5 things to note in the changing scene of West Africa’s consumer markets

The Citi Business Festival on-air series featured Lampe Omoyele, the CEO of Nitro 121, who spoke on “The Changing Scene of West Africa’s Consumer Markets”.

Here are five things to note from his presentation.

Brands must leverage digital communication

Lampe Omoyele described digital communication as a key to maintaining quality.

“You have digital marketing as an opportunity for brands to engage with their consumers depending  on whom the target market is”.

He noted that differentiation and building your brand via communication remain critical to driving purchases.

Brands must provide affordable solutions

Lampe Omoyele highlighted the importance of outstanding consumer behaviour with a view to meeting their needs.

“For any brand to survive and thrive in this season, they need to understand the consumer behaviour that is going on and provide the solutions for the consumer in terms of more affordable brands or more affordable pack offers,” he said.

Businesses must serve middle class with affordable options

Lampe Omoyele narrowed in on the middle class, which is also facing financial strain amid rising inflation globally.

He noted that brands should strive to provide affordable options because their purchasing power has weakened.

“How do we ensure that the middle-class earner is still addressed by your offerings as a marketer and a business owner,” Lampe Omoyele said.

Countries must improve quality of local manufacturing

Lampe Omoyele stressed the need to improve the quality of local manufacturing with deliberate policies.

This will end up earning local brands new customers.

“Every consumer is looking for quality and once they can get that quality, whether it is local or foreign, they will go for what is high quality,” he said.

Businesses to merge digital and physical

Lampe Omoyele expects digital to take over markets in Africa within the next five years.

“What we will see in the next five years is E-commerce having a convergence with the brick and mortar. So I think they would exist together with some growth of E-commerce in the African context.”

He believes it will take a while before e-commerce takes over brick and mortar in Africa.