While formal retail supermarket chains are increasingly popping up in more countries, a massive 80% of African consumers continue to shop at informal street markets.

Research by US group Nielsen, which tracked retail sales in 14 sub-Saharan African countries, found there are more than half a million table-top stands set up along roads and in the local markets of the countries monitored.

However, shopping patterns do differ by country, according to an AFKInsider report.

In Kenya – a country regarded as one of the continent’s most developed retail markets – 70% of sales occur at traditional trading places, while 60% of South Africans prefer to shop in formal retail supermarkets.

Meanwhile, only 4% of consumers in Ghana and 2% of Nigerians and Cameroonians take their business to formal markets.

13 October 2015
Image: Gallo/GettyImages