Marketing Strategies Adtopted by Local Fashion Houses to Enhance Market Penetration

Abstract

Marketing plays an essential role in the growth of enterprises. This is mainly because a marketing strategy aids in identifying customers who the business can competitively serve, and tailoring product offerings, prices, distribution, promotional efforts, and services towards those customers. The study was guided by two objectives to determine the marketing strategies adopted by local fashion houses in Nairobi and to establish the relationship between marketing strategies adopted by local fashion houses in Nairobi and market penetration. To achieve this goal, the study used a descriptive research design. The study population consisted of local fashion houses in Nairobi. Purposeful sampling was used to select the target fashion houses within Nairobi Central Business District. Data collection was done using a self -administered questionnaire and data analysis was done using Microsoft Excel Spread. The study found that the marketing strategies used by fashion apparels were as follows use of text messages using mobile phones, referrals and direct marketing. It was further revealed that existed a positive relationship between marketing strategies used by the local fashion houses and market penetration. New apparels were developed after every two months by fashion houses. Total domestic market share was between 150-250 clients while yearly sales turnover was between 0.5 million to 1 million shillings. The study recommends that there is a need for the top management executive to craft and adopt marketing strategies that enable that are compatible with the fashion trends and the needs of the customers. This will improve customer satisfaction and hence boost market penetration. The study further recommends that the fashion industry in Kenya should seek to ensure that fashion apparels accommodate the diversity and the cultural setting of different customers to meet their unique needs. The fashion industry should adopt and maintain international standards to attract both local and international markets. This will attract a wider pool of customers and bolster market penetration. The limitations for this study were time and costs constraints which limited the scope of the study to Nairobi County only while we have 46 other counties in Kenya. It would have been more appealing if the study considered including other counties such as Mombasa and Kisumu to achieve more conclusive and detailed results that are based on facts. Therefore the findings in this study can only be used to make comparison but not direct application in another county in Kenya. The study recommends that there is a need for the top management executive to craft and adopt marketing strategies that enable that are compatible with the fashion trends and the needs of the customers. This will improve customer satisfaction and hence boost market penetration.