新冠肺炎疫情给非洲带去了数不清的苦难，但是封锁也推动了起步较晚的网购在非洲大陆上的发展。

Covid-19 has brought untold¹ hardship to Africa, but lockdowns are also driving a move to online shopping in a continent where it has been slow to take off.

 

The whole of Africa had only around 21 million online shoppers in 2017 — about the same number as Spain. That's less than 2% of the world's total, according to the latest UN data.

 

Covid-19 had infected more than 260,000 people in Africa, as of June 18, and lockdown restrictions² have forced many open-air markets and retailers³ to shut, with consumers being told to stay at home. In response, digital entrepreneurs across the continent have launched new services for ordering and delivering supplies.

 

"E-commerce has been a turnkey solution," Torbjörn Fredriksson, head of e-commerce and digital economy at the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), tells CNN Business. It has enabled "supply chains to continue to function and to get food from farms to tables," he adds.

 

Jumia, one of the continent's largest e-commerce operators, reported a four-fold increase in sales of groceries in the second-half of March, compared with the same period last year — although its food delivery service was impacted by restaurants shutting down.

 

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