It has been general knowledge for a while now that Transsion brands (TECNO, Infinix and Itel) are at the top of the mobile phone industry in Kenya when it comes to market share. Well, this remains mostly true but a report coming from Jumia Kenya, through their fourth Mobile White Paper indicates that the Hong Kong-based company has to look over its shoulders if it plans to stay at the top of the pyramid.
According to a report released by International Data Corporation (IDC), Transsion continues to hold the top spot as the biggest smartphone and feature phone vendor in Kenya in Q4 2017. The company holds a staggering 58% and 63% market share in smartphones and feature phones respectively. Well, Jumia Kenya’s White Paper points out that whilst Tecno and Infinix dominate the smartphone segment, Tecno and Itel dominate the feature phone segment. Jumia also notes that Samsung’s economically priced J-Series has propelled the company to a 17% market share by volume.
Interestingly, Tecno’s and Infinix’ relative market share by volume fell significantly in 2017, in contrast with 2016, thanks to new entrants in the Kenyan market, reports Jumia.
“The smartphone industry continues to see new entrants into the market such as Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi expected to officially expand into Kenya early this year. We expect this will drive moderate reductions in mobile device prices in the coming years, though not as significant as we seen in recent years,” said Sam Chappatte, Jumia Kenya Managing Director.
As per Jumia’s numbers, here’s Kenya’s smartphone market share as of Q4 2017:
| BRAND | Market Share Q3 2017 | Market Share Q4 2017 |
|---|---|---|
| TECNO | 35% | 38% |
| Samsung | 18% | 17% |
| Infinix | 10% | 11% |
| Itel | 8% | 9% |
| Huawei | 8% | 7% |
| Others | 21% | 17% |
Jumia notes that they sold Over 250,000 smartphones in 2017 in Kenya alone. This is a 25% increase compared to the previous year. One would think that the increase in sales has been propelled by reducing prices but in contrast, Jumia claims that mobile phone prices in 2017 stalled, at an average of $90, compared to 2016 where we saw fluctuating phone prices.
“Smartphones accounted for 97% of all phones sold, 3% feature phones; with 68% of sales taking place in Nairobi. Growing sales from higher-end devices is attributed to the growing demand for 4G connections in Kenya coupled with an increase in the number of 4G networks,” said Sam Chappatte.
Jumia Customers are Mobile Driven
In 2017, Jumia also experienced major changes in the browsers customers are using to access the website. The company reports that there have been over 1000% growth in visits from Android Webview (that is, through the Jumia App and users clicking links on Facebook and Twitter), over 40% growth from Chrome, whilst Opera Mini traffic has stagnated at 2%.
Jumia attributes the growth in the use of Mobile phones to access the platform to the affordable data bundle offerings consumers are now getting from telcos.
“Jumia Kenya for the first time ever in 2018, has seen more orders coming from mobile devices than desktop. The majority of traffic to the website continues to come from mobile devices, but historically conversion rates were lower than on desktops. This reflects the growing importance of the smartphone, and trust in the Jumia brand, as customers less often feel the need to have a bigger screen to make their purchase decision,’ concluded Jumia Kenya’s country manager.
