Ghanaian small businesses must invest more in marketing and customer engagement to turn exposure at sales events into revenue, according to Anthonia Falola, organiser of the Market Festival, as the event seeks to attract more shoppers ahead of the Christmas season.
Falola said some vendors expect event organisers to generate sales after paying for exhibition space, despite failing to promote their participation or develop strategies to attract customers.
“Most of these vendors, I don’t know if it’s a Ghana thing, but I need to generalize. Some of them have sales problems that they’ve not fixed, that they think sales events will fix for them,” she told The High Street Journal in an interview.
The third edition of the Market Festival, scheduled for Nov. 27 and 28, at the Kwame Nkrumah Museum will introduce fashion shows, games and comedy performances to attract shoppers and encourage purchases.
Falola said the festival is designed to give businesses an opportunity to make bulk sales while allowing consumers to purchase everyday goods and Christmas supplies before the holiday shopping period.
The event is privately funded and does not receive government or non-governmental organisation financing, she said. Although sponsors have supported previous editions, their contributions have not been sufficient to cover the entire cost.
Exhibition fees range from GH¢800 to GH¢1,500, depending on the type of business and the size of the stand. Vendors can secure a space with an initial payment of GH¢500 and settle the outstanding amount before the event with vendors provided electricity, water and publicity.
“We are not selling each of the brands. Imagine we’re working with 100 brands. Can we promote for each of the 100 brands? No is the answer. ” Businesses must also contribute to attracting customers, she said.
She encouraged vendors to differentiate their products through discounts, new offerings and targeted advertising rather than relying entirely on the festival’s promotional activities.
According to her, the event’s primary responsibility is to create visibility and bring potential customers to participating businesses, not guarantee sales. “My job is to create visibility for you. It’s to put you in a place where people can easily discover you. What you do with the visibility is dependent on you,” Falola said.
The festival is also seeking to create longer-term commercial relationships between vendors and consumers. Falola said buyers would be able to maintain contact with businesses after the event and continue purchasing from them throughout the year, rather than relying on one-off transactions.
She said this was particularly important as more businesses adapt to digital commerce and seek to build customer relationships beyond physical markets.
Falola also agreed that financial literacy and business education are areas requiring greater attention among small-business owners, arguing that many entrepreneurs focus on developing products without learning how to manage and market their businesses. “The easiest thing to get right now is a business idea. But the hardest is running the business,” she said.
