Niche market strategy for a mature marketplace

Purpose - To examine how companies in the maturity stage of the product life cycle can implement and maintain a successful niche market strategy to increase competitiveness in the face of new competition, with particular reference to the global textile industry.Design methodology approach - Responsi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marketing intelligence & planning 2006-01, Vol.24 (7), p.694-707
Main Authors: Parrish, Erin D, Cassill, Nancy L, Oxenham, William
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Clothing and accessories
Clothing industry
Competition
Competitive strategy
Customers
Economists
Industrialized nations
Market segmentation
Market segments
Market strategy
Niche marketing
Product differentiation
Product life cycle
Profitability
Research methodology
Specialization
Studies
Success factors
Textile industry
Textiles
United States of America
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Summary:Purpose - To examine how companies in the maturity stage of the product life cycle can implement and maintain a successful niche market strategy to increase competitiveness in the face of new competition, with particular reference to the global textile industry.Design methodology approach - Responsible executives in eight firms in the textile and apparel clothing sector in the USA were interviewed face-to-face or by telephone, or completed an online questionnaire. The sample contains leaders in the industry.Findings - Research results suggest that niche marketing is an effective strategy for countering price competition in a mature industry and can use a niche market strategy. They identify key success factors, the most important factor of which was found to be a thorough understanding of the targeted consumers. It is concluded that the marketing mix plays a more important part than is generally suggested in the literature, by communicating non-price product attributes to the niche market.Research limitations implications - The small sample limits generalization beyond the companies that participated in the study and comparable firms in the US textile and apparel clothing industry.Practical implications - This research study shows, within its limitations, that niche marketing is a promising global competitive strategy for mature industries. The study proposes practical guidelines for putting it into practice.Originality value - This study generally confirms the literature, but comes to some original further conclusions.
ISSN:0263-4503
1758-8049
DOI:10.1108/02634500610711860