Niche Furniture Marketing in UAE

This research aims to evaluate the strategies required by niche furniture companies in UAE to penetrate the market in comparison to the mass marketing strategy. It will examine the current furniture market in UAE, factors affecting purchase decisions, and provide a comparison between niche marketing and mass marketing.

Running head: DISSERTATION PROPOSAL
Dissertation Proposal
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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Table of Contents
Section 1.......................................................................................................................2
1.0 Working Title.......................................................................................................2
2.0 Introduction.........................................................................................................2
2.1 Rationale.............................................................................................................2
2.2 Literature review.................................................................................................3
2.2.1 Introduction......................................................................................................3
2.2.2 Niche marketing...............................................................................................4
2.2.3 Mass marketing................................................................................................5
2.2.4 Comparison between niche marketing and mass marketing...........................5
2.3 Research question..............................................................................................6
2.4 Purpose...............................................................................................................6
2.5 Scope..................................................................................................................7
Section 2.......................................................................................................................7
1.0 Research methodology.......................................................................................7
1.1 Research strategy...............................................................................................7
1.2 Sampling strategy...............................................................................................9
1.3 Data collection.....................................................................................................9
1.4 Data analysis.......................................................................................................9
1.5 Validity and Reliability.........................................................................................9
2.0 Gantt Chart........................................................................................................10
References.................................................................................................................12

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Section 1
1.0 Working Title
Niche furniture marketing in UAE to penetrate the market segment and its
comparison with the mass marketing strategy for taking on the market
2.0 Introduction
This research has proposed to evaluate the strategies required by niche
furniture companies in UAE to penetrate into the market in comparison to the mass
marketing strategy. This research will evaluate the current furniture market in United
Arab Emirates to examine the growth rate and potential. This will facilitate in
understanding the current scope and opportunity in the furniture market. The study
will also evaluate the factors affecting the purchase decision of the buyers to develop
strategies effective necessary for increasing market penetration. The comparison
between mass marketing and niche marketing in the niche marketing will also be
provided to recommend suitable strategies.
2.1 Rationale
The real estate market in UAE has been booming for the past few years with
the development of key projects like Fairmont, Caesars Palace and other hotels.
This is due to the increase in tourism activity in UAE and the expat population is also
expected to increase due to the stability in oil prices. This is expected to positively
impact the furniture industry and emergence of new retail organizations that may
cater to the needs of the market. In the year of 2018, 40,000 new hotel rooms and
55,000 houses were built in UAE (Research 2019). The majority of the timber in
UAE are used for construction amount up to 70% and the remaining is used for
furniture and interiors (Research 2019). The furniture market in UAE is expected to
grow further due to the increase in tourism activity and is expected to add more
hotels and rooms by end of 2021.
The competition in the UAE furniture market is intense due to the increase in
demand of furniture products. This has led to the emergence new players in the
market which are catering to the same market segment or target audience
(Research 2019). Moreover, as majority of the players compete on the same quality
grounds of the material and products. The furniture retailers that are organized have
faced tough competition from not only the unorganized sector but also diverse types

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of stores with the market. The products in the furniture industry hold a high value in
minds of the consumers which results high cost of marketing. The companies in the
market are expected to use line advertising models for developing sustainability in
the market. The furniture is expecting a CAGR of 6% from 2018 to 2022 which
shows the growth in the current market (Research 2019).
The research has chosen this topic as it is one of the most growing and
important industry in UAE and the evaluation of the different marketing strategies will
facilitate in understanding the strategies to be implemented by existing organizations
in the industry. The research will increase awareness of the companies in the
furniture industry so that they can develop effective marketing strategies necessary
to push their products and gain competitive advantage. The choice between mass
marketing and niche marketing is crucial for the companies reducing the cost of
marketing effectively to address the market needs will increase the profit margin by
reducing the cost of operations of different organizations (Hammervoll, Mora and
Toften 2014). This is the reason that the research has focused on understanding the
contrasting nature of niche market and mass marketing to highlight the marketing
and promotional suitable for the different types of organizations in the furniture
industry in UAE. The research has chosen the case study of Pan Emirates which is
one of the premier home furnishing companies in Dubai have significant online
presence in the market. The study will examine and identify whether niche market or
mass marketing is suitable for the organization and the strategies the organization
can implement to enhance their market share by capitalizing on the market
opportunities.
2.2 Literature review
2.2.1 Introduction
Marketing in modern day is changing and dynamic activity in businesses. The
role of marketing has significantly due to the change in the global macro environment
(Bronzi and Rosenthal 2014). Globalization and incorporation of technology to
marketing has made the activities in marketing to be driven by the market changes
where companies derive timely and accurate customer information, information on
product and marketplace to develop strategies for decision making. The
incorporation of digital marketing has changed the way, organizations use marketing
to communicate with the consumers to better understand their needs (Hoppen,

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Brown and Fyall 2014). The choice between niche marketing and mass marketing
has been one of major concerns for the organization as it is crucial to develop
effective marketing strategies to compete with other companies in the market
segment. This literature has critically evaluated past literature to examine niche
marketing and mass marketing to highlight its role in different organizational
situations.
2.2.2 Niche marketing
Niche marketing is a concept which has been implemented by various
organizations in the global market successfully. Even though, this aspect of
marketing is popular, there has been limited research on its application. As stated by
Schaefers (2014), niche marketing has been defined as target marketing,
concentrated marketing, micro marketing and focused marketing. Even though, there
is substantial similarities among these approaches they still differ from each other in
certain context. Niche is considered to be a small marketing consisting on small
groups of consumers with similar needs and characteristics. Dalgic and Leeuw
(2015) has suggested two approaches to niche marketing where one considers it as
a creative process and the other considers it as the final stage of segmentation. In
the first case, niche marketing has been considered as the process of carving out
small group of target consumers from the overall population whose unique needs are
not being fulfilled. On the other hand, in another approach segmentation, targeting,
positioning and niching is the sequence of implementing it. Sidali, Kastenholz and
Bianchi (2015) has provided a general definition of niche marketing which states that
it is a process of addressing the needs of the consumers by tailoring the services
and goods for small markets.
Hennig-Thurau and Houston (2019) opined that segmentation in the first
stage of niche marketing. On the contrary, Dalgic and Leeuw (2015) opined that
segmentation is a top down approach which breaks larger market into smaller parts
but niche marketing is a bottom up approach where the marketer starts from
assessing the needs of few consumers and gradually increases the consumer base.
This is contrasting to the concept of breaking up larger market into smaller
segments. The niche market is comparatively smaller than the small segments in
segmentation and focuses on individuals and homogeneous groups (Akbar, Omar
and Wadood 2017). It addresses the specific needs in contrast to manageable

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markets in case of segmentation. Kotler suggested that specialization is the key
concept to niche marketing where there are various ways of specialisation such as
vertical-level specialisation, end-user specialisation, customer-size specialisation,
product specialisation, geographic specialisation, quality and price specialisation,
product-feature specialisation, channel specialisation, service specialisation and job-
shop specialisation (Mishra 2017). This idea of specialisation implies that companies
require specific competencies possessed by the companies. There are five key
elements being addressed by the concept of niche marketing. The definition of niche
marketing has presented five elements of niche marketing and they are positioning,
profitability, distinctive competences, small market segments and adherence to the
concept in marketing.
2.2.3 Mass marketing
Elton (2016) states that mass marketing is the process where firms ignore the
basic differences between the different consumer segments and uses the same
marketing strategy to address a larger segment. It aims to provide solutions when
the consumers have almost similar preferences for their products. The extent of
mass marketing has been diminishing significantly as undifferentiated marketing
cannot be used for majority of the products in any industry. Paul (2018) states that
argument for using mass marketing is the fact that it creates the largest potential
market for the firms which decreases the overall cost which in turn leads to increase
in profit margin of the business entities.
Olson et al. (2018) states that companies having narrow product lines reduces
the overall cost of production, research and development, inventory, market
research, transportation, product management and advertising. The use of
undifferentiated marketing works for staple products but companies have to use
differentiated marketing at some point of time due to the significant increase in
market competitive and need for customized products and solutions. In differentiated
market, marketers provide the consumers with different products based on their
needs.
2.2.4 Comparison between niche marketing and mass marketing
The evolution of marketing has shown that it has moved through several
stages starting from production concept to the concept and from the concept of

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selling to marketing concept. Cao, Xu and Hu (2018) states that the key to achieving
the goals of the organization is determination of the wants and needs of the target
segment by providing the highest quality of satisfaction the customers. This
statement is more close apt for niche marketing when compared to mass marketing,
as it is the most suitable approach to fragmented market as niche marketing has
developed functions closer to the consumers. Hennig-Thurau and Houston (2019)
opined that niche marketing is one of the major trends in developed market due to
the increase in global competition. Therefore, it is favourable to make use of niche
marketing in mature markets as standardized mass production and catering to the
consumers is less profitable in the modern business scenario. Akbar, Omar and
Wadood (2017) stated that the modern competitive market has led to a strategic
debate about the suitability of standard market or niche market and customization or
tailed products. Dadzie, Dadzie and Winston (2019) opined that even though mass
marketing has its own benefits but niche market is ideal for dealing with the rapid
change in the smaller markets. Dalgic and Leeuw (2015) argued that mass
marketing has its advantage where it provides economies of scale, experience curve
effects, strategic price mechanism and competitive pricing.
Mishra (2017) stated that the difference in mass marketing and niche
marketing can be characterised by the difference in business entities. Companies
using mass marketing are led central and bureaucracy is prevalent which leads to
inflexibility. On the contrary, companies using niche marketing are decentralised and
consists of numerous strategic units (Sidali, Kastenholz and Bianchi 2015). Kotler
stated that niche marketers end up being profitable as they are able to understand
their consumers better than any other firms and can provide the best possible
service and products to the consumers. Therefore, as these firms are offering added
value to the consumers they can charge considerable amount of mark up on the
cost.
2.3 Research question
Can Niche furniture marketing in UAE have the potential to penetrate the market
segment of the nation? What are the similarities as well as dissimilates between the
mass marketing strategy and the Niche marketing strategy in the retail industry of the
nation?

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2.4 Purpose
The main objectives of the research are as follows:
 To find out the strategies that are being taken by the mass furniture marketers
in order to establish their business in the market
 To find out the growth rate, potential as well as potential of the furniture
market in UAE
 To find out the scope and opportunities that can be gained by the Niche
furniture marketers in the furniture industry of UAE
 To understand the factor that influence the decision making ability of the
consumers
 To compare the strategies taken by the niche furniture market and the Mass
furniture market in order to establish their business in the industry
2.5 Scope
The main of the research is to examine niche and mass marketing concepts
to highlight the suitable form of marketing strategies for furniture companies in UAE.
This research will include Pan Emirates as the organization of choice for evaluating
whether niche marketing or mass marketing is appropriate for the company. The
inclusion of other companies in the sector is out of scope and the study will solely
focus on the case of Pan Emirates. Moreover, the research will use cross sectional
data so the data will be collected only once to reduce the cost and time consumed in
the research. Moreover, the stress will be only niche marketing as it is main focus of
the research and mass marketing will only be used for comparison and contrast.
Section 2
1.0 Research methodology
Research methodology is the process of systematically collecting data and
examining it. Research methodology consists of research methods, instruments and
frameworks essential for knowledge development. Research methodology assists in
developing a philosophical model based on the research problem. Research
methodology is developed based on the goal of the research (Kumar 2019). In this
research, the main goal of the study is description of behaviour and prediction of one
variable to another so a quasi-experimental design will be chosen. The research
methodology will be developed based on the Saunders research onion which will

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unfold the method and strategy to be used in every stage of the data collection and
analysis. This will facilitate in conducting a mixed method analysis where both
quantitative and qualitative analysis will be analysed.
1.1 Research strategy
The philosophical framework of the research will consist of assumptions,
theories and framework essential for knowledge development. Research philosophy
consists of various assumptions and beliefs which defines the philosophical
framework in the research. The credibility of a research philosophy depends on the
assumptions and beliefs. Assumptions are made in every stage of the research
which facilitates in shaping the way research questions is perceived in the study.
There are mainly three type of assumptions, epistemological, ontological and
axiological. There are mainly four types of research philosophies and they are
pragmatism, positivism, interpretivsim and realism (Bell, Bryman and Harley 2018).
In this research, pragmatism has been chosen as the research philosophy as it focus
on the research question to develop effective research methods for collecting data
and analysing. Pragmatism believes that there are various ways of interpreting a
problem which results in the existence of multiple realities (Saunders et al. 2015).
This means that pragmatism will facilitate in conducting both qualitative and
quantitative data by to address the research questions.
There are mainly two types of approaches in research, deductive and
inductive. The difference between the deductive and the inductive approach is based
on the relevance of the hypothesis in the research. Deductive approach as the
names suggest is used for developing hypothesis from the existing theories
discussed in the literature review section which is then tested using quantitative
techniques (Quinlan et al. 2019). On the other hand, the inductive approach is used
for developing tentative hypothesis from observations. It is used for developing new
generalisations and theories. In this research, both inductive and deductive approach
will be used to address the research questions. The deductive approach will be used
to examine whether niche marketing has the capability in the furniture market in
UAE. On the contrary, the inductive approach will be used to evaluate the similarities
and dissimilarities between mass marketing and niche marketing.

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Research design defines the choice between qualitative and quantitative data
in research. It can also be defined as the plan for selecting data and analysing.
There are mainly three types of research designs and they are descriptive,
exploratory and explanatory research design. The exploratory research design is
used for exploring data and examine the research problem to provide a framework
for conducting a conclusive research (Brannen 2017). On the other hand, descriptive
research design is used for describing a phenomenon using both quantitative and
qualitative analysis. Explanatory research is used for examining the causal
relationship between two variables. In this research, descriptive research design has
been used to describe the phenomenon and prediction of one variable to another
variable.
1.2 Sampling strategy
Sampling is the process of choosing elements from the whole population and
is used for large population to reduce time and complexity of the research (Palinkas
et al. 2015). There are mainly two types of sampling techniques, probabilistic
sampling and non-probabilistic sampling. The main difference between the two is
randomization. Probabilistic sampling can be further divided into cluster sampling,
stratified sampling, simple random sampling and systematic sampling. Non-
probabilistic sampling can be divided into quota sampling, haphazard sampling,
purposive sampling and snowball sampling. The sampling process starts with
choosing the target population in the research. In this research, the employees in
UAE will be target population. The next phase is choosing the sampling frame and in
this study, the employees working in Pan Emirates has been chosen as the sample
population. The third phase is selecting the sample size and in this study, 50
employees and 3 managers of Pan Emirates have been chosen. The research will
use stratified random sampling to choose the respondents for the survey. On the
other hand, purposive sampling will be used to choose the managers for the
interview.
1.3 Data collection
There are mainly two types of data collection method, primary and secondary.
In this research, primary data has been collected through survey and interview as
the research instrument (Halcomb and Hickman 2015). The survey questionnaire will
consist of close ended questions framed on five point Likert scale and will also

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include nominal questions. The questionnaire will consist of questions on nominal
scale and ratio scale. The interview questionnaire will consist of open ended
question which will collect in depth answers from the respondents. The interview
questionnaire will consists of semi structures questions.
1.4 Data analysis
The quantitative data collected will be analysed using statistical tools such as
SPSS (Statistical package for social sciences). The data collected will be
represented in frequency tables and graphs (Halcomb and Hickman 2015).
Correlation and regression analysis will be used to examine the suitability of niche
marketing and mass marketing. Correlation measures the degree, nature and
direction of relationship between the elements. Regression analysis is used to
develop a predictive model to evaluate the relationship. The qualitative data will be
analysed using coding. Open coding will be used to evaluate the qualitative data to
identify the patterns in the comments made by the managers and axial coding will be
used to link the codes with the existing theories to address the relevant objective in
the research. The results from the qualitative analysis will be compared with the
findings of the quantitative analysis to validate the results.
1.5 Validity and Reliability
Reliability is the ability of the research to replicate results using same
research methods but different data sets. In this research, cronbach’s alpha will be
used to check the internal consistency and scale reliability of the data collected.
Validity measures the appropriateness of the research instruments (Straus 2017).
Pilot testing will be used to send the questionnaire to 10 respondents to check
whether the questionnaire is appropriate or not. In pilot testing, the formulation of the
questions and their ability to derive significant answers will be tested. Bartlett test of
sphericity and KMO test of sampling adequacy will be used to check the proportion
of variance and the relatedness of the data collected.
2.0 Gantt Chart
Task Name Duration Start Finish
Research plan 52 days Fri 03-05-19 Mon 15-07-19
Topic Selection 4 days Fri 03-05-19 Wed 08-05-19
Search for project topics 1 day Fri 03-05-19 Fri 03-05-19
Discuss with lecturer 2 days Mon 06-05-19 Tue 07-05-19
finalise topic 1 day Wed 08-05-19 Wed 08-05-19

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Milestone 1: Topic selected 0 days Wed 08-05-19 Wed 08-05-19
Data collection from
secondary sources 5 days Thu 09-05-19 Wed 15-05-19
Search for online sources 2 days Thu 09-05-19 Fri 10-05-19
collect relevant sources 1 day Mon 13-05-19 Mon 13-05-19
Framing layout of the
research 2 days Tue 14-05-19 Wed 15-05-19
Milestone 2: Data collected 0 days Wed 15-05-19 Wed 15-05-19
Literature review 9 days Thu 16-05-19 Tue 28-05-19
Critically analyse the collected
material 2 days Thu 16-05-19 Fri 17-05-19
Develop annotated bibliography 4 days Mon 20-05-19 Thu 23-05-19
formulate the preliminary
literature review 3 days Fri 24-05-19 Tue 28-05-19
Milestone 3: Literature review
developed 0 days Tue 28-05-19 Tue 28-05-19
Research methodology 8 days Wed 29-05-19 Fri 07-06-19
Selection of the Appropriate
Research Techniques 2 days Wed 29-05-19 Thu 30-05-19
sampling of data respondents 3 days Fri 31-05-19 Tue 04-06-19
reliability and validity 1 day Wed 05-06-19 Wed 05-06-19
informed consent 2 days Thu 06-06-19 Fri 07-06-19
Milestone 4: research plan
developed 0 days Fri 07-06-19 Fri 07-06-19
Data collection from primary
sources 13 days Mon 10-06-19 Wed 26-06-19
Conduct survey and interviews 5 days Mon 10-06-19 Fri 14-06-19
Data analysis using Ms Excel and
SPSS 5 days Mon 17-06-19 Fri 21-06-19
Content analysis 3 days Mon 24-06-19 Wed 26-06-19
Milestone 5: primary data
collected and analysed 0 days Wed 26-06-19 Wed 26-06-19
Conclusion of the Study 13 days Thu 27-06-19 Mon 15-07-19
Formation of Rough Draft 7 days Thu 27-06-19 Fri 05-07-19
Discuss with the lecturer 4 days Mon 08-07-19 Thu 11-07-19
Submission of Final Work 2 days Fri 12-07-19 Mon 15-07-19
Milestone 5: Project concluded 0 days Mon 15-07-19 Mon 15-07-19

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