The African retail landscape is under immense pressure. Consumers are more digitally savvy and price-conscious than ever, and expect brands to offer convenience, personalisation, and value. About half of consumers will switch brands if their expectations are unmet, compelling retailers to continuously innovate and improve.
Industry growth is tapering down across several African markets. South Africas real retail growth has declined in recent years, constrained by economic stagnation and inflation. In East Africa, while GDP growth remains relatively strong, formal retail continues to be constrained by infrastructure gaps and logistical inefficiencies.
In response, retailers across the continent are scaling their technology investments to boost competitiveness in an increasingly digital and data-driven industry. According to Gartner , African retailers are projected to invest 300 million in cloud-based enterprise applications in 2025, with an expected growth of 10-12 over the next three years
And yet, many still struggle to translate these investments into meaningful business outcomes.
The triple disconnect holding retailers back
Fragmented systems, broken processes undermine scalability
Despite deploying multiple best-of-breed applications and investing in a data lake to centralise data, many retailers fail to achieve differentiated customer engagement, real-time visibility and reliability in their operations. Typical constraints include disconnected systems, a lack of business context within data sets, and AI bolted-on instead being embedded within operational workflows.
