Some of the richest people in the world have got to where they are through eCommerce. They’ve leveraged the power of the internet and people’s necessity for a wide range of things and come up with online stores that serve a multitude of purposes.
The ship may have sailed for people interested in starting an eCommerce store in the west, but countries like Ghana represent a lucrative opportunity to get into a growing market.
Some of the World’s Richest Businessman Made Their Money Through eCommerce
There’s no denying the mass earning potential for people who create a well-oiled eCommerce business. The industry has been booming since the dawn of the internet, but there is always the opportunity for new innovators to come in and find success.
For instance, eBay was already a well-established site years before Jeff Bezos came up with Amazon. It had the largest userbase of any eCommerce site on the planet in 2001, two years before Bezos’ company had even posted a profit. Amazon quickly caught up and overtook its rival, though, through cunning and innovative ideas. The page diversified well and focused on enhancing the delivery model to become the world’s most valuable brand.
Bezos may be the eCommerce king in the west, but Jack Ma is the undisputed champion in the east. The Chinese business magnate founded Alibaba in 1999 and enjoyed incredible success with it. He is now the fourth-richest man in China, with a net worth of $42.3 billion. Both Bezos and Ma managed to provide a service that people needed but didn’t know they needed at the time. They were able to make shopping ten times more convenient than it had been before and helped to develop an industry that would thrive anywhere in the world.
How Can You Build an Online Store?
One of the main reasons why some people may be put off building their own online store is the belief that it is difficult to do so. There’s a common misconception that constructing a website is hard and requires a high level of technical ability. This was true in the past, but times have changed and there are now numerous tools online that do most of the hard work for you.
If you want to get an eCommerce site set up, you could hire a website builder to do it for you. Alternatively, you may want to opt for an online store builder that allows you to design the site yourself. All the tools are put in place for you already, with the complex website code having been written by experts. Website novices simply use the templates provided on the page and soon find that they can launch, run, and even scale their online shopping pages.
When you’ve managed to create your eCommerce page, it’s a great idea to start off by choosing a particular niche that you are going to sell. Doing market research in Ghana and finding out what people need most would be the way forward. Bezos famously started off small in this way, with Amazon beginning as an online bookstore. Since then, the site has scaled massively, and it now sells almost anything imaginable.
Why is it a Good Time to do This in Ghana?
Several eCommerce businesses have recognized that Ghana is an up-and-coming market and have begun to establish themselves in the country already. A few of the best-known options are e-ShopAfrica, Jumia, and Superprice. According to research into the industry, clothing and shoes are by far the most popular items for consumers, with 57 and 47 percent of respondents saying they bought these items.
Although Jumia is currently ruling the roost, it only has 1.3 million monthly users in Ghana. That’s a tiny fraction of the population, with 31 million people currently living here. With 53 percent of people in the country online, these figures don’t quite add up. Not enough people are currently turning to eCommerce options when shopping, highlighting how there are still a wealth of opportunities here for businesspeople to enjoy great success.
Ghana is one of the leading countries in Africa in terms of internet penetration, with Nigeria way behind at 33 percent of its population online. That means that businesses that manage to establish themselves here first will give themselves a strong platform to push on to other countries across the continent.
It seems that the market in Ghana is crying out for an innovative online retailer to come along and change the game. The astute businessperson will need to identify what’s missing in the market initially, and then build from there. Anyone has the power to achieve this, thanks to the fact that websites are now so easy to build. The next decade will be a major period of growth for the country, and it could be the breeding ground for a few new billionaires.
| Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. |
