Ghana is a developing country in Africa that has made major strides in terms of technological developments in the past decade. The internet penetration in Ghana has improved a lot in the past decade. An increase in internet penetration means that there will be technological and infrastructural advancements in the countries which opens up ways for things like e-commerce and online.
The interest of the people of Ghana has increased in online shopping and e-commerce which means that there are more opportunities than ever to start a successful e-commerce store in Ghana. Businesses that were active in the market realized this and embraced e-commerce to earn a lot more revenue.
Just like other sectors, e-commerce in Ghana isn’t free of thorns. There are challenges faced by this industry that is hampering the growth of this industry in the country and discouraging people from investing money into e-commerce. It is important to address these challenges and for this reason, we have discussed some of the major challenges faced by the e-commerce sector in Ghana:
Inefficient Logistics
The first major problem faced by the e-commerce sector in Ghana is that the logistics operations in the country are highly inefficient. E-commerce is something that requires fast and sound logistics to effectively deliver orders on time. For any e-commerce store out there, having a reliable postal delivery system is one of the major things that need to be taken care of before starting the venture.
In Ghana, logistics are very poor. Delivering an order from a warehouse to the customer isn’t as easy as in other countries, especially in rural areas where addresses are hard to locate for the delivery companies.
With the advent of Ghana’s digital property system, things have improved and it has become much easier to deliver products than it used to be but still, the logistics system in Ghana is highly inefficient. Where in other countries you can get any order whether it is a board of Scrabble for Scrabble Word Finder, a laptop, or any other order in a day or two, it takes much more time than that in Ghana making the whole process inefficient.
Limited Technological Infrastructure
E-commerce is related completely to the internet and technology. For the e-commerce sector to meet the demands and expectations of customers, there is the need to have an adequate technological infrastructure that can fully support e-commerce operations.
For instance, there should be a live chat system through which the customers can directly contact the customer support team and get assistance regarding the products that are displayed on the websites to remove any misconceptions that customers may have in their minds.
Unfortunately, in Ghana, technological infrastructure is limited and there isn’t integration of modern technologies in the e-commerce sector yet due to which customers are facing difficulties.
Lack Of Awareness Regarding E-Commerce
There is also a lack of awareness in the country due to which the e-commerce sector in Ghana is not able to reach its full potential. Especially those people that are living in rural areas, are not familiar with what e-commerce is and how they can order something just through the internet without even looking at the product in real-life and not knowing the product quality. They are not even familiar with popular games like Words With Friends.
There is also a lack of knowledge regarding online payments. People don’t trust someone that they haven’t seen or talked to in person and send money to them. There have also been cases of fraud happening with people due to which distrust has increased.
Most of the people that order from e-commerce stores are teenagers and young adults in the country that are familiar with how these things work and want to buy things directly from their homes.
Cybersecurity Concerns
Another major issue faced by the e-commerce industry is the cybersecurity issue. There is no doubt that internet usage and internet penetration have increased in Ghana, many people have fully embraced the e-commerce culture but still, many are reluctant to do so owing to various reasons with the biggest being the prevalent frauds.
Online frauds are prevalent in Africa. Many Ghanaians are afraid that if they order something from the internet and make payment online then they will never receive the product that they ordered and will be scammed of their money.
Most e-commerce stores in Ghana are legit that are even offering cash on delivery services so that the customers can pay after they receive their products but still, these cybersecurity concerns are forcing people to prefer going to market in real life to buying something off the internet.
