Despite economic lull and consumer income contraction in Nigeria, smart-phone giants still find the country attractive, as they scramble to outdo one another in the market.
Nigeria is home to smart-phone such as Apple, Samsung, Huawei, Tecno, Infinix, LG, HTC, Nokia lumia, Sony and innjoo, Lenovo, among others.
Analysts say the smart phone companies are attracted by Nigeria’s demography of mainly young people as well as technology gaps in the country and huge market size.
Newest Chinese into Nigeria’s smart phone market is Huawei, which came into Nigeria’s budding market 18 months ago, designing and selling mainly high-end smart phones, hoping to compete better with other popular devices.
“We are looking to expand into Nigeria and other parts of Africa. We want to create a hub. Africa as a market place is very important to the company. It is important that we establish a base in the continent if we still want to be relevant in the future as the continent has the highest number of youth,” Hawa Hyath, marketing director, Huawei sub-Saharan Africa, told BusinessDay in Shenzhen, China.
“We are analysing Nigeria and Africa to understand the needs of consumers in the continent,” Hyath said.
Speaking at the company’s headquarters about challenges faced in Nigeria and some other parts of Africa, Ada Xu, global PR director, Huawei, said brand awareness was increasing but brand consideration was low.
“This means that a lot of people know Huawei but not a lot of people are considering to actually buy a Huawei phone, so that is our major challenge.
“We are trying to sort out this issue step by step, so we have a strategy to start from some of the markets in Africa, win the trust of the market and the love of the consumers,” she said.
A recent report by Jumia.com, Nigeria’s online retailer, notes that the phenomenal evolution of the mobile industry in Nigeria is being driven by the exponential growth of smart phone sales.
The report shows smart phone acquisition in Nigeria has been driven by entry of new retailers into the Nigerian market, resulting in a substantial price crash, thereby making it more accessible to a larger segment of the population.
Oil price crash has cut Nigeria’s government revenue by more than 50 percent, while forcing the central bank to initiate several measures to curb import.
Fixed income earners and many Nigerian consumers have cut spending in the face of inflation rate of 15.6 percent and uncertainties in salary payments both in public and private sectors.
However, the Nigerian market is still considered attractive by smart phone firms, especially those of Chinese origin. Lenovo, a Chinese smart phone company, recently berthed the Nigerian market with seven smart phone models, including A369i, A516, A680, A859, S650 and Vibe X, among others.
The company said it chose Nigeria because it would not require to partner with local telecoms firms to sell its phones. The company was attracted to Africa’s biggest market by demography and the success of the brand’s PCs in the country.
Apple entered Nigeria in 2012, with a huge war chest, having reported $108 billion global revenue the previous year. Apple said then it was offering a two-year warranty to Nigerian consumers who purchased devices from authorised dealers.
Samsung came into the country’s market with an assurance that it would outdo Nokia, which had earlier tapped into the Nigerian market.
Matthew Ibe, CEO of a services firm in Abuja, told BusinessDay that the Nigerian market was yet to be saturated with smart phones.
“There are still opportunities in that segment. I expect many more players and I hope our market will develop like our South African counterpart,” Ibe said.
Huawei told BusinessDay in China that it had 16 research and development (R&D) centres across the world, which will impact Nigeria.
“Nigeria remains a key focus market for us at Huawei. We will compete vigorously for the hearts and minds of Nigerian consumers as well as Marketshare across key product categories and premium product segments,” said Leo Jianghui, managing director for devices at Huawei, Nigeria.
“We will continue to make investments in our channel partners, our people, marketing, incentives, and sales staff training, with a keen focus towards building our long term competitiveness and eventually winning the Nigerian market,” he added.
