African constitutes 15 % of the world population, it is indicated that around 10 % of this percentage are indeed internet users. There are approximately 297-million Internet users in Africa and this reflects the fast rate of adaptability of Africans given the fact that the use of PC, mobile phones started in the mid ’90s.
This survey shows the development of e-commerce particularly e-tourism shows the changing habits of Africans as new services such as online bookings are facilitated by services like Jovago.com.
Most used/preferred device
Apparently the usage of the good-old PC registers as the most popular device used when online bookings are carried. In spite of the influx of smart-phones – Android and Apple devices, the personal computer ranks highest with smart-phone following closely behind and the third most popular device used is the digital tablet. In this section, the medal goes to the very trusty PC – be it a Mac, Dell, Samsung, HP – we clearly use our computers more than any other devices! However, this may not be long-lasting because the rate at which smartphones are being circulated is increasing very fast, they are predicted to be utilized more frequently than the PC in the coming years!
Most popular browsers
Here, our survey shows that Google Chrome is a clear favorite for a whopping 51% of the population of African internet users. It is closely followed by Firefox which is used by 25%. The good-old Explorer is holding on tightly ranking third with a user percentage of 10%. The least used with a slight difference in user percentage are the Safari and Opera browsers with an 8% and 6%.
Desired platforms for online customer service
In many cases when customers need more information concerning a booking or faced with an obstacle, the need to contact customer service arises and in this situation we find that most customers find the LiveChat pop-up on the websites most handy to contact a customer service agent. The other social messaging platforms used are Whatsapp, Viber, Skype and BBM in no particular order.
Africa’s biggest players
Based on the fact that Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa, the fact that they have the highest number of internet users is no surprise at all. Nigeria is crowned the winner in this category with approximately 70,3-million internet users in Africa. Closely behind Nigeria is Egypt representing Northern Africa with 46,2-million users.
South Africa comes in third with 24,9-million users, Kenya with 21,2-million users and Morocco’s 20,2-million users brings them up making them the fifth most connected in Africa.
This survey is based on all the travellers who have booked through jovago.com in 2014.
