NIGERIANS INCREASINGLY EMBRACING FINEST WINES, HEALTHY FOOD, SLEEK FASHION AND FAST CARS

It is generally agreed that Nigeria offers investment potential for companies looking to capitalize off the population’s increased consumer spending power.

With the Nigerian middle class growing and favouring supermarkets, the country is becoming a destination for retailers, many of which are South African. In addition, research by Euromonitor indicates that South African retailers are starting to target cities beyond Lagos and Abuja. Massmart, Woolworths and Shoprite all recently opened stores in the south-eastern city of Enugu, while Massmart and Shoprite have plans to open outlets in the northern city of Kano this year. Euromonitor’s data suggests that Nigeria’s fastest growing major cities between 2010 and 2030 will be Ibadan, Maiduguri and Kano respectively.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Developing a taste for wine

Another trend is that Nigerians are increasingly moving towards wine consumption. According to Euromonitor, wine consumption in Nigeria rose from 18.8 million litres in 2006 to 44.3 million litres during 2011 and is expected to rise by a further 80.4%, to 79.9 million litres, by 2016.”

Movement towards healthy eating

Nigerian consumers are also becoming more concerned with healthy eating. “A survey of 700 consumers conducted by newspaper Business Day Nigeria during October 2012 found that while price was still crucial to the Nigerian consumer, health considerations were becoming more important,” says Euromonitor. “Fifty per cent of respondents said that they read the labels of packaged food and beverage products before purchasing them. Thirty-nine per cent said that they would like to see more nutritional information, including calorie counts, on restaurant menus.”

Fashion Conscious

Nigeria also has a budding local fashion industry and the Lagos Fashion& Design Week in October 2012 attracted European companies, such as Selfridges and German online retailer MyTheresa.com. Bruno Barba, PR manager at Selfridges, said, “Nigerians are among our highest-spending foreign customers.”


Fast Cars

German carmaker Porsche made a grand entry to the Nigerian market last year and has been embraced by the local folks. An estimated 200 Nigerians owned Porsches when the firm opened its Lagos but that number has increased appreciably. Euromonitor has it that “0.4% of Nigerian households had an annual disposable income of more than US$100,000 (at purchasing power parity) during 2011”. Nigeria already has dealerships specializing in Aston Martin and Lamborghini.