Electronic spending bonanza

It will be music to retailers' ears that South Africa and other African countries are moving away from cash to electronic payments, a trend that increases security and could boost sales.

Brian Lang, MasterCard's senior vice-president for market development in the Middle East and Africa, told the Retail Congress Africa this week that consumers tended to spend at least 16% more when they paid electronically than when using cash.

"They only have a certain amount of cash in their pocket. If they can do things electronically, they often will buy things they don't need immediately."

Ted Iacobuzio, vice- president for global insights at MasterCard, said: "There are currently 2.9billion internet users in the world, a feat that took over 20 years to achieve. The next billion will enter the market much faster. A significant proportion will come from Africa."

Lang said Nigeria, which had no e-commerce retailers three years ago, had since seen the launch of 150 online businesses.

According to a 2013 study by consulting firm McKinsey, Africa's internet penetration will jump from 16% (167 million people) to 50% (about 600 million users) by 2025.