leverage e-commerce for their businesses.

In 2021, the PayU report predicts that Nigerians will spend $2.27 billion on fashion items and $255 million on beauty and cosmetics products online. This presents a great opportunity for fashionpreneurs to grow and make more sales online this year.

PayU predicts that Nigerians will spend $2.27 billion on fashion items and $255 million on beauty and cosmetics products online.

What Does This Mean For Online Shopping?

Online shopping in Nigeria is getting increasingly popular among the youthful population who also make use of their smartphones a lot. In South Africa, the pandemic and lockdown also positively boosted the allure of online shopping as it grew by 140 per cent between 2019 and 2020 and is expected to grow by 69 per cent to $169 million by the end of 2021. In Nigeria and Kenya, the spending due to online shopping is expected to grow by $255 million and $29 million by the end of 2021 respectively.

It is expected that by 2021, Kenya will experience a boom in e-commerce, with the digital goods sector forecast to expand by 94 per cent from 2019 by the end of 2021. The fashion and gallantry sector is also expected to grow by 160 per cent over the same time. 

This means that fashion entrepreneurs need to focus more on having an online presence. Everything from learning to market your fashion brand online to keeping customers loyal to your brand and making sales are important.