Digital Marketing Strategy and Customer Acquisition in Nigerian E-Commerce Platforms

This research investigates the effect of digital marketing strategy on customer acquisition among e-commerce platforms operating in Nigeria. The Nigerian e-commerce market has experienced exponential growth propelled by smartphone penetration and improved mobile payment infrastructure, creating intense competition for new customer acquisition. The study adopts a descriptive survey design, targeting digital marketing managers and growth strategy officers of ten e-commerce firms with national operations headquartered in Lagos. A sample of 90 respondents was drawn using purposive sampling. Data were collected through structured questionnaires and secondary analysis of platform acquisition cost data. Analysis was performed using descriptive statistics and multiple regression. Findings indicate that social media marketing and influencer partnership strategies generate the highest customer acquisition rates at the lowest cost-per-acquisition among the sampled platforms. Search engine optimization is identified as the most cost-effective long-term acquisition strategy, while paid advertising yields faster but costlier short-term results. The study finds that personalization in digital marketing content significantly improves conversion rates among Nigerian online shoppers. The research concludes that Nigerian e-commerce platforms must develop integrated digital marketing strategies that blend paid, earned, and owned media channels for optimal customer acquisition outcomes. Keywords: digital marketing strategy, customer acquisition, e-commerce, Nigeria, social media marketing.