Slow E-Commerce Uptake In Botswana

Isaac Pinielo | Monday March 13, 2017 17:15

According to experts, electronic commerce, also known as e-commerce, offers considerable exploitable potential, especially for small, medium and micro-sized enterprises (SMMEs).  A recent ICT survey conducted by Statistics Botswana (SB) indicates that the uptake of e-commerce is still very small in Botswana.

It noted that out of a total of over 1.3 million individuals who used the internet in 2014, about 433,000 individuals did not use e-commerce, constituting 32.2% of all individuals who used internet.

Of the 433,000 individuals, 264,000 or 60.9% of them said they did not use e-commerce because there was no need for them to use it. Females constituted 52.9% of the group which said there was no need for them to use e-commerce.

Still in this group, those who said there was no need for them to use e-commerce, 15-24 year olds made up 42.9% while 25-34 year olds made up 29.6% of the total.

Of individuals aged 10 years and over, only 4.6% of them in Botswana used e-commerce in 2014. Males constituted 53.2% of all individuals who used e-commerce in 2014 while females constituted 46.8%.

According to the survey, the most popular purchased goods through e-commerce in 2014 were clothes and sports goods, books and magazines, household goods and electronic equipment. Most of the goods purchased through e-commerce were mainly sourced from sellers in other SADC countries followed by sellers in European and American countries.

The survey further showed that individuals aged 35-44 years were the largest consumers of e-commerce in 2014, as they constituted 38.3% of all e-commerce users, followed by individuals aged 25-34 years and those aged 45-54 years respectively.

Tertiary educated individuals used more e-commerce than other categories in 2014, making up 78.7% of all e-commerce users. Employees paid in cash constituted the largest proportion of e-commerce users, making 70.1% of the total.

With respect to occupations of e-commerce users, professionals followed by managers and services and sales workers used more e-commerce than other categories of occupations.

Meanwhile, University of Botswana (UB) academicians, Wole Olatokun and Mogotetsi Kebonye indicated that there is a need for support for the SMMEs to be able to better benefit from e-commerce technologies.

“Creation of more widespread awareness about e-commerce, better provision of the requisite technologies, as well as adequate training and skills upgrading and updating are some of the support that would help SMEs plan their e-commerce optimisation strategically,” they said.