1.1.1

• Niche marketing is a strategy where a business targets a smaller segment of a larger market, where customers have specific needs and wants.
• Targeting a product or service at a niche segment has several advantages for a business, including less competition, clear focus, and the ability to charge a higher price.
• The main disadvantages of marketing to a niche include lack of "economies of scale", risk of over dependence on a single product or market, and vulnerability to market changes.
• Mass marketing is a strategy where a business sells into the largest part of the market, where there are many similar products on offer.
• The key features of a mass market are that customers form the majority in the market, customer needs and wants are more "general" & less "specific", and associated with higher production output and capacity (economies of scale).
• Success in a mass market is usually associated with low-cost operation, heavy promotion, widespread distribution or market leading brands.
• Market size is a measure of the total available demand for competitors in a market
• Market growth measures the rate of change of market size, which might be rising, falling or remaining stable.
• Market share is a really important measure and in many businesses it forms the basis for a key corporate objective.
• All markets change over time, but the pace and nature of change vary considerably by market.
• A market which is subject to continual and rapid change is known as a DYNAMIC MARKET.
• In a dynamic market, there is a constant battle to gain or protect share, threat of new market entrants is always there, and price wars are a regular feature of intense competition.
• Competition in a market involves a battle for market share, a threat of new market entrants, and pricing is a key aspect.
• Product differentiation is a key part of competition, and the challenge for all businesses in a market is to establish and sustain an edge over the competition - this is known as competitive advantage.
• Competitive advantage is the ability of a business to add more value for its customers than its rivals and attain a position of relative advantage.
• Risk is the possibility or probability that things don't happen as you wish that they would, such as bad things happening to the business or planned actions or decisions not working out.
• Uncertainty is the fact that in life or in business, nothing is certain, and you can't be sure about the effect of your decisions whether they will be successful or not because there are factors that are outside of your control.
• Risk is a major issue for businesses, particularly large businesses, as it has the potential to not just damage the business but to threaten the survival of a business.
• Cyber security and fraud are two of the biggest risks that all businesses face.
• Uncertainty is a different concept to risk as managers have to deal with uncertainty all the time, it's the unknowns.
• Uncertainties that exist relate to business decisions and actions, such as how the market would respond if a change in the marketing mix was implemented, or how likely it is to achieve a breakeven output when choosing a new supplier.
• Human resource management is also affected by uncertainty, as businesses have to live with the uncertainty of whether they will be able to retain the right number of skilled and experienced employees at the start of each year.