Namibians spent N$162 million on e-tailers such as Shein, Herbalife

Namibians bought goods worth N$162 million from electronic retailers (e-tailers).

This was mostly from Shein, the Apple Store, Herbalife and Avon.

According to the Bank of Namibia’s (BoN) third quarterly report, the goods demanded by Namibians from e-tailers mainly cover fashion, health products, cosmetics and electronic devices.

“The value spent on e-tailers from abroad rose from N$83 million in 2020 to N$162 million in 2023,” says BoN.

Electronic retailers, or ‘e-tailers’, are defined as “retail and wholesale businesses engaged in purchasing and reselling goods, which receive a majority of their orders digitally”.

According to BoN, digitally ordered goods paid through cards make up less than 1% of total imports.

However, if one includes online orders settled via wire transfers (SWIFT or other means), the ratio could be higher.

“A more precise estimate of the digital ordering of goods would require alterations to the customs declaration documents to include information on how the goods were ordered,” says BoN.

According to the central bank, digital intermediation platforms (DIPs) recorded the highest number of transactions.

DIPs are online platforms that, for a fee, enable direct interactions between various buyers and sellers without the platform taking economic ownership of the goods or services being exchanged.

The value of cross-border payments via DIPs increased from N$63 million in 2020 to N$429 million in 2023.

“Alibaba, Airbnb, AliExpress, Booking.com and Taobao are some of the DIPs whose usage has gained momentum, with Airbnb registering the highest growth as it was not used during 2020 due to travel restrictions,” BoN says.

The report shows that Namibians mainly use DIPs originating from China, the United States, and The Netherlands.

The largest share of digital purchases was invoiced in the South African rand, mainly relating to travel, e-tailers and digital intermediation platforms.

The second largest currency for settlement was the United States dollar with a share of 25.6%, mainly payments to DIPs, video streaming, and software and cloud services.

The euro came third with 8.3%, while the Botswana pula stood at fourth place with a share of 3.5%.

This was mainly for travel services.