How Fast Is Nigeria's E-Commerce Market Growing?
Nigeria e-commerce sales grew 29% year over year in 2025, reaching NGN492 billion, or roughly $368 million, according to Euromonitor's "Retail E-Commerce in Nigeria" report [1]. That expansion sits inside a much larger retail economy: Euromonitor puts Nigeria's total retail sales, online and offline combined, at NGN25.4 trillion, or about $19.0 billion, for the year [1].
“Türkiye, Nigeria, and Malaysia consistently outperform the global average across all platforms.”
Nigeria's population reached 242 million in 2026, the largest in Africa and the sixth largest in the world behind India, China, the United States, Indonesia and Pakistan, according to United Nations figures [1]. That scale is why DHL's 2026 E-Commerce Trends Report singles the country out, alongside Türkiye and Malaysia, as consistently outperforming the global average across platforms in expected growth [1].
| Market | Total retail sales, 2025 | Retail e-commerce sales, 2025 | E-commerce growth, YoY |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nigeria | $19.0 billion [1] | $368 million [1] | +29% [1] |
| United States | $5.3 trillion [1] | $1.2 trillion [1] | Not reported |
What Are Nigerians Buying, and Who Sells It to Them?
Nigeria's top online retail categories in 2025 were beauty and personal care, apparel and footwear, and wearable electronics, per Euromonitor [1]. Two companies dominate the sales behind those categories.
Jumia, the pan-African marketplace, and Konga, the Nigerian retailer and marketplace, were the country's largest retail e-commerce companies by sales in 2025 [1].
That concentration is unlikely to hold steady. Euromonitor's July 2026 update to the Nigeria e-commerce report flags Temu's market entry as a development set to intensify competition and push further platform innovation in the country [3]. For any brand weighing a marketplace-first entry into Nigeria, that means the competitive map behind today's 70% combined share is already shifting.
| Retailer | Type | 2025 retail e-commerce share |
|---|---|---|
| Jumia | Pan-African marketplace | 54% [1] |
| Konga | Nigerian retailer and marketplace | 16% [1] |
How Do Nigerians Pay for Online Purchases?
Cards are not the default in Nigeria's e-commerce checkout. Worldpay estimates that account-to-account payments accounted for 44% of Nigerian e-commerce transaction value in 2025, more than debit cards and digital wallets combined [1].
The full breakdown, per Worldpay [1]:
Mobile is the infrastructure underneath that payments mix. The number of smartphone users in Nigeria was modeled at 96.27 million in 2025, a base that has grown every year since 2010 and is projected to keep rising through 2050, according to Statista [2]. Any checkout built primarily around card-first flows misses the rails most Nigerian shoppers actually use.
- Account-to-account payments: 44%
- Debit cards: 24%
- Digital wallets: 13%
- Cash: 11%
- Credit cards: 3%
- Prepaid cards: 3%
- Buy now, pay later: 2%
Why Are Nigerians So Likely to Buy From Abroad?
Cross-border shopping is the norm rather than the exception in Nigeria, not a niche behavior. DHL's survey found that 69% of Nigerian respondents said they buy from retailers based in other countries [1], a rate that puts pressure on both local and international sellers to get cross-border logistics and pricing right.
Part of the explanation is structural. Nigeria belongs to ECOWAS, the Economic Community of West African States, a free-trade zone of 18 countries with a common external tariff on goods from outside the bloc, ranging from 5% to 35% depending on category [1].
Nigeria largely follows those base tariffs but adds extra charges on imports of alcohol, tobacco, luxury goods and vehicles, on top of a separate 7.5% value-added tax that applies to most categories except food, medical, educational and agricultural goods [1].
What New Rules Govern Cross-Border Shipments Into Nigeria?
Nigeria introduced a $300 de minimis threshold in 2025. Shipments below that value are exempt from customs duties and taxes, up to four qualifying shipments per purchaser per year [1]. That is a meaningful change for any international seller shipping directly to Nigerian consumers rather than through a local warehouse or marketplace partner.
Two government bodies administer the rest of the process. The Nigeria Trade Portal covers tariffs, permits and documentation for importers, while SONCAP, a separate government organization, verifies, tests and certifies specific categories of imported goods before they can clear customs [1].
What Does This Mean for Global Commerce Teams Evaluating Nigeria?
The numbers point to a market where growth outpaces the global average, but where the operating model looks different from a mature Western market. Payments run through bank transfers and mobile money rather than cards, the marketplace layer is still concentrated in two incumbents facing new competition, and cross-border trade is governed by a regional tariff bloc plus a de minimis rule barely a year old.
For a commerce or IT decision-maker scoping expansion into West Africa, that combination argues for treating Nigeria as its own build, not an extension of a card-centric checkout or a single global tariff assumption. Payment method coverage, marketplace positioning against Jumia, Konga and now Temu, and compliance with ECOWAS and Nigerian VAT rules are three separate workstreams, each backed by data that is still moving quarter to quarter.
Sources
- [1]Practical Ecommerce, Ecommerce in Nigeria Poised for Growth — practicalecommerce.com
- [2]Statista, Number of smartphone users in Nigeria from 2010 to 2050 — statista.com
- [3]Euromonitor, Retail E-Commerce in Nigeria — euromonitor.com
