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| Electronic Commerce |
Electronic commerce, or simply e-commerce,
involves engaging in trade or conducting a business over an electronic network;
usually the internet. E-commerce operates in all four of the major
market segments: business to business, business to consumer, consumer to
consumer, and consumer to business.Amidst various challenges, the e-commerce
sector in Ghana seems to be thriving healthily and growing in leaps and bounds.
There are various ways through which websites, which runs as an online
marketplace by facilitating transactions between online shops and potential
customers - most of which run as classifieds, manage to stay afloat in this
relatively new-to-technology part of the world. The vast majority of internet users in Ghana
are mobile internet users. This bears upon websites who endeavour to reach out
to as many potential users as possible to make their platforms user-friendly or
risk losing potential buyers as well as sellers. Mr. Louis Mensah, the Managing
Director of Kaymu Ghana, outlines some of the advantages of engaging in
e-commerce as including:
Ø the
opportunity to sell to a larger market without the costs of a physical store -rent,
utilities
Ø being
able to do business at all times of the day, rather than the regular 9am to 5pm,
and having access to potential customers and goods and services all over the
country.
The sector is not without its own challenges
though. Some of these include the attitudes of some buyers, as well as sellers.
According to Mr. Mensah, despite showing initial interest, a number of them
seem unsure of the feasibility of doing business online and would rather deal
face to face with business partners. Another challenge he outlined is that of
delivery services; a lot of people either give wrong delivery addresses because
of ignorance or assume they can best direct the delivery agent from a certain
point. A very major challenge the sector
faces though is in relation to the limited knowledge of the use of technology
by a large number of the Ghanaian populace.
A key way to address these challenges is to
create the structures to suit your business model. This is because what people
may believe to be the traditional systems that exist and work so well elsewhere
may not fit with our cultural persuasions. It then behoves on us to create
those that will fit seamlessly into our existing systems. It is a tentative
process that encourages spreading feelers to test the terrain, rather than
going all in and inevitably collapsing.
The e-commerce sector in Ghana is likely to
grow even bigger once people begin to trust that their online transactions are
safe. However, a great deal of patience will be needed as only time and a great
deal of consumer sensitisation will help achieve this.
Georgina
Ofori-Dwumfuo
Public Relations
Manager, Kaymu Ghana
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