Challenges of Marketing of New Products by Rift Valley Bottlers in Kenya
Dr. Odoyo Fredrick S., Sr. Lucy Wanza, Donatta Mumbua M.

Abstract
New products can be referred to as original products, product improvements, product modifications, and new brands that the firm develops through its own research and development effort. The failure rate of new products has remained high in Kenya for the last decades. Relentless pressure does not exist which differentiates products and gain market share, new products do not remain new for too long. New technologies going into new products change more quickly than they have in the past, lack of marketing tactics to market the products and the consumer level of income hinder the success of the new products in the market. The study adopted a case study design on the Rift Valley Bottlers Limited, in Uasin-Gishu County. The purpose of this study is to determine the challenges of marketing of new products by a firm. The study used questionnaires and interview schedules as the primary data collection tools. The total sample size consisted of 12 management staff, 48 employees and 93 Retailers/wholesalers/consumers. Data was coded and analyzed using descriptive statistics which adopted both qualitative and quantitative analysis in order to achieve the objective of the study. The data was then presented in form of tables, frequencies and percentages. The findings showed that 88% of the respondents were of the opinion that the consumer taste and preferences determine whether the product will be bought or it will remain at the market, 90.8% of the respondents were of the opinion that the marketing and sales tactics determines the success of a new product into the market and 94.6% were of the opinion the demand of the product in the market will determine the purchase decisions of consumers. The study concluded that the consumer taste and preferences determine whether the product will be bought or it will remain at the market. It also recommends that the organizations should conduct an extensive market survey to determine the feelings of customers about a given product.

Full Text: PDF