Challenges affecting coffee marketing by coffee firms in Kenya
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Date
2011-10Author
Chokera, Vitalis N
Type
ThesisLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Historically, coffee has been an important commodity in Kenya because of its contribution to
foreign exchange earnings, farm incomes and employment opportunities. The emergence of new
consumption patterns poses great challenges to Kenya who sells large quantities of homogenous
and undifferentiated coffees. The main issues at the moment in marketing Kenyan coffee around
the world revolve around value addition, quality assurance, packaging and branding.
The research objectives were to determine the challenges affecting coffee marketing by coffee
firms in Kenya and to determine the marketing strategies adopted by the firms to deal with the
challenges. This study employed descriptive research design. The target population composed of
eight major coffee marketing firms in Kenya. The researcher collected both primary and
secondary data. The researcher administered a questionnaire to the General, Marketing and
Operations Managers in each of the eight firms to collect primary data. Secondary data was also
collected for this study. The researcher carried out a pilot study to pre-test and validate the
questionnaire. Quantitative data collected was analyzed by the use of descriptive statistics.
Content analysis was used to analyze qualitative data.
The study found that the challenges affecting coffee marketing in Kenya include fast changing
consumer tastes and preferences, economic uncertainty and declining terms of trade at the
international level, multiple channels of distribution that eat into the pockets of farmers and the
magnitude of marketing costs. The study also found that the coffee marketing strategies adopted
by the firms to deal with the challenges include market expansions, exhibitions as a promotion
strategy, pricing rationalization and product innovation. The study concludes that fast changing
consumer tastes and preferences, economic uncertainty and declining terms of trade at the
international level are the main challenges affecting coffee marketing and that market
expansions, exhibitions as a promotion strategy, pricing rationalization and product innovation
are the main marketing strategies adopted by the firms to deal with the challenges.
The study recommends that there is need to reduce the cost of certification, farmers should be
encouraged to adopt product differentiation into specialty coffees that can achieve premium
prices in the specialty coffee markets and the coffee marketing firms should look for more
market opportunities in the emerging coffee markets as opposed to the traditional coffee markets.
Publisher
University of Nairobi