IMPACT OF NICHE MARKETING STRATEGY ON SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES (SMEs) PERFORMANCE IN NASARAWA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The performances of Small and Medium Enterprises in Nasarawa State, Nigeria are low as they are experience high rate of competitive services, weak bonding with customers, low sales, low profits, low return on investment (ROI), low customer loyalty as well as business instability. SMEs in Nasarawa State should put in place more effort to enable them to achieve sustainable growth and development. This study is aimed to find out whether the application of Niche Marketing strategy will have a significant impact on the performances of the SME firms in Nasarawa State, Nigeria. The objective of this study is to examine the impact of Niche marketing strategy on Small and Medium Enterprises’ performance in Nasarawa State, Nigeria. A total number of 400 registered SMEs firms with the Nasarawa State Ministry of Commerce and Industries, Lafia, Nasarawa was the population of this study. Yamane’s sample size formula was used to determine the sample size of 200 out of the total population of 400 registered SMEs. The Research design employed for this study was a survey research design. Primary data was used for the study. Questionnaires were designed and administered to the Registered SMEs in Nasarawa State and data collected were analysed using a five-point Likert scale questionnaire. The finding revealed that there is significant impact of Niche Marketing Strategy on SMEs performance. It was revealed that there is significant impact of Product Positioning Strategy on SMEs performance with aggregate mean of 2.74 which is above the decision rule mean score of 2.50. However, it was revealed that there is no significant impact of Market Segmentation Strategy on SMEs performance with aggregate mean of 2.01 which is below the decision rule mean score of 2.50. Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded that Niche marketing strategy has an impact on the performance of the SMEs in Nasarawa State. Thus, recommended that SMEs incorporate these ideas of appropriate niche marketing strategy and become guerrilla marketers to compete successfully in markets dominated by much larger companies.