Current states of the furniture industry in UK and analysis of marketing strategy UK

Current states of the furniture industry in UK and analysis of marketing strategy

Project aim

This project aims at examining the marketing strategies that are applied in the UK furniture industry. this means that the research will examine the strategies various companies have applied to succeed in the furniture industry which is one of most competitive with a total number of 6395 companies as at 2008 ( FIRA, 2010). In addition, the research aims to understand the UK structure and operations of the UK furniture industry, and its competitiveness. This will help in understanding why various companies adopt or implement certain marketing strategies.

UK furniture industry is among the fastest growing industries in the manufacturing sector in the county. This is attributed to various technical factors that have transformed the industry to enhance mechanised production creating a revolution in retailing of furniture and creating a mass market. Today, furniture companies through aggressive marketing have been able to persuade a large number of the working class to make large sales, hence driving the market share of the industry. According to FIRA (2010), The UK, industry is subdivided into three sectors, the domestic, and contract and office sectors. The industry has a large number of micro and small medium companies. This makes it interesting to study the marketing strategies these companies employ.

Therefore, marketing entails the process of formulating and implementing initiatives to plan and manage ways in which a company can establish, predict and satisfy the needs of customers in a manner that is profitable to the marketer. Therefore, we aim to understand these processes in regard to the UK furniture industry. Indeed, a marketing strategy determines the long term objectives of a company, and the plan that a company will pursue to reach its set objectives. As noted by Shaw (2012) a marketing strategy needs detailed research and crafting of a suitable marketing mix to satisfy the consumers. As noted before, the UK has thousands of furniture companies and all of them compete for the same customers. However, how they survive this competition depends on the marketing strategies they put in place, for example, it possible to compete on the basis of quality, price or customer service. Therefore, this research seeks to o understand the specific marketing strategies are used in the UK furniture industry.

ObjectivesThe primary objective of this research is to examine the current states of the furniture industry in UK and analysis of marketing strategy. To achieve this primary objective we have also deduced three secondary objectives as follows:

To examine the current UK furniture industry

To examine the marketing strategies employed by furniture firms

To examine the successful marketing strategies that can used within the UK furniture industry

Rational for the study

The researcher has decided to examine the UK furniture industry because is one of the main industries in the manufacturing sector, it’s competitive and there interesting to study. However, in spite of importance in the economy and the marketing challenges companies within the industry face, little research is available on marketing strategies used in the furniture industry, it is against this background that the researcher has sought to undertake this present study.

The findings of this research will be important in to various stakeholders within the industry. For example, the findings would be important to furniture companies that want to enter into the UK furniture industry. This is because; it will help such potential new entrants to understand the successful strategies that can be employed to succeed in the industry.

Secondly, the findings of the research will also be useful to the current players in UK furniture industry in understanding the different marketing strategies that their competitors employ. In doing so, they will be able to respond in an effective manner. It can also allow these companies to change or strengthen their marketing strategies.

Thirdly, the findings of this study can be used by marketing students and professional who wish to understand the marketing strategies that are being used by the UK companies, or to know which marketing strategies have been established to be effective.

In general, the findings of this project are intended to help those interesting in the UK furniture industry, be it furniture companies, industry experts, or students.

To achieve these objectives of this project, as stated before will be carried out on the UK furniture industry. In particular, the research will examine the marketing strategies of two selected company (IKEA) as case studies companies.

Methods

This research will takes qualitative approaches to achieve the desired objectives. The qualitative or secondary research methodology approach will assist the researcher in the examination of the concepts of the furniture industry in UK and analysis of marketing strategy.

Indeed, the qualitative research is suitable for the present study owing to the fact that if will allow the researcher to apply a systemic method in analyzing the study research question. This argument is shared by Powell (1985), when he states that qualitative research avails vast past data on an issue being investigated. However, this method is prone to certain limitations that may affect the findings of the research. For instance, since it is done by others researchers, it may not be able to answer the formulated research questions, more so, there maybe a mismatch in the variable used, in the present research and previous studies.

The researcher in the present research will apply case study research, which will allow him to identify the marketing strategies employed by selected furniture firms operating in the UK industry. This is important in achieving the research objectives. Indeed, Powell (1995) has pointed out those case studies when used as empirical research examines an issue under research in its real-life environment. Powell (1995) adds that case studies give detailed researched information on certain conditions or occurrence in our environment, which matches our current examination.

Data collection

Data collection of qualitative research will involve company information, selected journal and news items selected because of their related themes to the present researcher and reliability. Therefore, the final articles will mainly comprise of drafted works, books reviewed, journal, websites that are directly related to the research question.

Similarly, the researcher will use IKEA UK as the case study company. Accordingly, data from about the company’s marketing strategies will be collected and analyzed.

References

FIRA (2010). Competitiveness of the UK Furniture Manufacturing Industry 2010: Retrieved from: http://www.fira.co.uk/document/fira-competitiveness-report-2010.pdf

Powell, R. (1985). Basic research methods for librarians. Norwood, NJ: AblexShaw, E. (2012). “Marketing strategy: From the origin of the concept to the development of a conceptual framework.” Journal of Historical Research in Marketing, 4(1), 30–55

Stake, R. E. (1995). The art of case study research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage