By ANNIE NJANJA
The Kenyan retail market is fast-evolving with supermarkets opening up sporadically in towns around the country leaving shoppers spoilt for choice.
For retailers, however, overcrowding of players demands constant reinvention for sustainability. Local merchandisers are slowly waking up to the reality that the real differentiator in the modern-day retail industry is neither the size of floor space nor the variety of commodities on shelves but the shopping experience.
Customers now demand that retail stores be more than just transactional venues but also avenues in, which they can have special and in-person experiences that cannot be replicated in the e-commerce environment.
“Shopper experience can no longer be ignored, and this explains the investment some of the retailers are making. When a supermarket has a great ambience, nice and spacious aisles, and a good display of products, it catches the eye of shoppers and grows sales,” said Wambui Mbarire, chief executive officer Retail Trade Association of Kenya.
“It also makes the customer feel important, and they are more likely to shop more and come by often,” she added.
This explains the growing number of outlets that are now foregoing the tired supermarket layouts, which often maximize on space at the expense of customer comfort, to embrace modern designs that ensure a pleasant visit to the store.
Yet facility design alone will not make one a better seller. Retailers also have to contend with the buying patterns of local shoppers who are known to be experimental and passionate about trying out new products. Kenyan buyers have been branded disloyal and addicted to “newism”, to mean that they are more likely to settle on a product that is fresh on the shelves for the perceived notion that it must be better.
Only 12 per cent of those interviewed remained firm loyalists to brands. The research also found out that 45 per cent of local consumers loved trying out new things.
According to the report, shoppers are ready to try new products owing to brand trust, quality assurance, experience, convenience, and for ethical reasons like the manufacturer’s labour practices or environmental impact. Read more…
