Economy
e-Commerce Boosts Local Restaurants’ Sales
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The food industry may after all see the COVID-19 pandemic as a blessing because the virus gave players in the sector other ways of reaching their customers.
During the lockdown imposed in Nigeria, some local restaurants relied on e-commerce and online food delivery platforms like the Jumia Food to reach their customers.
Online food delivery gained momentum during this period and e-commerce platforms became the major connection between numerous buyers and sellers.
Nigeria, with an estimated population of over 200 million people, representing 2.5 per cent of the global population, is a readymade market for food and beverage related business.
Buttressing this is the popular Nigerian saying that ‘you can’t do food business and run at loss, especially in commercial nerve cities like Lagos and Port Harcourt.
In the Nigerian food and beverage market, the food segment was the market’s most lucrative, with total revenues of $33.7 billion, equivalent to 75 per cent of the market’s overall value.
With this huge opportunity, it was not surprising that players in the sector quickly looked for alternative to meet the demands of customers and one of them was Jumia Food.
“Our partnership with Jumia has consistently provided us with an opportunity to expand our existing customer base, attend to the dining needs of our customers at their convenience and in an efficient manner and reward our customers for continually trusting us,” said Ufuoma Ogeleka, Head of Marketing, The Place Restaurant while speaking on the benefit of Jumia partnership with the restaurant.
Other restaurants such as Chicken Republic, Sweet Sensation, Kilimanjaro, Drumstick, Sooyah Bistro to mention a few, have also embraced the ecommerce platforms like Jumia to reach more customers.
According to a pop singer and CEO of Sooyah Bistro, Mr Bankole Wellington, otherwise known as Banky W, online platforms such as Jumia were crucial to food business survival connecting with their customers during the lockdown.
“Sales dropped drastically, companies shut down, and a lot of people lost their jobs. We’re grateful that Jumia kept their operation going; it was reassuring to customers, helped give them options for food at a very uncertain and difficult time, and for vendors like us, it was a huge help to still be able to keep sales going during that period. The sales we got through Jumia helped greatly in keeping our employees paid, and our operation running,” the singer said.
It is expected that the online food delivery trend will become a common lifestyle among the emerging middle class population, with many relying on having their hot meals and groceries delivered at their doorsteps, as against going out to offline retail stores to purchase.
“In the coming years, we expect the internet will still have a very strong influence on overall customer decision making, an increase of self-serving order taking portals within the restaurants for walk-in and dine-in customers to become widely adopted and voice ordering integration to most mobile applications,” Ogeleka added.
The online marketplace is no doubt boosting local food sales for restaurants, as new generations of Nigerian middle-class consumers are spending more money on food and grocery products, thereby helping to fuel growth in the market. With proper support, the apparent boom in the sector will rub off positively on the agricultural sector with creation of more jobs and massive food production.
By Dipo Olowookere
The upward trend witnessed at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited in recent sessions continued on Thursday as it further improved by 0.10 per cent.
This was despite investor sentiment turning bearish after the local equity market ended with 23 price gainers and 28 price gainers, indicating a negative market breadth index.
UAC Nigeria gained 10.00 per cent to finish at N88.00, Morison Industries appreciated by 9.94 per cent to N3.54, Ecobank rose by 8.53 per cent to N36.90, and Coronation Insurance grew by 8.47 per cent to N2.56.
On the flip side, Ellah Lakes depreciated by 10.00 per cent to N13.14, Eunisell Nigeria also shed 10.00 per cent to finish at N72.90, Transcorp Hotels slipped by 9.95 per cent to N157.50, Omatek shrank by 9.23 per cent to N1.18, and Guinea Insurance dipped by 8.46 per cent to N1.19.
Yesterday, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 152.28 points to 145,476.15 points from 145,323.87 points and the market capitalisation chalked up N97 billion to finish at N92.726 trillion compared with the previous day’s N92.629 trillion.
Customs Street was bubbling with activities on Thursday, though the trading volume and value slightly went down, according to data.
A total of 1.9 billion stocks worth N19.2 billion exchanged hands in 23,369 deals during the session versus the N2.3 billion valued at N21.0 billion traded in 21,513 deals a day earlier.
This showed that the number of deals increased by 8.63 per cent, the volume of transactions depleted by 17.39 per cent, and the value of trades decreased by 8.57 per cent.
For another trading day, eTranzact led the activity chart with 1.6 billion units sold for N6.4 billion, Fidelity Bank traded 31.0 million units worth N589.3 million, GTCO exchanged 28.3 million units valued at N2.5 billion, Zenith Bank transacted 27.1 million units for N1.6 billion, and Ecobank traded 21.9 million units worth N744.3 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira marginally depreciated against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Thursday, December 4 amid renewed forex pressure associated with December.
At the official market yesterday, the Nigerian currency lost 0.01 per cent or 18 Kobo against the Dollar to close at N1,447.83/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,447.65/$1.
It was not a different scenario with the local currency in the same market segment against the Pound Sterling as it further shed N15.43 to sell for N1,930.97/£1 versus Wednesday’s closing price of N1,925.08/£1 and declined against the Euro by 20 Kobo to finish at N1,688.74/€1 compared with the preceding session’s N1,688.54/€1.
Similarly, the Nigerian Naira lost N5 against the greenback in the black market to quote at N1,465/$1 compared with the previous day’s value of N1,460/$1 but closed flat against the Dollar at the GTBank FX counter at N1,453/$1.
Fluctuations in trading range is expected to continue during the festive season as traders expect the Nigerian currency to be stable, supported by intervention s by to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)in the face of steady dollar demand.
Support is also expected in coming weeks as seasonal activities, particularly the stylised “Detty December” festivities, will see inflows that will give the Naira a boost after it depreciated mildly last month, according to a new report.
“As the festive Detty December season intensifies, inbound travel, tourism spending, and diaspora inflows are expected to provide moderate support for FX liquidity,” analysts at the research unit of FMDA said in its latest monthly report for November.
Traders cited by Reuters expect that the Naira will trade within a band of N1,443-N1,450 next week, buoyed by improved FX interventions by the apex bank.
Meanwhile, the crypto market was down as the US Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, core PCE, likely rose in September—moving in the wrong direction. However, volatility indices show no signs of major turbulence.
If the actual figure matches estimates, it would mark 55 straight months of inflation above the US central bank’s 2 per cent target. The sticky inflation would strengthen the hawkish policymakers, who are in favour of slower rate cuts.
Ripple (XRP) depreciated by 4.5 per cent to $2.08, Solana (SOL) went down by 3.8 per cent to $138.11, Litecoin (LTC) shrank by 3.1 per cent to $83.23, Dogecoin (DOGE) slid by 2.5 per cent to $0.1463, Cardano (ADA) declined by 2.1 per cent to $0.4368, Bitcoin (BTC) fell by 0.9 per cent to $91,975.45, Binance Coin (BNB) crumbled by 0.9 per cent to $899.41, and Ethereum (ETH) dropped by 0.7 per cent to $3,156.44, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00 apiece.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Oil prices were up on Thursday amid investors’ expectations for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates, while stalled Ukraine peace talks tempered expectations of a deal restoring Russian oil flows.
Brent crude gained 59 cents or 0.94 per cent to trade at $63.26 a barrel and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude appreciated by 72 cents or 1.22 per cent to $59.67 per barrel.
The market ticked up on expectations that a US rate cut will support the world’s largest economy and oil demand, after data showed employment is slowing.
Markets are pricing in an 89 per cent chance of a cut when the Federal Reserve meets on December 9-10, significantly higher than rate-cut bets just a couple of weeks ago, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
Support also came as the dollar edged lower for its 10th straight day of losses against a basket of major currencies, making crude cheaper for buyers using other currencies.
Analysts noted that escalating tensions between the US and Venezuela were also supporting prices on concerns of a drop in crude supplies from the South American country, which is a member of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
US President Donald Trump’s administration is ratcheting up pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, signalling the possibility of a US invasion.
The perception that progress on a peace plan for Ukraine was stalling also supported prices, after President Trump’s representatives emerged from peace talks with the Kremlin with no resolution in sight.
Expectations of an end to the war had pressured prices lower, as traders anticipated a deal would allow Russian oil back into an already oversupplied global market..
Meanwhile, Ukraine continued its assault on Russia’s energy infrastructure as it hit the Druzhba oil pipeline in Russia’s central Tambov region, the fifth attack on the pipeline that sends Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia.
Kpler noted that Ukraine’s drone campaign against Russian refining infrastructure has affected production to down around 5 million barrels per day between September and November, a 335,000 barrels per day year-on-year decline, with gasoline (petrol) hit hardest and gasoil output also materially weaker.
US crude and fuel inventories rose last week as refining activity picked up, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday.
Crude inventories rose by 574,000 barrels to 427.5 million barrels in the week ended November 28, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for an 821,000-barrel draw.
Fitch Ratings on Thursday cut its 2025-2027 oil price assumptions to reflect market oversupply and production growth that is expected to outstrip demand.
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