Kenyan households are confronting yet another season of rising prices. The cost-of-living crisis experienced in recent months continues to burden families whose budgets were already stretched thin.
Indeed, even when headline inflation softens slightly, at its current 4.6 percent, the everyday reality in supermarkets and kiosks tells a different story. A modest fall in the price of maize flour, for instance, is rarely enough to counter sharp rises in vegetables, electricity and transport.
What many Kenyans feel most acutely is not the movement of national averages but the weekly pressure of meeting basic needs with incomes that do not keep pace.
In this environment, the kadogo economy emerges as a central mechanism through which households manage uncertainty. The idea that small becomes smart is now shaping how consumers buy and how companies produce.
While the model has existed for decades, its relevance has reached a new peak as disposable incomes tighten and formal credit remains inaccessible for most households.
The smallest unit becomes a budgeting tool that allows families to match cash flow to daily requirements without committing to large expenditures.
Local manufacturers have taken note and are rapidly shifting to small, affordable packs.
Many other companies have had to reconfigure their production lines, adjust distribution networks and cultivate retail partnerships that can handle high volumes of low unit value products.
This is a strategic motivation as much as it is empathetic, with firms that do not adapt risking losing their customer base to competitors that understand the new spending logic. The approach reduces barriers at the point of sale and ensures that brands remain within reach for lower and middle income buyers. It also cushions manufacturers against erratic demand.
Smaller packs move steadily regardless of economic cycles since they align with daily rather than monthly budgets.
This adaptation is visible across sectors, with cooking oil producers now selling quantities that are small enough to cook a single meal.
Detergent brands offer measured sachets that guarantee predictable spending, as beverage companies adopt similar strategies in response to shifting consumption habits in both urban and peri urban areas.
Even premium focused brands have begun experimenting with downmarket extensions that allow them to stay present in the consumer’s consideration set during periods of financial constraint.
Critics argue that small packages have a higher cost per unit than bulk purchases, which is numerically true. But the comparison misses reality on the ground. For many households, the choice is not between a large bottle and several small ones, it is between purchasing a small pack or going without the product entirely.
Small units, therefore, remain not just a practical solution but an economic necessity for millions. As the cost of living continues to evolve, the brands that thrive will be those that design with reality—not assumptions—in mind.
Rajul Malde is Commercial Director at Pwani Oil Products Limited
