The Executive Chairman of Technology firm, Kludjeson International, Dr. Prince Kofi Kludjeson is challenging Ghanaian businesses to take advantage of the high mobile and social media penetration in the country to boost their sales and marketing activities.
According to him, the high number of users of mobile-phone and social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in Ghana provides huge market opportunities businesses can tap into.
“A business model would be incomplete without a page on Mobile Commerce (M-commerce) where the process of buying, selling, marketing, servicing, delivery and payment of goods are all completed over a wireless medium on devices such as smartphones and tablets,” he noted.
Dr Kludjeson was making reference to statistics by Mobile Economy which highlights mobile penetration in Sub-Saharan Africa as scaling up rapidly with 200 million individuals alone accessing the internet through mobile devices – a figure expected to almost double by 2020.
The statistics also shows internet browsing via phones now stands at 40 per cent across these markets, with 51% of respondents in Ghana and 47% in Nigeria reporting that they use their phones to access the internet.
A further decomposition of phone access reveals that in Ghana, for example, 54% use Facebook, 40% send SMS, 51% browse Internet and 37% download apps.
According to Mr. Kludjeson who is also a former President of the Association of Ghana Industries, AGI, these statistics define the market that any business would want to potentially engage with to make an impact in the e-commerce space.
“M-commerce has gained a surge in popularity in sectors such as financial services, telecommunications, services and retail, and information services. Users today can bank online, purchase goods and services, adjust their cell phone plans, pay bills, obtain directions, look up traffic, and much more – all from their wireless devices. This is how engaged consumers are over wireless – a golden opportunity for local businesses”.
He was speaking on the definitive role mobile can play in the e-commerce discourse – the role of mobile in engaging successfully with the target market. This was at the launch of the e-commerce Expo which opened at the Accra International Conference Centre on Tuesday, 10th November, 2015.
He added businesses can meet their turn-over targets and stay in business by leveraging the mobile medium. “M-commerce is critical for today’s business in generating business, maintaining a pipeline of orders or even attract or keep track of potential clients. Also is the management of the sale process which includes, merchandising, payment systems, point-of-sale, delivery method etc. once these leads are turned. And finally, to conduct its after-care through customer relationship management or customer care to ensure repeat business and even newer ones from referral channels” he outlined.
He also noted that telecom companies have a huge role to play in facilitating this bid.
“To make this a reality, telcos need to provide better and faster broader broadband internet services, provide well-crafted scalable business packages for SME’s to the large corporates, roll out extensive Mobile Money support systems, Offer lower charges and greater coverage. It is also important they encourage partnerships with various local e-commerce operators such as Tisu, Zooba, Kaymu and in fact, businesses in general” he said.
Source: myjoyonline