E-commerce enhances business ties with Africa

Market projected to reach $29b by 2022 as cellphones gain popularity

From solar powered street lights, mobile phones, headphones, digital gadgets to clothes, bedding and cosmetics, more and more Chinese goods can be spotted in African households as the continent has opened up a major market for Chinese e-commerce merchants.

Online shopping channels like Alibaba, JD or Amazon are not strange to most Chinese. However, in Africa, where the internet is only familiar to about one third of the population, according to Emergent Payments, an online payment service data provider, the concept is relatively new.