EFFECTS OF DIFFERENTIATION STRATEGY ON SALES PERFORMANCE IN SUPERMARKETS IN NAKURU TOWN CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT

Abstract

Many business firms in Kenya strive for differentiation as a strategy aimed at maximizing sales performance as a result of increased cut-throat business competition in the market. Supermarkets in Nakuru town, have formulated differentiation strategies in a quest to promote sales performance through maintaining and attracting new customers. The purpose of this study was to establish the effects of differentiation strategy on sales performance of supermarkets within Nakuru CBD. The study was carried out amongst the Branch managers, Technical officers (stock controller), and Product line staff of 11 supermarkets. This study employed non experimental research survey design and used purposive sampling and simple random sample to get the sample size of the respondents. Data was collected using questionnaire and interview schedules. It was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The outcome of the study shows that product differentiation and physical differentiation plays a major role in activating annual sales performance at the supermarkets unlike service differentiation which showed a weak relationship. The study recommends supermarkets should scale up on the attributes of product and physical differentiation strategies if they are to compete in the growing market