Facilitating mCommerce Growth in Nigeria through mMoney Usage: A Preliminary Analysis

Introduction The advent of the mobile phone, as well as the Internet, has continuously brought with it so many innovations. One of such has been the emergence of mobile commerce (mCommerce), which to a very large extent makes payment for goods and services not only quite convenient but also flexible for today's increasingly digitally savvy consumer (Bang, Han, Animesh, & Hwang, 2013; Boadi, Boateng, Hinson, & Opoku, 2007; Cao, Lu, Gupta, & Yang, 2015). Globally, millions of businesses are now conducted 'on the go' with the aid of the mobile phone. Worldwide, the value of mCommerce transactions is expected to rise from 18B USD in 2012 to 117B USD in 2017. Equally, the volume of transaction is expected to rise from 1% in 2012 to 3% in 2017 (WorldPay, as cited in VantageB2B, 2014). The same study by WorldPay indicates that 66% of electronic transactions (eTransactions) in Africa/Middle East were made using non-card methods, the estimated electronic commerce (eCommerce) turnover in Nigeria in 2012 was put at 0.9B USD, and mobile payments accounted for 19.6% of the eCommerce mix by payment type. It is interesting to know that developing countries, including sub-Saharan African (SSA) nations, are equally taking advantages of the affordances of the mobile phone (Aker & Mbiti, 2010; Boateng, Hinson, Galadima, & Olumide, 2014). Unarguably, SSA countries have within the last decade witnessed a tremendous traction in the usage of mobile phones (cf. Nabareseh, Osakwe, Klimek, & Chovancova, 2014; Osakwe, 2013). What was hitherto seen as the exclusive preserve of the few rich people in SSA countries has now become a mass-commodified product (Osakwe, 2013). Needless to say, the pervasiveness of the mobile phone has provided new business opportunities in both the developed and developing nations. The major point to stress is that in the case of several developing economies, the rise of the mobile phone has indeed provided a viable pipeline, which seamlessly connects the formal sector to the informal sector of these nations (for instance, see Aker & Mbiti, 2010; Boateng, 2011; Boateng et al., 2014). Meanwhile current developments within the digital commerce (e.g., mCommerce) landscape in SSA countries including Nigeria are anything but robust at this stage (Ayo, Ekong, Fatudimu, & Adebiyi, 2007; Boateng et al., 2014). This might be partly attributable to a dearth of robust electronic financial transactions' systems. Arguably, the advent of mMoney in the SSA region offers the possibilities of facilitating mCommerce growth potentials in the region. mMoney is simply a form of mobile-enabled localized banking cum payment system that relies heavily on the availability of agents' network (cash-in-cash-out centres) (Chauhan, 2015; Cobert, Helms, & Parker, 2012; Osakwe, 2013). In other words, mMoney could be seen as a form of electronic money that is readily available on a mobile device and that can be easily converted into cash equivalent and/or transmitted electronically to a third party. It is pertinent to point out that mobile banking (mBanking) differs from mMoney in the sense that the former is strictly an add-on service to existing conventional banks' customers while the latter can be seen as an alternative banking channel to serve the hitherto unbanked and underbanked segments that are predominantly part of the Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) market in most developing economies (also, see Chauhan, 2015; Osakwe, 2013). Within the SSA region, 76% of its adult population do not have formal bank accounts with only 15% and 3% of the adult population having a debit card and credit card respectively (Demirguc-Kunt & Klapper, 2012). In a 2012 survey by Enhancing Financial Innovation & Access (EFInA), 40% of adult Nigerians were reported to have zero access to formal and informal financial services-delivery channels. Similarly, a report by the Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest (CGAP) (as cited in Mendelson, 2012) showed that out of the 2. …