Post by Trade facilitator on Nov 16, 2017 22:11:35 GMT 1
East and West - Parallels, Paradigms and Perspectives
We are all Africans, we are all in Africa, but the business of marketing in Nigeria (West Africa) and Kenya (East Africa), is not the same in both regions. Different buying patterns, different attitudes and other factors demand different approaches.
These are snippets of my experiences and observations from which I draw perspectives, some of which could be debatable, but which I hope can be built upon to create some shifts in paradigm.
Why write about marketing in Africa, East and West? Well, aside from the fact that I have experience of both regional markets, I believe that both regions, particularly Kenya and Nigeria, are not optimally exploiting the goldmine opportunities that collaboration offers.
After Asia, Africa is the next frontier for global economic growth. I believe, like many other people that Africa’s economic renaissance lies in the synergies that its constituent Nation States can generate. As developmental banker and Nobel Laureate Yunis Mohammed of Grameen Bank, Bangladesh has proved, what would drive Africa's economic recovery and growth is trade, not aid.
I believe that marketers should lead this charge, especially in Kenya and Nigeria, the two countries being key drivers of the economic growth predicted for Africa.
A significant portion of what 1 shall share would therefore take context from Kenya and Nigeria in recognition of their being the socio-economic powerhouses in the respective regions.
The P-CA mode!
Marketing in Africa, East versus West: what key paradigms and parallels exist? What insights can we draw from the paradigms and parallels?
Because marketing people like models and because I believe models help understanding, I shall use what I call the ‘P-CA’ model as a framework during this discussion.
The P-CA model, is an amalgamation of various models, and stands for 6Ps 6Cs 6A:
• People-Customs-Attitudes
• Product and Packaging-Consumer/Customer needs- Aptness
• Price-Cost-Affordability
• Place-Convenience channel-Availability
• Promotion-Communication-Awareness
• Positioning-Competition-Alternatives
People, Customs and Attitudes
There is a prevailing perception in Kenya that West Africans are very different from East Africans. While in some respects this might hold true, West and East Africans are more alike than different. In addition, in some ways, Nigerians and Ugandans are more alike than Kenyans and Ugandans, while Ghanaians have closer affinities in some respects with Kenyans than with Nigerians.
Kenya’s population is 43 million (2012 est.), while Nigeria’s population is estimated to be 170 million. This makes Nigeria’s population greater than that of core East Africa, i.e. Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Ghana has a population of about 24 million.
In both regions, under-40s constitute the bulk of the population, 80% in Nigeria and over 70% in Kenya. This is important to note for marketing people in both regions, as this age band comprises key decision-makers and influencers.
Broken down further, in Nigeria, under-15s constitute about 46% of total population, while the age group 15-40 years old accounts for 35%. There is a difference in Kenya with the dominant group being the 15-40 year-olds (41%), and the under-15s (31%). In addition, the population profile in Kenya is older than Nigeria. So, is there an opportunity for products that target the older profile?
The AB class accounts for 4-5% of the population in both countries, but the middle-class in Kenya is larger than Nigeria and accounts for about 38% versus Nigeria’s 25%; the DE in Nigeria are about 70% of the population, in Kenya about 60%.
Urban-Rural residence ratios are about the same at 60:40, with Kenya being urban.
The male-female ratio in both regions is also about the same; whether that is good or bad news is debatable.
A key area of difference is that the custom of the East is more informal than in the West, especially comparing Kenya and Nigeria. In Nigeria, a 20-year-old would hardly call a 40-year-old by first name, as is in the case in Kenya.
I had a bit of a culture shock in my first six months working in Kenya when conducting my initial set of interviews for brand managers, and a candidate breezed into the interview room, said ‘Hi’ with his arm stretched out for a handshake and sat down without being asked to do so.
In Nigeria, that could have ended the interview.
East Africa is also a more cosmopolitan and heterogeneous region with a collage of races: Negroid, European, Asian, and Arab.
Another difference between Africa, East and West is that the work ethic and lifestyle in East Africa is less adrenalin-driven than in West Africa, especially Nigeria. I do not know if this inspired the Hakuna Matata ‘no worries, carefree’ philosophy espoused by Timon and Pumbaa to the young Simba in the animated Disney film, The Lion King. The ‘aggressiveness’ of Nigerians is well documented.
Products, Consumers and Aptness
There is the story of the Kenyan wife who resisted her husband’s plea for a fourth child on the basis that she had heard that one in every four Africans is a Nigerian!
However, beyond the stereotypes and stories, similar motivations drive the consumer in East Africa as in West Africa: affordability, value-for-money, convenience, and self-esteem. The degree of these motivations may vary, but they are common to both corners of the globe.
Achieving a step-change in commercial performance in any business, whether East or West Africa requires a deep understanding of the Consumer, she who buys and he who uses; understanding the Customer across trade channels, from distributor, through wholesaler, down to the retailer; and understanding Competition.
Apt offers are critical to winning with consumers in both markets; one size no longer fits all, and that is the challenge for brands that seek to become regional or global brands. What works in one market, may not work exactly in another.
Case in point is the brand Malta Guinness. In Nigeria, consumers assume malt products to be non-alcoholic and healthy with invigorating properties. In Kenya, there is a different perception. On one of my early visits to a restaurant in Kenya, I had asked for a malt drink, expecting a drink such as Malta Guinness;
Aptness would also involve the Packaging strategy, which has become a key part of marketing and brand strategy. For example, because of the erosion of consumer disposable income in past years, the small pack segment with low unit prices (LUP) is growing across product categories in many emerging markets.
Price, Cost and Affordability
Like West Africa, about 70% of the population in East Africa earn less than a dollar a day. I have a hypothesis though, that the poverty level in Kenya is higher due to the higher degree of wealth in the informal economy in Nigeria. Moreover, although the Kenyan shilling is almost twice as strong as the Nigerian naira on a foreign exchange basis, i feel the cost of living in Kenya is higher than in Nigeria; like most foreign travellers, I do mental forex calculations when I purchase goods or services abroad. My heart palpitated when I went for my first haircut in Kenya and discovered it was eight times what it would have cost me in Nigeria.
Affordability is therefore a key determinant of choice for both the East and West African consumer, perhaps more so for the Kenyan. Rumour has it that a middle-class Kenyan could travel one kilometre through traffic to buy fuel at a petrol station selling cheaper by two Kenyan shillings per litre.
Because of differences in consumer disposable income across socio-economic classes, there is need to hit critical consumer price points for brands, as this could be a determinant of choice at the Point-of-Buying.
Price mapping is thus an important element of marketing strategy in order to identify consumer-price-point gaps and address critical consumer price points, especially at the bottom of the consumer pyramid.
We are all Africans, we are all in Africa, but the business of marketing in Nigeria (West Africa) and Kenya (East Africa), is not the same in both regions. Different buying patterns, different attitudes and other factors demand different approaches.
These are snippets of my experiences and observations from which I draw perspectives, some of which could be debatable, but which I hope can be built upon to create some shifts in paradigm.
Why write about marketing in Africa, East and West? Well, aside from the fact that I have experience of both regional markets, I believe that both regions, particularly Kenya and Nigeria, are not optimally exploiting the goldmine opportunities that collaboration offers.
After Asia, Africa is the next frontier for global economic growth. I believe, like many other people that Africa’s economic renaissance lies in the synergies that its constituent Nation States can generate. As developmental banker and Nobel Laureate Yunis Mohammed of Grameen Bank, Bangladesh has proved, what would drive Africa's economic recovery and growth is trade, not aid.
I believe that marketers should lead this charge, especially in Kenya and Nigeria, the two countries being key drivers of the economic growth predicted for Africa.
A significant portion of what 1 shall share would therefore take context from Kenya and Nigeria in recognition of their being the socio-economic powerhouses in the respective regions.
The P-CA mode!
Marketing in Africa, East versus West: what key paradigms and parallels exist? What insights can we draw from the paradigms and parallels?
Because marketing people like models and because I believe models help understanding, I shall use what I call the ‘P-CA’ model as a framework during this discussion.
The P-CA model, is an amalgamation of various models, and stands for 6Ps 6Cs 6A:
• People-Customs-Attitudes
• Product and Packaging-Consumer/Customer needs- Aptness
• Price-Cost-Affordability
• Place-Convenience channel-Availability
• Promotion-Communication-Awareness
• Positioning-Competition-Alternatives
People, Customs and Attitudes
There is a prevailing perception in Kenya that West Africans are very different from East Africans. While in some respects this might hold true, West and East Africans are more alike than different. In addition, in some ways, Nigerians and Ugandans are more alike than Kenyans and Ugandans, while Ghanaians have closer affinities in some respects with Kenyans than with Nigerians.
Kenya’s population is 43 million (2012 est.), while Nigeria’s population is estimated to be 170 million. This makes Nigeria’s population greater than that of core East Africa, i.e. Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Ghana has a population of about 24 million.
In both regions, under-40s constitute the bulk of the population, 80% in Nigeria and over 70% in Kenya. This is important to note for marketing people in both regions, as this age band comprises key decision-makers and influencers.
Broken down further, in Nigeria, under-15s constitute about 46% of total population, while the age group 15-40 years old accounts for 35%. There is a difference in Kenya with the dominant group being the 15-40 year-olds (41%), and the under-15s (31%). In addition, the population profile in Kenya is older than Nigeria. So, is there an opportunity for products that target the older profile?
The AB class accounts for 4-5% of the population in both countries, but the middle-class in Kenya is larger than Nigeria and accounts for about 38% versus Nigeria’s 25%; the DE in Nigeria are about 70% of the population, in Kenya about 60%.
Urban-Rural residence ratios are about the same at 60:40, with Kenya being urban.
The male-female ratio in both regions is also about the same; whether that is good or bad news is debatable.
A key area of difference is that the custom of the East is more informal than in the West, especially comparing Kenya and Nigeria. In Nigeria, a 20-year-old would hardly call a 40-year-old by first name, as is in the case in Kenya.
I had a bit of a culture shock in my first six months working in Kenya when conducting my initial set of interviews for brand managers, and a candidate breezed into the interview room, said ‘Hi’ with his arm stretched out for a handshake and sat down without being asked to do so.
In Nigeria, that could have ended the interview.
East Africa is also a more cosmopolitan and heterogeneous region with a collage of races: Negroid, European, Asian, and Arab.
Another difference between Africa, East and West is that the work ethic and lifestyle in East Africa is less adrenalin-driven than in West Africa, especially Nigeria. I do not know if this inspired the Hakuna Matata ‘no worries, carefree’ philosophy espoused by Timon and Pumbaa to the young Simba in the animated Disney film, The Lion King. The ‘aggressiveness’ of Nigerians is well documented.
Products, Consumers and Aptness
There is the story of the Kenyan wife who resisted her husband’s plea for a fourth child on the basis that she had heard that one in every four Africans is a Nigerian!
However, beyond the stereotypes and stories, similar motivations drive the consumer in East Africa as in West Africa: affordability, value-for-money, convenience, and self-esteem. The degree of these motivations may vary, but they are common to both corners of the globe.
Achieving a step-change in commercial performance in any business, whether East or West Africa requires a deep understanding of the Consumer, she who buys and he who uses; understanding the Customer across trade channels, from distributor, through wholesaler, down to the retailer; and understanding Competition.
Apt offers are critical to winning with consumers in both markets; one size no longer fits all, and that is the challenge for brands that seek to become regional or global brands. What works in one market, may not work exactly in another.
Case in point is the brand Malta Guinness. In Nigeria, consumers assume malt products to be non-alcoholic and healthy with invigorating properties. In Kenya, there is a different perception. On one of my early visits to a restaurant in Kenya, I had asked for a malt drink, expecting a drink such as Malta Guinness;
Aptness would also involve the Packaging strategy, which has become a key part of marketing and brand strategy. For example, because of the erosion of consumer disposable income in past years, the small pack segment with low unit prices (LUP) is growing across product categories in many emerging markets.
Price, Cost and Affordability
Like West Africa, about 70% of the population in East Africa earn less than a dollar a day. I have a hypothesis though, that the poverty level in Kenya is higher due to the higher degree of wealth in the informal economy in Nigeria. Moreover, although the Kenyan shilling is almost twice as strong as the Nigerian naira on a foreign exchange basis, i feel the cost of living in Kenya is higher than in Nigeria; like most foreign travellers, I do mental forex calculations when I purchase goods or services abroad. My heart palpitated when I went for my first haircut in Kenya and discovered it was eight times what it would have cost me in Nigeria.
Affordability is therefore a key determinant of choice for both the East and West African consumer, perhaps more so for the Kenyan. Rumour has it that a middle-class Kenyan could travel one kilometre through traffic to buy fuel at a petrol station selling cheaper by two Kenyan shillings per litre.
Because of differences in consumer disposable income across socio-economic classes, there is need to hit critical consumer price points for brands, as this could be a determinant of choice at the Point-of-Buying.
Price mapping is thus an important element of marketing strategy in order to identify consumer-price-point gaps and address critical consumer price points, especially at the bottom of the consumer pyramid.
