Shopping for consumer goods needs a careful choice

SHOPPING is a daily activity for most people in which a customer browses the available goods or services presented by one or more retailers with the intent to purchase a suitable selection of them. In some contexts it may be considered a leisure activity as well as an economic one. For beginners shopping helps them to know the names of the various items they want to buy for their consumption. A retail shop is a business entity that presents a selection of goods or services which could offer to customers the necessary products in need of them. The shopping experience in these shops can range from delightful to terrible, based on a variety of factors including how the customer is treated and this can also be influenced by other shoppers in their shopping activities. Just imagine that it’s your first time to have visited Kariakoo trading hub of the central wholesale and retail market complex for all things in downtown Dar es Salaam, and you tend to walk around for window-shopping along thousand frames selling different types of products mostly electrical goods. The activity of window shopping involves browsing with no intent to purchase, either as a recreational activity or to plan a later purchase. Consumer goods are final goods that are brought from retail stores to satisfy the needs and wants of human being. The consumer goods come in wide variety of product range which includes, household Items, personal care products, consumer electronics, utensils, technology devices, foods, clothing  products, stationary and gift articles. All these types can be found in shops located along Msimbazi street at Kariakoo main business centre. Msimbazi is a famous street with shops selling together with other things different types of communication devices including cell phones one can choose from one of the scattered shops around though some shops sell secondhand goods.  Shops located along Msimbazi street are mostly selling electronic and communication ICT tools such as handset cell phones, television sets, radio systems, and many other modern DVD compacts that plays music and videos.  As you walk along the street, you will encounter lots of disturbing things. Apart from the vibrations caused by passing vehicles around, one could hear sounds of music opened in large volumes coming out of the shops constructed as though they all belong to one landlord.  Apart from such disturbing noise which by all circumstances is unavoidable, one may hear someone touting in a unique voice as though attracting the attention of the prospective buyers to attend a shop selling cheap products nearby. These voices are a common style all over the place alerting shoppers of the cheap selling products, it is purposely for a road side promotion for any product being touted by one who at the end of the day, earns his living on a commission basis. It is sometimes very funny indeed as one can hear the message piercing the air in loud external speakers strategically located at the entrance of a large shop displayed with modern varieties of ICT products. In a great astonishment, you might become so excited and rather confused when you happen to walk along the street, you might get some difficulties while trying to force your movement through if in a hurry as the area is overcrowded with people all the time throughout the day. Their presence and the petty traders around along the street with some who does their businesses in pavements has become a menace and always inconveniencing passersby most of whom workers who tend to be in a hurry rushing to attend important appointments somewhere in the city. Despite of the story being told now and then about these streets, the truth is that, “It is too disturbing to see that people who walk along the street are not happy as they encounter with scores of petty traders some holding their merchandise in hands, while the majority spreads them down on the ground in an unhealthy condition mostly along the pavements full of filthy”.  Because of the persisting situation, it sometimes makes it difficult for shoppers along to make their good choice for the products they want to buy. But everyone seems to be busy and never cares about the situation seen around while walking along especially at this time of the year when people are busy doing their shopping for Christmas and New Year occasions, the biggest ever celebrated at the end of the year. The presence of petty traders along the streets is a common phenomenon which gives an indication of failure of city askaris in their efforts to remove them from trading in such restricted areas. But because of their increase in number, the city askaris seems most likely to have been overpowered by them.  A spot check as viewed in most wholesale and retail shops selling imported electrical goods around Kariakoo business complex and linen clothes along another famous street known as Kongo, has discovered that there is an extensive bulk of these products put on display and the price rates is not fixed for each one of them. This is confusing in regard to the normal saying among the people who attributes the fact that, a product which is sold in lower price rate is low in terms of quality, compared to those sold at a higher price rate which buyers assumes to be of good quality.

Shoppers walking around in the supermarket.

This is a perception which confuses the minds of many buyers and users of such products who together with their inferiority complex towards the general understanding of the concept, scores of them ends up buying counterfeit products which lasts within the shortest time after their use. It has been discovered that, most buyers of the mostly related electrical products have little knowledge about their technical capability as related to the  nature of their quality standards for most of them absolutely fails to differentiate between the genuine and the counterfeit ones. In shopping consumer goods, consumers does a lot of selection and comparison based on various parameters such as cost, brand, style, comfort etc, before buying an item. They are costlier than convenience goods and are durable nature. It is a common tale among the residents of most Dar es Salaam city suburbs who maintains the true facts that if you want to buy an electronic gadget, just go along Msimbazi street and visit any shop that would cater for your need. Indeed this is true to the fact, but it is not true that all these products bear the same quality and characteristics as one person remarked one day. Quite a good number of these products especially cell phones do not have long life span. Unless a buyer takes an electrical technician who seem to be familiar with the technical make up of such goods when going to buy such types of products in order to help them verify their best quality design make among the goods displayed by shopkeepers. Buyers are openly informed and sometimes briefed to make them be assured of the manufacturing company and their countries of origins, with the poorest and low quality products coming from far East countries mostly China who are the manufacturers and supplying agents. Commenting on the quality standards and the durability of such equipment, a long experienced electrical technician working as an agent of TANESCO, a sole power utility firm in the country says that, goods with the lowest price rates do not last longer if used for wiring. Joakim Mtono (35) revealed that, by using such equipment it will require regular replacements in a periodical check up as most of these equipment are not sustainable enough in terms of use for they are prone to leakage and thus causing frequent lose connections in the whole wiring systems. The government through its organ the Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) has since early last year put down various major strategic measures as precautions in order to curb with the increased phenomenon that caused fear to buyers of such goods in the country. A heated debate ensured parliament during the budget sessions as MPs threw a blame to TBS for what it had shown as a total failure of accountability which has ultimately resulted into giving rise to mushrooming of counterfeit products in the country. However, TBS Director of quality control, Kezia Mbwambo was quoted by the media as saying that, despite of much efforts spearheaded by TBS, less has been achieved to fully curb the phenomenon by 100 percent rate simply due to the presence of numerous ways used by unscrupulous traders as porous borders better known as “panya routes” within our country’s national frontiers.  According to the Executive Director of Tanzania Consumer Society (TCS) Bernard Kihiyo, counterfeit products will stop flowing in the country if there would be a joint collaboration of the stakeholders among the five East African countries. Kihiyo is on the view of the fact that, there should be a mechanism that needs to be established which would be able to destroy syndicate behind the importation, distribution and sale of sub-standards goods. He says controlling the importation of counterfeit goods is not an easy task, because most importers deliberately order cheap products from abroad so as to reap wind fall profits upon selling them. The business of importing counterfeits he said is further complicated by the fact that it is supported and perpetrated by a sophisticated network of persons who know how to evade the law enforcing organs. However, he said adding that, it is a strong network that only the combined force of all relevant government organs can beat as some of the business community members have made it a culture of importing counterfeit products to make easy profit margins. In a move to curb with the increased substandard goods in the country, the International Standards Organization (ISO) has faulted the handling of such goods in Tanzania and challenged the government to have deployed substantial human and financial resources to bolster the verification system now in use. According to ISO Secretary General, Rob Steele, unless Tanzania bolster the present system, it would be extremely hard for the country to fight the dumping of substandard goods and products in the local market.  He challenges the government to fully engage in all international moves to eliminate the problem of substandard goods. He is on the view of the fact that, Tanzania should participate fully in the regional, continental and global efforts to harmonize outdated standard regulations before imposing strict legislation action like taking the culprits to the court of law..