Conducting market research in Kenya

Kenya is a multilingual country known for its vast natural wildlife preserves and splendid socio-cultural diversity. With a coastline along the Indian Ocean and historical business centres, there has been continuous growth in commercial and bilateral ties with other countries.

Nairobi being the capital and one of the most modern cities in Africa has a huge consumer base and offers a lot of potential for business expansion for companies outside Kenya. With the diverse socio culture knowing the consumer, and understanding their preferences, usages, and attitudes has always been a challenge. A targeted market research approach is needed to better understand consumer journeys and generate information-rich insights. The consumer base largely comprises the middle-class population and signifies a prominent demand for consumer goods and services. To effectively cater to the consumer base, companies should be mindful of the research methodologies.

To begin with, a company must determine its target audience keeping in mind the needs, preferences, and cultural beliefs of the consumers. Though access to technology has increased in the last few years but still reaching out online to consumers from tier 2 and tier 3 cities remains a challenge in Kenya. Considering the access to technology, like mobile adoption, internet connectivity, and digitalization in some of big cities like Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu and Nakuru, online market research or a hybrid approach can be a success but for tier 2 and tier 3 cities face to face market research and telephonic interviews remain a better way of knowing the consumer.

Online research methods like online In-depth interviews, online focus group discussions, and MROCs, can save time and resources by conducting market research remotely. In less developed cities like Kakamega, Bungoma, etc, traditional methods like face-to-face in-depth interviews or focus group discussions, and ethnographic research could be effective to gather in-depth and valuable data. In the least developed areas, it is a challenge to reach the lower socio-economic groups physically or remotely due to the lack of technology, poor infrastructure, and inadequate road connectivity.

Companies should also keep in mind the different languages spoken by various ethnic groups while conducting market research in Kenya. Two official languages are widely spoken, Swahili and English, which leads to effective communication and accurate data collection. Overall the approach should be designed keeping in mind the local culture, target group, and infrastructure.