Influence of Product Strategies on Sales Performance of Cultural Artefacts: A Case of Maasai Artefacts in Mwanza City, Tanzania
The study explores the influence of product strategies on the sales performance of cultural artefacts, specifically the Maasai Artefacts in Mwanza City. It is a Qualitative enquiry, where purposive sampling was used to select respondents. In-depth interviews and observation were used to gather primary data. Content analysis approach was used for data analysis as it aimed at knowing the marketing practices the dealers in cultural artefacts engage in, and how those reflect on sales. The study observes that the artefacts enterprises in Mwanza City strategize their product offerings to boost sales performance by employing quality elements such as product differentiation, product innovation, durability of product and variety of product offerings. Also, “the Maasai brand” is used as an overall brand name and “handmade brand” is used as a secondary brand name. These brand names significantly influenced sales performance because they are perceived as trustworthy, reliable and synonymous with high value and quality. As stipulated in the literature, product packaging does not operate as a bearing for the sales performance of Maasai cultural products, for their nature and dealership. Buyers want to see, inspect and test the items of purchase, in some instances, wear straight away. This makes packaging to be perceived as non-useful in this category of business. The study recommends that: the artefacts enterprises should strategize on appropriate and suitable packaging and register their brand name to give legal protection to their artefacts and boost their business, especially for tourists and foreign markets. Government should strategize artefacts enterprises as part of effort towards poverty alleviation by linking it with the tourism business and advancement of soft loans to boost their capital investment.
Keywords: product strategies, sales performance, product quality, product packaging, branding and Maasai cultural products
