A Comparative Study of Consumers’ Readiness for Internet Shopping in Two African Emerging Economies: Some Preliminary Findings

This research seeks to empirically investigate factors that could either inhibit or facilitate consumers’ readiness for Internet shopping in two highly influential countries in the African continent. In this study, a structured questionnaire-based cross-sectional convenience sampling was used to elicit information from respondents in Ghana and Nigeria respectively. We have identified six cogent factors that are significantly influencing consumers’ readiness for Internet shopping in both countries, these six influential factors were all subjected to hypotheses testing using non-parametric statistical methods. Based on some of our findings, we found out that demographic variables, perceived level of distrust, Internet access availability, the proliferation of social media site usage amongst the younger population all have an important role to play in the uptake of Internet shopping in both countries. We also found out that the female gender compared to the male gender in Ghana would most likely have a higher perception level of distrust in Internet shopping. It is also interesting to note that perceived level of distrust is positively correlated with the demand for the promulgation (and implementation) of Internet transactions’ laws in Nigeria. By and large, we have equally pointed out some limitations of the present study and also provided some relevant future research directions given that this study is, arguably, the first of its kind in Africa to compare consumers’ readiness for Internet shopping in any two African emerging economies. We are optimistic that Internet shopping offers an emerging business opportunity for retail businesses to fully take advantage of the rising digitally literate African youth populace, who constantly crave for speed of service delivery, convenience and a mutually beneficial trust based relationship. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n23p188