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Africa’s Luxury Consumers Lean on Personal Shoppers During Pandemic

The Classles homepage. Classles.com
The Classles homepage. Classles.com

Though it would be natural to think that the pandemic would be bad for business for the European-based personal shoppers who cater to Africa’s high-net worth consumers, many have thrived over the past year, according to a Forbes Africa report.

Deep-pocketed luxury consumers are least likely to see their economic situation impacted by Covid-19, but their shopping trips abroad have been curtailed, meaning they rely more than ever on personal shopping services to source luxury products for them.

“I have made much more money and doubled my income in the pandemic than any other time because I assume people are bored and shopping or looking for something to do,” explained United Kingdom-born Nigerian Lisa Omelah, founder of social media-based personal shopping brand, Classles, which has a client roster of 300 with an average annual spend of $15,000 to $20,000 each.

For wealthy African consumers, these kinds of services are not only key to reaching products that might be hard to access locally, but are also appealing because they provide a stress-free and bespoke shopping experience that’s hard to replicate in their home markets, making it likely that many will continue to utilise these services in a post-pandemic world.


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