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The festive season is upon us, presenting an opportunity for small businesses to thrive and for larger companies to boost their sales. Discounts are all over from major established brands and outlets.

During this time, businesses may feel pressured to lower their prices to increase sales and outpace competitors in a saturated market.

Lowering the retail price is often the costliest strategy; it’s akin to bribing consumers to purchase your product. Discounting trains consumers to wait for deals and might not always lead to genuine customer acquisition.

While it can be effective in some situations and may be necessary, it should always be your last resort rather than your first option. Dropping the price should only be considered after you have explored all other alternatives.

When competitors offer lower prices, businesses must find ways to justify charging higher prices for their products. This pressure to lower prices can negatively impact profit margins and undermine the value of the products sold.

While price reductions can be an appropriate tactic, it is important to consider the broader implications, especially with the new year approaching.

This festive season, businesses should explore innovative strategies that prioritise value, quality, and differentiation to sustain their pricing without sacrificing profitability.

In many Kenyan cities and towns, you will notice numerous foreigners engaging in simple businesses such as tea vending and shoe hawking. While these businesses may seem casual, a closer look reveals that they are quite skilled and are using simple tactics in their craft to stay afloat.

An effective strategy for enhancing your products and services is to focus on adding value. Not just value, but enhancing the perceived emotional, social, and philosophical value of a product.

This goes beyond just adding physical items to your offerings. Instead, sell extra complementary products or services. These are below-the-line items which customers receive alongside their primary purchase.

For example, our brothers the Burundians not only sell shoes but also include matching socks as a bonus.

This strategy is an effective way to enhance sales. Similarly, Mama Mboga (the vegetable seller) can add emotional value to their products. For instance, instead of concentrating on the high cost of, say, yams, they can highlight their health benefits. This approach adds emotional value to offerings.

Providing below-the-line items can significantly enhance the value offered to customers. This approach not only enriches their purchasing experience but also fosters greater customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Customers are more likely to recommend your products or services to others, resulting in increased word-of-mouth referrals and potential business growth.

Highlighting the social benefits of being regarded as an early adopter or leader in one’s society enhances social worth. Businesses can take advantage of this social value over the holiday season by putting their goods and services in a way that appeals to local influencers.

By doing this, businesses may successfully increase sales while building a devoted clientele driven by social factors and the desire to belong to a group regarded as prominent and forward-thinking.

This strategy fosters a feeling of community around the brand, which promotes word-of-mouth advertising and strengthens consumer loyalty in general.

On a philosophical level, highlighting a product’s environmental advantages can greatly increase its perceived worth. Strategies for preserving the environment are highly valued in today’s culture.

Because of this, businesses that highlight environmentally friendly features, like eco tags, frequently beat their rivals in the marketplace. This trend highlights the growing consumer preference for sustainable products and practices.

—The writer is an Innovations Evangelist and a PhD Candidate; [email protected]