Assessment on Product Differentiator Reasons of Customers Who Prefer Imported Shoes to Locally Produced Ones: a Case Study in Awassa Town

Nowadays, shoe products are imported in different ways to Ethiopia, and many imported shoe customers also purchase these imported shoe products. As these shoe products imported from outside, the country also has its own shoe factories, which provide different types of shoe products, and currently suffering because of high competition from imported shoes. This study assesses product differentiator reasons of customers who prefer imported shoes over locally produced ones, taking the case of imported shoe customers and retail distributors of Awassa town which is 275 kms far from Addis Ababa to the south. The study relied on a sample of 750 Awassa town imported shoe customers and all imported shoe retail distributors. The data collection based.on 6 product differentiators namely; quality, price, durability, repairability, easiness to clean, and fashionability of a shoe and the data is collected through questionnaire and interview. The result of the data analysed using percentages and summarization tables show quality, fashion ability, durability and price are the four major product differentiator reasons of customers to prefer imported shoes to locally produced ones. ~