With Christmas barely a week away, Kigalians took advantage of the past weekend to do last minute shopping. This forced product vendors to devise new techniques to cash-in on the multitudes of festive season shopping, with many business people pitching tents and tables in all the malls and in front of their shops.

The trick is for each to make their wares as visible as possible to attract customers’ attention to beat the competition. And the rule of the jungle, "survival for the fittest” rules during this season because the business that uses the best marketing ‘tricks’ wins the day.

As they market products, most of the businesses are also making some sort of surveys on customer preferences going into the New Year.

Betty Ishimwe, a shop operator in Remera, Gasabo District, says customers go for quality, with other issues like texture, and material type, also influencing buying decisions.

The trader, who has a six-year experience in business of selling clothes and cosmetics says today’s buyer has become so demanding, making it hard to sell them substandard goods.

She notes that businesses should always do research to understand customer tastes and preferences.

"For businesses to progress in 2016 they must study customer shopping behaviour so that they are able to satisfy them,” Ishimwe says.

Visits to the various malls, markets and auction houses around the City of Kigali by this reporter clearly indicated that many of the shoppers were out to get the best items, taking keen interest in labels and origin of the goods. Justine Batamuriza from Kimironko says buyers want elegant and quality products, adding that this will also define the 2016 buyer.

"Buyers of this generation research on what they want and also plan accordingly unlike before. They are more interested in the quality and guarantee the seller is offering. From my point of view, elegance and excellence in products are the catch phrases for today’s and 2016 buyers,” she says.

Davis Mugabo looks at it differently, arguing that it’s not mainly the nature and variety of products that attract customers during the festive season and beyond. Using his seven years of marketing experience, he says products thrive on the foundation of effective marketing.

"Today’s consumers’ attention is caught by product appearance, branding, and the ambience at any given shop or mall. People want to go to classy shopping malls, well decorated shops, with eye-catching branding materials; these are some of the features of marketing.

"I believe if businesses improve their branding strategies and make shopping places look upmarket, they would definitely attract the 2015 and 2016 buyer,” he says.

The majority of people interviewed by Business Times supported a similar view, saying that for businesses to meet the needs of today’s shopper, and attract the 2016 buyer, an effective marketing strategy must be in place.

Many of them said promotional activities by businesses are essential to attract customers, emphasising that buyers are interested in products and businesses they are acquainted to.

All of them emphasised quality assurance, product efficiency and their experience with the use of the products as the main influences on their buying decisions. 

"Thanks to the increasing savings culture in the country, most Rwandans no longer go after cheap products. It is common for people nowadays to save for future shopping... Some people today buy their desired items regardless of the price tag,” says Jackson Karenzi.

He adds that buyers are more interested in quality products.

"I urge businesses to understand that superiority and product efficiency matters more when it comes to customer’s choice,” she notes.

Other shoppers said the locality and consistency of the businesses to provide their desired products, are the other major factors that would determine their shopping interests.

As the time to meet these preferences and tastes has run out for most retailers, this could be where you start your plans for the coming year to ensure customer needs are met.