The life of an electronics/gadget shopper in Accra is a frustrating one. These days, there seems to be lots of options when it comes to shopping for electronics. We’re surrounded by different phones, multitudes of cables and connectors and laptops.
But in reality, these options aren’t really as available as you think they are. Despite all the fancy promo pictures and banners you see at stores displaying tech devices and gadgets, you never really get what you’re looking for once you start browsing.
Last week, my Macbook charger suffered a setback and I had to find a replacement ASAP or else I couldn’t work/survive. So I began my journey looking for the cheapest options available to replace my charger.
So what were my options when it came to purchasing a new charger?
Online Options
If you want to be a brave soul, you can try your luck with getting your tech stuff with online shopping. Tonaton and OLX appear to be the best options available. But how trustworthy can these online platforms in Ghana be? I haven’t bought anything online from any of these two platforms but I have done a bit of browsing. Pictures of tech gadgets can look good sometimes but other times, the descriptions for these tech gadgets can be deceiving. There’s always this concept of “trust” when it comes to buying electronics online, especially in the Ghanaian market.
How trustworthy is the person on the other side? Are they legit or are they trying to sell you a box of paper claiming it’s a laptop?
There are other options online options like Kebrea which have a nice clean look to their website but how reliable is their online payment and shipping?
Or maybe there’s Zoobashop, another online tech outlet that you could try out. But like the previous options, it all depends on the level of trust with online shopping in Ghana. My previous experiences with buying tech online haven’t been in Ghana, if I’m being honest. I’ve bought tech stuff and gadgets in the US from places like Amazon and BestBuy. But I don’t know if I’m ready to dip my feet into the online tech shopping in Ghana just yet. Maybe until we get our street address system fixed.
But I needed a Macbook charger immediately and I didn’t have the opportunity to test out these online options. I needed the charger in my hand. I needed to go to a physical store.
Physical Stores
My journey for a new Macbook charger began at East Legon, specifically the A&C mall area.
Options were limited. I remembered there were a couple of stores around which sold tech stuff and so decided to have a look. The first store seemed to have electronics all over the place. They had phones, laptops, and tons of accessories. But they didn’t have a Macbook charger. On closer inspection, they didn’t seem to have diverse brands either. If you were looking for something specific, you would be out of luck.
There was a Compu Ghana store not too far off and decided to check them out.
Again, I was out of luck. Compu Ghana is supposedly the “Best Buy” of Ghana since they have tons of promos and brand names listed at their stores. Unfortunately, no charger available for me. This was not the first time that I had gone to a Compu Ghana store and walked out with nothing.
I was losing time and I couldn’t remember any other store in the East Legon area which sold gadgets and so I scurried over to Osu, where I was certain I would get what I was looking for.
Here are my takeaways from my trip to Osu:
Businesses really need to work on training for their sales people. There have been too many times where I’ve asked personnel for specific gadgets and brand names, only to get looked at like I just asked for something in Russian.
Secondly, brand name electronics are limited. You will get the popular computer stuff like Samsung, Dell and HP but good luck finding other brands like Asus, Sony or other brands. You might get one or two but don’t push your luck. Even finding brand name adaptors or chargers for PCs is a major issue.
Even looking for cables can be an issue. Finding an HDMI to HDMI cable or some sort of other combination cable or adapter is like navigating a maze blindfolded. The same goes for searching for smartphone brands. Finding popular brands like Samsung is not an issue. You will be flooded with Samsung smartphones, Apple and Huawei in most stores you walk into but ask a sales person about a OnePlus device and you’ll get blank looks.
Lastly, prices for tech stuff in Ghana are inflated. Seriously, the price listings for some of these electronics in the stores are overpriced. A cable which would probably cost you about $2 in a Walmart store will run you about 30 GHC in Accra. Just because you have a gadget that you put in a fancy store, doesn’t mean you have to mark up the price by 80%.
If these fancy stores aren’t your thing and the price tags are a bit much, then your other option is probably the Circle area. One thing about Circle is that it can be a tech jungle. You’re basically on your own and the motto of that area is buyer beware. You will probably get good prices but can you trust a device that has “Apple” displayed on it and not believe it’s a counterfeit? I wish the circle experience could be better because it could give some of these stores a run for their money.
Frustrated
In the end, it was not a particularly rewarding experience. In Ghana, tech stuff tends to be overpriced. I know lots of people who would rather buy their tech gadgets outside the country and find a way to have them shipped back to Ghana.
In the end, I did manage to get my Macbook charger from one of the electronics stores in Osu. I was thinking I could get a one for a modest budget of about 150 – 200 GHC.
In the end, I ended up paying 450 GHC (!) because I had run out of options and I needed to get back to work.
At the end of the day, I was sweaty from walking from store to store. I was also pretty frustrated about the price for a tech accessory which had burnt a hole in my wallet.
Sometimes I wish we had a better system for buying tech stuff. We also need more options. In the mean time, I think I’ll just try to make sure my tech stuff doesn’t fail on me.
