Kenya’s Bargaining Culture: Why You Should Always Bargain To Have ‘Fair’ Deal

I bet there is no one who bargains like a Kenyan. If there is something we are known for among the East African Community (EAC), is bargaining. Lift up your hand if you have ever bought something in Kenya without bargaining.

The only place you are unlikely to see a Kenyan bargaining is in a supermarket but if he/she had a chance, they would bargain to the last penny. Initially, Kenyans never used to bargain in a chemist and most chemists took the advantage to hike the price for various medicines. But now, things have changed and Kenyans bargain even in a hospital.

The bargaining culture has been part of Kenyans since time immemorial and it has widely been cultivated by businesspeople especially those in the SME sector.

The thing is, as a buyer, you should never trust a Kenyan businessperson with prices. Virtually all of them often quote prices that are higher than what the product or service can fetch. Kenyan buyers, on the other hand, are not fools. They have the power of bargaining and they know exactly where to start and where to stop.

For mtumba lovers like me, bargaining is part of life if actually, you want your pocket to survive to the next month. You walk down the street, then all over a sudden your eye catches a nice dress and your urge to look good propels you to approach the seller. You ask the seller for the price and without blinking, like an IEBC Returning Officer or a nurse at Kenyatta National Hospital, he/she tells you that the dress is 1,000 shillings.

With the hard economic times in Kenya, with fuel prices now up and through the roof, the seller’s answer makes you scream that that Mbugua character in that Faiba advert. But, all over a sudden, you invite all your bargaining ancestors to an urgent meeting and get down to business. In the end, you buy the dress at 250 shillings. You walk home smiling and leave the seller behind satisfied too.

Why should you always bargain on the Kenyan market?

A Kenyan seller knows that there are two kinds of Kenyan buyers; those who bargain for almost everything and those who buy anything without bargaining. It is like gaming, where you place your bet without knowing which side will win.

Bargaining will help you save that extra coin that would have gone to the seller in the absence of the same. It is actually one way that can help you manage your finances. Let us say you had planned to use 2,000 shillings, but bargained and remained with 800 shillings, that would be a big save, right?

Bargaining also helps you get the best you can out of something. Obviously, you cannot spend minutes and hours bargaining over something that you do not want. It actually helps you get what you want within what you have without straining your pockets.

As a businessperson, bargaining will help you sell the product or service at a price that you need. In most cases, the buyer will always want you to go lower to what they want but if you stand your ground, and if they really need the item, they will surely buy it.

Where can you bargain in Kenya?

If you need to use your bargaining power on purchases in Kenya and save some coins, then you should avoid such areas as supermarkets. It would be ridiculous for you to bargain at a supermarket in Kenya because the price is often fixed.

There are, however, places in Kenya where bargaining is the order of life and both sellers and buyers know that. For instance, in an open-air market, almost everything can be bargained. As I said, nowadays you can even bargain in a hospital or chemist to get a discount on medicines. Next time you walk into a chemist and an attendant quotes the prices that can only help in paying back the Eurobond, show him/her that you know your bargaining rights and ask them to give you a fair deal.

I know you might be saying that you cannot bargain in a hospital but I want to assure you that you can. It is all about business. For instance, did you know that most private hospital would insist that during delivery you go through cesarean section just because it has more money than normal delivery? Well, you can bargain your way into normal delivery and save more than 40,000 shillings that is if there are no medical conditions or complications that make it mandatory for a CS.

Have you ever gone to a butchery and bargained? If you have never, then you better start. Here, you do not bargain for the reduction of the price but for the addition of some more meat. Many people often hide behind the ‘ongeza mafuta kidogo’ or ‘ongeza kamfupa’ and there is no way a butcher can refuse that. Just ask and you will be given.