MARKETING INFORMATION
MARKETING IN
AFRICA AND
THE CONSUMER
LANDSCAPE – PART 2
By Isaac T. Ngatia
T
his is the second of the threeseries on the Africa consumer
landscape. In the first part
we highlighted the challenge of
defining the African consumer.
While the territory, with over 1.2
billion people presents massive
opportunities, can one define the
African consumer, given the various
micro and macro factors? How can
that happen in a continent with 54
independent nations, varied culture
and practices?
Indeed any marketer will face an
insurmountable task in defining
the African consumer, and faces
two main risks – simplifying the
definition (read generalizing) or run
into analysis paralysis.
Simplifying the definition arises
in a number of assumptions. Some
of the areas and statements I have
come across include: Africa is a
large territory, but only by distance.
Generally consumers are African
across the continent; The African
consumer faces almost similar
challenges across countries; Low
income per capita across most
countries is an indication of almost
similar buying patterns; The level of
sophistication is not as high as in
other continent, or developed world.
‘‘ While the territory, with over 1.2 billion
people presents massive opportunities, can
one define the African consumer, given
the various micro and macro factors? How
can that happen in a continent with 54
independent nations, varied culture and
practices?’’
30 MAL 13/16 ISSUE
There are many other statements,
but these are some of the common
ones. Taking such statements at face
value is a key risk in addressing any
given market across the continent.
A key example to the above is
the much-talked about issue of
the rising middle class across the
continent. While it’s a fact incomes
across the continent are rising, such
a generalization can be disastrous
since there are many other factors
that impact the African consumer in
making a decision.
On the other hand, over analyzing
respective markets is not only
expensive, but also takes time.
Identifying the addressable base
of consumers is then not only
important, but also a continuous
process. Due to differences in
regulatory practices, my opinion
is always to consider each market
within the continent independently
first before looking at the continent
as a whole.
At a macro level, various enabling