From abandoning established brands to choosing cheaper alternatives and traditional products, Nigerian households are changing how they spend as companies confront a more price-conscious consumer. “I no dey buy body cream again. Me and my family dey use palm kernel oil. Anybody wey no like am make he buy him own,” says John Amadi, a phone accessories trader in Lagos. For Amadi, abandoning body cream is not about preference. It is about affordability.
His choice captures a broader shift across Nigerian households. Consumers are no longer simply asking whether they like a product or trust a brand. Increasingly, they are asking whether it is worth the price. After more than two years of severe inflationary pressure, Nigerians are trading down, switching brands, reducing quantities and, in some cases, abandoning products altogether. The shift is changing the meaning of value in one of Africa’s largest consumer markets.
Data from NielsenIQ (NIQ) shows that almost six in 10 Nigerian shoppers switched brands in the year to 2025 because of rising prices. Toothpaste, cooking oil and laundry products recorded some of the highest levels of switching. The finding suggests that the behaviour reported by traders and consumers in Lagos is not isolated. It is part of a broader recalibration of household spending.
Consumers are buying differently “I want to know the root cause of the prices of things in this country,” says Chidi Obinna, a rice trader. Nigeria’s inflation rate has eased considerably from the highs recorded in 2024. The old CPI series showed headline inflation reaching 34.8 percent in December 2024. Following the 2025 rebasing, the official series recorded substantially lower rates, with the National Bureau of Statistics reporting inflation of about 15.9 percent in the latest available data.