Your Guide to Best Online Shopping in Ghana
The advent of the internet has opened a whole new chapter of global connectivity. Ghana in sub-Saharan Africa has not been left out in the online shopping rage.
The country with a population of about 30 million citizens is fast catching up with the rest of the world in e-commerce.
This article takes you on a tour of online shopping in Ghana. The list of online stores in Ghana is surprisingly getting longer by the day, however, like anything online care must be taken to choose wisely.
List of Online Shopping Sites in Ghana
1. Jumia Ghana
2. Kikuu Ghana
3. Tonaton
4. JiJi Ghana
5. Melcom Ghana
6. Zoobashop
7. Superprice Ghana
8. Decathlon Ghana
9. MaxMart Ghana
Review of Reputable Online Shops in Ghana
#1. Jumia – jumia.com.gh
So far, Jumia is one of the most reliable online shops in Ghana. Their popularity stems from the solid online brand they have established over the years.
They have a vast collection of items in their online stores for sale. I can assure you that Jumia has state-of-the-art fashion products from big brands such as Adidas, Nike and Ralph Lauren.
They have classic footwear, clothes, electrical gadgets, kitchen utensils, electronic gadgets (smart TVs, refrigerators smartphones and computers), food products and more. Jumia offers good products in a trustworthy manner.
How to Buy from the Online Stores of jumia.com.gh
Believe it or not, Jumia has a simple and user-friendly platform for customers to browse through endless lists of products. The first time I created an account on their platform, it took me less than a minute to place an order.
You can sign up using your email or Facebook account. By scrolling through their list of products, one can click and add the desired product to his/her cart.
I like Jumia because of its quality but affordable products; they have numerous payment options: MTN Mobile Money, Airtel-Tigo. Visa Card and MasterCard are all available options so that nobody is left out.
But that is not all; you can also pay through bank transfers. They used to have a cash-on-delivery option but it is inactive for now.
Jumia timely delivers ordered products to your location, with a minimal shipping fee. They have other international branches apart from Ghana.
#2. KiKuu Ghana – kikuu.com.gh
Kikuu’s Ghana online shop is fast growing in the Ghanaian market. They have a lot of products for sale; electrical appliances (phones, TVs, laptops, etc), Brazilian hair for women, footwear, food products and so on.
A lot of Ghanaian women now like to shop at the Kikuu online stores. Their products are relatively cheap but good in quality.
The Kikuu platform works similarly to jumia.com.gh. Users simply create an account and login to start buying. Payment can be made through all the Mobile Money networks in Ghana. MTN Mobile Money, Vodafone Cash, Tigo Cash and Airtel Money. Delivery covers all parts of Ghana.
Coming all the way from China, Kikuu’s branch in Ghana is slowly taking over the country’s online shopping.
#3. Tonaton – tonaton.com
Tonaton is unarguably one of the largest online marketplaces. Their online stores came in 2013, but it has grown to be an e-commerce giant in Ghana.
Tonaton operates in all the 10 to 16 regions of Ghana. But there is a vast difference between Tonaton and Jumia and Kikuu. Tonaton provides classified ads. Unlike jumia.com which sell their own retail products, Tonaton allows people to create accounts and advertise on their goods and services.
If you are thinking of advertising your business to reach more audiences, then Tonaton would prove very useful to you.
I remember the first time ( in 2016) I advertised my teaching services on Tonaton for free, I received a lot of phone calls. Depending on the type or category of your advert, you may have to pay GHC 50 before you can upload your advert on tonaton.com.
Paid adverts are broadcast to more audience on the platform. If you’re interested in buying products, you can sign up with your email address and search through thousands of products on their platform.
Buy slightly used or brand new phones, laptops vehicles, rooms, houses, clothes, TV, footwear and more. Advertisers’ contact details are displayed close to the adverts for interested members to contact each other and negotiate the deals.
To prevent fraudulent activities on the platform, Tonaton advises that sellers and buyers should always meet at a decent location to settle their deals. This has reduced criminal activities but you still need to be more careful about scam adverts.
#4. Olx Ghana or JiJi Ghana or (now jiji.com.gh)
Once again, I’m not here to brag about things I don’t know! A quick fact/reminder: olx.com(OLX Ghana) has been renamed as jiji.com.gh. Apart from the name, nothing else has really changed.
jiji.com.gh works just like to tonaton.com.
Jiji provides free classified ads services in Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, and other African countries. I signed up for olx.com about 3 years ago. When I advertised my services on their platform, I received encouraging results.
Jiji members advertise vehicles, electrical/electronic gadgets, accommodation and many more items. Buyers and sellers meet at decent locations for delivery and payment of products.
But in order not to mislead you to a financial deathtrap (scam deals), we shall limit the list of shops to only the fairly reliable and popular e-commerce sites in Ghana.
A lot of good products are out there for sale in Ghanaian online stores. But until you shoulder it upon yourself to find out about these online shops, you would always sleep in oblivion and miss limitless opportunities to take home good products from the comfort of your home.
All you need is to have access to an internet connection, a smartphone or a computer, and then create an account on the online store of your choice in Ghana.
Some of the products for sale include electronic or electrical gadgets, fashion products (clothes), vehicles, footwear, bags and a lot more.
Online Shops in Ghana: Global Shops you can’t Ignore
While online shops in Ghana are growing in number, not all of them meet the needs (demands) of Ghanaians. Some local shops may lack certain essential products.
Assuming you wanted to buy brand new laptops for retail, you may have to step far into international online stores such as:
The payment options for purchasing items on the international market is flexible. For Ghanaians who shop internationally, obtaining a debit or credit card would make payment a lot easier online.
PayPal would have been a good option – unfortunately, Ghana is not yet PayPal compliant. Still one of PayPal’s blacklisted countries, Ghanaian can still buy with prepaid/debit cards from local banks.
Read: How To Create a PayPal Account in Ghana for Free
Most popular banks in Ghana now offer credit/debit card services such as Prepaid cards, Visa Card, MasterCard, etc. With the exception of a prepaid card which a bank account, all the others can be directly linked to your local bank account.
Therefore, once you have enough balance in your bank account, you can literally purchase anything online.
However, be careful not to reveal your card information to other parties.
- Watch out for untrustworthy websites without an SSL certificate (https).
- Never enter your card info into any insecure websites (sites whose addresses start with only HTTP:). They can steal your money. Secure websites have “https” starting their addresses.
- If you have any doubts about the authenticity of an eCommerce platform, call or chat with its customer service first before you order anything.
How to Pay for Online Products in Ghana
Some time ago before the year 2009, Ghana had limited payment options for online purchases of products online. With the exception of bank transfers, it was virtually impossible for Ghanaians to pay for goods or services on online or eCommerce platforms.
But thanks to the introduction of Mobile Money – popularly known as MoMo, it is now easier to order products online and have them delivered to your doorstep.
Mobile Money (MoMo) was first introduced in Ghana by the Mobile Telecommunications Network (MTN) and the other telco’s (Vodafone, Tigo/Airtel, etc..) joined in.
MoMo is a cashless system that allows users to carry out financial transactions by using mobile phones. Credit cards and debit cards aren’t so commonly used for online transactions in Ghana, but they aren’t completely left out as payment options.
The icing on the cake about MoMo is that the different network operators; Vodafone and Airtel-Tigo, all offer MoMo services.
To strengthen the Mobile Money sector, the Ghanaian government rolled out Mobile Money Interoperability; it is a game-changing improvement which allows Mobile Money transactions to be performed across the different telecommunication networks in Ghana.
With this system, MTN, Vodafone and Airtel-Tigo customers can conveniently transfer money to one another through Mobile Money.
To use the Mobile Money service, you start by getting your SIM card registered by your network. Once you deposit money into your MoMo wallet, you can create an account on the online stores rule your e-commerce world.
Conclusion
Online shops keep gaining grounds in the Ghanaian marketplace. They are bringing products and services closer to the doors of the ordinary Ghanaians, sometimes at really cheaper prices.
Doing online shopping in Ghana today isn’t a big deal, once you have a smartphone or computer and some cash you can buy any product anywhere anytime.
The above listed online shops are the big names in the business. But you should know that there are risks involved when patronizing online products.
There are many different online shops in Ghana such as (Zoobashop.com, Melcomonline.com, Frankotrading.com, Decathlon.com, Maytwoseven.com, etc.)
But you need to be smart enough to avoid entering into a scam trap. It takes little education to do that; go and have fun online but be careful not to lose your credit card to scammers.