Nigerian Consumers Are Becoming Value-Sensitive, Not Price-Sensitive says NIMN President

• Sep 19, 2026

Amid changing business dynamics and an increasingly empowered consumer base, President of the National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria (NIMN), Dr. Bolajoko Bayo-Ajayi, has challenged marketers to rethink how they engage the Nigerian consumer, as technology, changing consumer behaviour and artificial intelligence continue to shift the balance of power from brands to buyers. 

Bayo-Ajayi, who was represented by Mr. Oluwafemi Adeniba, made the submission while delivering the keynote address at the Media Consortium Conference & Awards 4.0, themed “The Value Shift: Strategies for the New Market Reality in the Age of Empowered Consumers.”

According to her, the traditional relationship between brands and consumers, where brands controlled products, information, distribution and media while audiences primarily listened, has been disrupted by social media, smartphones, e-commerce, fintech, the creator economy and artificial intelligence.

“The customer, where we are now, has taken the wheel,” she said.

She noted that the transformation has resulted in a gradual transfer of power from sellers to buyers, with consumers moving from having access to information and choice to having a stronger voice and, increasingly, access to intelligence.

“Today, you can control an advertisement but not what the customer says about it. You can control a website but not what the customer says about their experience. You can spend millions to buy attention but you cannot force people to care,” she said.

The NIMN President therefore challenged marketers to reconsider what they actually control in an environment where consumers increasingly influence the conversation around brands.

She also cautioned against defining the Nigerian consumer simply as price-sensitive, stressing that economic pressures have made consumers more deliberate about the value they receive from their purchases.

“In Nigeria, our consumers are simultaneously navigating economic pressures and extraordinary aspirations. They watch their spending, compare prices, negotiate and seek alternatives, but still want quality, convenience, status, experience and progress,” she said.

According to her, the same consumer may aggressively negotiate the price of a product from a roadside hawker and subsequently purchase the same product at a higher price in a store, demonstrating that price alone does not determine purchasing decisions.

“This is why we must stop reducing the Nigerian consumer to being price-sensitive. The Nigerian consumer is increasingly value-sensitive, not price-sensitive,” she said.

She explained that while price sensitivity focuses on how little a consumer can pay, value sensitivity considers what the consumer receives in return for the money spent.

Bayo-Ajayi identified relevance, trust, experience and outcome as the critical components of perceived value, arguing that consumers ultimately purchase solutions and outcomes rather than products themselves.

“Nobody wants a banking app; they just want to move money easily. Nobody wants insurance; they want protection from uncertainty. Nobody wants a hotel room; they want rest, convenience, safety or an experience,” she said.

She argued that marketers have therefore been asking the wrong question for too long, noting that the more important question from the consumer's perspective is: “What problem are you solving for us?”

She proposed a new value equation in which value is defined by relevance multiplied by trust, multiplied by experience, multiplied by outcome.

According to her, the multiplication effect is significant because a weakness in any one of the four areas can substantially reduce consumers’ perception of value.

“Relevance asks, ‘Does this solve my problem?’ Trust asks, ‘Do I believe you?’ Experience asks, ‘How difficult is it to deal with you when issues occur?’ Outcome asks, ‘Did you actually make my situation better?’” she explained.

She consequently described the new marketing battlefield as no longer being simply about winning attention, but about creating an effective intersection of relevance, trust, experience and results.

On artificial intelligence, Bayo-Ajayi said the technology is introducing another major shift into the marketing landscape, urging industry professionals to look beyond how marketers can deploy AI.

“We should stop asking, ‘How can marketers use AI?’ The more important question is, ‘What happens when consumers use AI to navigate the market?’” she said.

She said the marketer of the future would need a broader combination of capabilities, including data, artificial intelligence, behavioural science, customer experience, digital ecosystems, sustainability, analytics and commercial accountability.

However, she stressed that technological advancement must not come at the expense of human understanding, which remains central to effective marketing.

“The Nigerian marketer of tomorrow must understand data, AI, behavioural science, customer experience, digital ecosystems, sustainability, analytics and commercial accountability without losing the human understanding at the heart of marketing,” she said.