Fashion marketing: Strategies in the garment-making micro and small enterprises in Nakuru, Kenya

Abstract

Fashion is very dynamic and way of life for humans in many consumer products, clothing included. In Kenya, the clothing industry is characterized by a dynamic environment and intense competition caused mainly by enlarged globalization, trade liberalization and importation of second-hand (mitumba) clothes. In this kind of environment, it is becoming increasingly difficult for an enterprise to maintain long-term success. Thus, the clothing enterprises are faced with challenges that demand them to offer higher value added products that meet the demands of the customers. As a solution, sound marketing strategies are critical to the survival and growth of micro-enterprises in the garment making sector. However, there is limited research that has looked at the enterprises from a marketing strategy perspective in terms of the type of marketing strategies that are embraced. This paper aims at highlighting the various marketing strategies. The study used ex-post facto research design targeting garment-making micro-enterprises with less than ten employees in Nakuru town. The main data collection instrument was a questionnaire that comprised closed and open-ended questions. Principal component analysis and Chi-square goodness-of-fit test (x 2 ) were used to determine the various marketing strategies and test the hypothesis that there was no variation in the marketing strategies implemented by garment-making micro-enterprises. Eight strategies were identified as being implemented by garment-making micro-enterprises. Based on the results of this study, it is concluded that interactive marketing is the most implemented strategy while e-marketing is the least. However, further research is required to explore the impact of implementing the various marketing strategies on the growth of the enterprises.