Believe it or not, there is a thriving market for cockroaches and bedbugs in Kenya. A new insecticide brand being marketed in the country through real-life demonstrations model has created a demand for the pesky domestic insects in a trend that is pulling crowds.
Recently, One Touch insecticide marketer Stephen Mwangi was in Nakuru, the bustling city in the heart of the Rift Valley. Mr Mwangi, who is the regional sales manager for One Touch, says he came up with the unique idea to carry out live demonstrations close to two years ago to create curiosity and drive demand for the product.
He says Nakuru City is a new market the product is trying to break into and thus these demonstrations are aimed not only at pulling crowds but also converting sales. The trick appears to be working as he sells a number of pieces during the live demos of how the insecticide snaps life out of the live insects in an instant.
“I have been doing sales for a long time so when the opportunity arose to introduce the insecticide to the Nakuru market, I knew just what to do to pique the crowd’s interest,” says Mr Mwangi, speaking to a Nakuru-based online publication, Mtaa Wangu.
Interestingly, the insects are sent via courier all the way from Nairobi to Nakuru for the demos. “We have a group of boys that we’ve employed to source them for us. For now, since our offices are based in Nairobi, we source them from there and the insects are sent to Nakuru via a parcel,” he says.
Indeed it sounds a lucrative business with one cockroach or bedbug selling for Ksh5 per insect. He says the company would buy the insects from Nakuru if they are supplied. In a market brimming with established pesticide brands, creativity has become the name of the game and One Touch is riding this wave.
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