China, Africa to share benefits from e-commerce development – People's Daily Online

As China and Africa continue to promote bilateral trade and exchanges, cross-border e-commerce has generated new opportunities for cooperation between the two sides.

Staff of Takealot, South Africa’s largest e-commerce platform, check goods in a warehouse in Johannesburg. (People’s Daily/Lyu Qiang)

Africa has a large number of Internet users and boasts huge market potential, while China, which has accumulated experience in cultivating e-commerce markets, digital payment and logistics management, could help African countries build an e-commerce ecological system, experts pointed out.

The number of Internet users in Africa has hit 465 million and is expected to reach 495 million by 2025.

Meanwhile, the market scale of e-commerce in Africa is expected to reach $34.7 billion by 2024, with an average annual growth rate of 17.1 percent, according to Statista, a German online statistics portal.

Kilimall, a leading online shopping mall in Africa that was set up by Chinese founders, has attracted thousands of suppliers. While bringing Chinese products to African consumers, the platform has also introduced African goods, such as coffee beans and red wine, to Chinese consumers.

More than 10 African countries have taken part in Jumia, another online marketplace in Africa. The number of annual active consumers on the platform has reached 6.4 million, a year-on-year increase of 51 percent.

JumiaPay, the digital payment system under Jumia, saw its business volume grow by 278 percent year on year in 2019. The e-commerce market in Africa is booming, and the rapidly developing Internet and increasing number of mobile users have created huge business opportunities, said Jeremy Hodara, co-founder and co-CEO of JumiaPay.

China boasts advanced e-commerce and digital payment technology and its e-commerce ecosystem better suits the demands of African countries, Hodara noted, adding that African e-commerce platforms are hoping to deepen cooperation with China and ensure growth by using China’s experience in the sector.

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