E-commerce is having a difficult road in Ghana, despite its ability to break down geographical borders and empower entrepreneurs.
The industry faces many obstacles that have recently resulted in the exit of important companies, despite the fact that it holds great promise for job creation and market expansion.
The emergence of e-commerce in Ghana offers companies a chance to expand their consumer base and access international markets.
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Customer satisfaction and accessibility are increased by the ease of purchasing whenever and wherever you want, while job opportunities in digital marketing, logistics, and customer support are generated by the expansion of e-commerce.
Nonetheless, a number of issues confronting the industry endanger its sustainability and rate of expansion.
Effective product delivery continues to be a major challenge, especially in rural areas. The fair adoption of e-commerce throughout Ghana is impeded by internet connectivity gaps between urban and rural communities, online fraud, counterfeit goods, and worries about data privacy.
E-commerce transactions are additionally complicated by the absence of safe and frequently used online payment methods.
The recent departure of major competitors from the food delivery market, including Glovo and Jumia, serves as a stark reminder of the growing difficulties that Ghanaian internet companies confront.
The fact that Google Trader was shut down in prior years highlights the ongoing challenges that digital companies in the nation face.
According to technology expert Maximus Amertogoh, operational problems and cultural considerations may have played a role in these departures in addition to economic ones.
And it might not just be economics; there’s a chance that cultural factors are also at play, working against them and their approach. If there are many rivals in the state and customers are signing up for your service but they are not delivering on time, they will inform others and choose to use other services, which could result in greater operating costs.
Dr. Andrews Ayiku, a business coach, suggests several ways to encourage the expansion of e-commerce in Ghana in the interim. These include forming alliances with telecom providers for dependable connectivity, optimising processes, cutting expenses, and providing clients with better offers.
Therefore, the first thing that people in the nation ought to have done—or at least, the first thing that they may do—is to consider how they might collaborate with the telcos to guarantee that they have dependable connectivity for the kinds of operations they carry out.
Therefore, they must to collaborate with them while also having a comprehensive grasp of the connectivity requirements in order for theirs to be dependable and constant. Second, they must simplify their business processes, cut expenses, and provide clients with better offers.
