Makola market is losing millions
So I took an early morning trip with my wife to the popular Makola market in Accra. She was getting some ingredients and equipment to make playdough for kids. I normally don’t go on these trips but she was buying a whole bag of flour and some other electronic gadgets which I felt she would need help with. I couldn’t stand the thought of my dear wife carrying a bag of flour on her head.
There are lots of fake gadgets out there and Makola is a hub for these things so I decided to accompany her and give her my expert advice. Navigating the streets of Makola is tough, especially with all the people and sellers on the streets.
I hadn’t been to the congested market in about a year so I was somehow hoping to see some level of improvement. But nothing much has changed apart from the hawkers now setting up shop on the road! By the way, if you need refurbishment for your shop in Makola or anywhere else in Ghana for that matter, these guys are the best at it – Ecotek Engineering Ltd.
In short, the market felt chaotic. Human traffic had no regular flow so you would find yourself bumping into sweaty people and knocking over or stepping on a few items that are set up in the middle of the walkway.
The annoying part is that the merchants would get mad at you and not even apologize for selling in the middle of the walkway! Such irony! Let’s not even start talking about the filth and stench.
None of the traders has time to leave their stalls to use the bathroom so they use metal containers and empty them in the public street gutters. Most of the shops also don’t have built-in washrooms. Don’t know how such buildings are even approved. With all the great real estate companies in Ghana, I really don’t understand how this is still a problem in Makola. But let me not get off the topic. We had a list of items to buy.
The search for a plastic bag
Finding items in a disorganized market is a real headache. The best method is to ask people who will either politely or rudely point you in the direction which they think is right. Some know what they are talking about and some are just trying to be helpful. One lady suggested we board a car to Circle (an entirely different area) to find one of the items we were looking for. After careful consideration, we decided not to heed her advice, and thank God we didn’t.
We managed to get most items but spent hours looking for a small ziplock plastic bag which looks like this.
It’s almost like looking for a needle in a haystack. After going to over 6 rubber shops, we noticed that they only had the big and medium sizes. We later found out that a group of people buy the small ziplock bags to put drugs and weed in them. Which we found rather funny. We were now competing with drug dealers over these little bags.
After being frustrated and walking through seas of people, I somehow decided to search on Google. I typed in “rubber sellers near me” and got a handful of shops. I gave them a call but they didn’t have what we were looking for. That is where it struck me that over 80-90% of businesses here are not even on Google my business. I said to myself, “These guys are losing out on millions”.
The power of Google Maps
From my observation, I could say that about 90% of people in the market had a smartphone. The We are Global research for 2021 said that about 98.7% of Ghanaians between the ages of 16-64 have a smartphone and the majority are Android users(84.9%). This means that most of them have Google Maps installed on their phone and can run a simple search to find what they are looking for.
Yet very few businesses within the Makola area are online. They have always relied on the hoards of people that walk by their shops every day to make sales. This might have been a good method in the 1990s but a lot has changed.
There are about 6.62 million people shopping for consumer goods via the Internet in Ghana alone. The average online shopper in Ghana spends about $449 annually and this does not even include Mobile money payments which is the most popular form of payment in Ghana. Even with the controversial e-levy in place, Ghanaians are still making online payments. The annual revenue of digitally enabled consumer payments in Ghana is valued at $2.97 billion. That is about 4% of the Ghanaian GDP.
I can boldly say that most businesses in Makola and for that matter, any major market in Ghana, could increase sales by at least 20% by just being online. Using a free and simple application like Google my business can make all the difference. I think the potential of Makola market can be realized with the introduction of basic digital marketing tactics to businesses there.
Maybe you are reading this and you find yourself in the same situation as most of these traders. No worries, talk to me and let’s see what we can do about your situation.
We however found a shop that had exactly what we were looking for. At this point, we had gone so deep that it was even difficult to remember where his shop is located if we are to come back for more.
I asked him if he does delivery but his reaction told me that nobody has really asked him about that. I took his phone number and placed a landmark in my head to try and remember his shop for future purposes.
I might do an experiment with the rubber shop owner we met and give you feedback. Let me know in the comments if you are interested in something like that and if you are then the video below would be a great watch for you.
