Ghana’s smartphone adoption on the rise - Jumia

Jumia, one of Ghana's no. 1 online retailer has disclosed that Ghana’s mobile subscription continues to grow rapidly. According to Jumia, with a population of 23.35 million people, Ghana has 36.6 million mobile subscriptions.

That’s 129% penetration, up from 127.63% in 2015-2016, which is compared to 80% penetration across Africa.

This was contained in the company’s third white paper on Africa Mobile Trends 2017 featuring the latest mobile trends across Africa.

Being the maiden edition in Ghana specifically looks at the soaring penetration of smartphones and the evolution of the mobile industry in Ghana for the next five years.

Just a few years ago, the inclusion of radio was the most searched feature for customers buying a mobile phone according to the report.

Today, the ability to browse the internet is the most searched feature when buying a mobile phone.

In 2016, the mobile internet subscriber penetration in Ghana was 14% and for Africa 28% penetration.

Meanwhile current shows that the Ghanaian consumer has become sophisticated and is interested in mobile phones integrated with social media and the ability to download from the internet.

Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter and Google are some of the most important tabs young customers love to have on their mobile phones. Ghana has 7.96 million internet users with an internet penetration rate of 18%.

Therefore, Jumia predicts the growth in smartphone adoption to rise up to 720 million smartphones by 2020.

Across Africa, the smartphone adoption rate in 2016 was 28% and is predicted to shoot to about 55% in 2020.

There are so many different mobile phones on the market. Majority of the mobile phones on the market are basic phones, also known as feature phones which allow customers make calls, send text messages and perform other basic functions.

On Jumia, the report shows a decrease in the sales of these feature phones and an increase in smartphone mobile sales.

In 2015, the share of feature phone sales on Jumia was 14%, which drastically reduced to 4% in 2016.

In comparison, the share in sales of smartphones was 86% in 2015 and jumped to 96% in 2016, which saw Jumia experienced a boom of 17% growth in smart phones sales.

The report then concluded that on Jumia, there was the increase in demand for phones built on operating system that allow users to browse the internet, send and receive emails, download music and access mobile applications.