According to data on the “Africa Marketplace Explorer”, a tool launched by the International Trade Centre (ITC), there were at least 631 online B2C marketplaces for physical goods in 58 African countries and regions in 2019, with a total of 1,902 sites. West Africa had the highest number of online marketplaces, followed by East Africa and North Africa, and then Southern Africa. The countries with the highest average web traffic for individual online marketplaces in each region were South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, and Kenya. The study first introduces the market conditions of these four countries in Chapter 2, including the e-commerce market and mobile payment methods available (including internet usage, market size, major payment methods, average expenditure per user), e-commerce consumer characteristics (including internet access methods, popular products, logistics, common marketing approaches by merchants, population structure), and an overview of domestic regulations and policies related to digital trade (including e-commerce and mobile payments).

When it comes to digital trade policy, the Africa Group has previously been opposed to the introduction of e-commerce rules at the WTO due to unresolved definitional issues. Additionally, African micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) are not yet ready to compete with global tech giants, and e-commerce negotiations might diminish the policy space of African governments. However, since the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) came into effect on January 1, 2021, e-commerce has been included in the scope of negotiations, and future discussions may ensue to address market entry, facilitation, rules on technological infrastructure, and the feasibility of the current liberalization approach followed by contracting countries in e-commerce. As such, governments of South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, and Kenya are likely to develop a clearer digital trade agenda and regulatory framework as AfCFTA negotiations continue to advance.

In Chapter 3 of this study, leading e-commerce platforms in the four African countries—Jumia, Takealot, Souq, and Kilimall—were investigated. This analysis includes an overview of the platforms, their operational reach and business models, logistics providers, mobile payment providers, and sales performance. The top ten online marketplaces in Africa in 2019 had a total of 1.427 billion visitors, accounting for 65.9% of the total online marketplace traffic. This includes 516 million visitors to Jumia (23.8% of the total African visitors), 140 million visitors to Souq (6.4%), 117 million visitors to Takealot (5.4%), and 10 million visitors to Kilimall. Out of the 631 online marketplaces in Africa, approximately 9% are owned by retailers who operate online shopping malls, 87% are intermediary institutions that do not engage in retail, and 3% have an unknown owner type. Jumia, Takealot, and Kilimall are online shopping malls, while Souq is an online classifieds website. The important marketplaces in African countries are still quite dispersed, with most African online marketplaces active only in Africa. 80% of them are national platforms operating in a single country or region, and apart from Takealot, which is a single-country website, Jumia, Kilimall, and Souq are pan-African websites.

Building on the previous findings, this study seeks to examine the main considerations for Taiwanese businesses when planning for African e-commerce market entry, the opportunities and challenges of entering the African market via e-commerce, and the opportunities and challenges of participating in the African mobile payment industry chain. It aims to inform government policy-making in digital trade (such as e-commerce and mobile payments) in Africa, and help domestic businesses expand into Africa through innovative and diversified approaches.

The main factors to consider included in Section 1 of Chapter 4 are based on the results of Chapter 2. Using available data from the majority of African countries, the study evaluates each country’s strengths and weaknesses from six perspectives to help inform businesses’ strategy to enter the African e-commerce market. The six factors assessed for individual countries include: GDP and GDP growth, population, financial freedom, and geographical location; internet usage; average web traffic for online marketplaces; quality of logistics infrastructure and international rankings; financial and payment tools available, and e-commerce sales information. In fact, all four African countries analyzed in this study (South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, and Kenya) have multiple advantages in the development of e-commerce.

In Section 2 of Chapter 4, the study explores expanding into the African market via e-commerce. The data on Taiwanese exports to and investments in Africa has indicated little presence in B2C e-commerce in Africa, with South Africa claiming a slightly larger share of investments among the four selected countries. Therefore, businesses in Taiwan could start by looking into the countries and platforms with the highest web traffic identified in this study, and consider existing costs, such as taxation and new direct or indirect digital service taxes, before selecting their target markets. The African e-commerce market is gradually growing, and there is currently no unified e-commerce platform, with a diverse set of logistics services, payment options, and taxation environments, which presents excellent opportunities for Taiwanese businesses. It is necessary for leading industry players at home and relevant government agencies to engage existing e-commerce platform operators in Africa to develop a number of possible approaches for interested SMEs.

Section 3 of Chapter 4 of the study analyzes the mobile payment ecosystem in Africa from the perspective of payment service providers. The African mobile money market is dominated by an integrated operating model led by banks, mobile network operators, or financial technology companies, with a variety of solutions available. As such, the level of product differentiation is rather low, and new entrants have limited bargaining power, posing little threat to existing suppliers. In this context, the study found that the mobile payment market in Egypt, Nigeria, Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, which are among the top ten countries with most marketplace web traffic, is still in its early stages, presenting significant business opportunities for Taiwan. However, a lack of domestic research on local regulations, market demands, and potential business partners; continuing intense competition in Taiwan’s own mobile payment market, and insufficient channels for exporting to Africa to drive the demand for mobile payments, are all challenges that need to be addressed when businesses consider entering the African mobile payment market.