Enablers of strong cookstove sales through a purchase offer approach in rural Senegal : an explorative analysis

The use of well-designed improved cookstoves (ICS) in regions devoid of modern energy yields high private and social returns, mostly related to considerable woodfuel savings. Take-up rates are nonetheless often very low when people have to pay costcovering prices. This paper presents main results of a study in rural Senegal where households were individually invited to purchase ICS in their villages. Households’ ICS purchases and willingness to pay levels turned out to be unexpectedly high. We therefore explore potential factors behind this surprisingly high adoption, particularly those features of our approach that deviate from common real-world ICS markets. We observe that especially the way we designed our personalized door-to-door sales offer is an important determinant. Based on our findings, we derive insights for the design of future ICS dissemination programs.