As the Head of Product Development Department of Ikhwan Bank Limited (IBL), you and your team are given a task to come out with a new product or a package of products that is specifically designed to cater for small-medium enterprises and professionals such as medical practitioners, lawyers, engineers, accountants etc. to meet their financial requirement. As you are fully aware, this customer segment has always been neglected by many financial institutions. Many of these customers already have savings and current accounts with IBL. The bank management is of the view with a suitable attractive and profitable financing products, the bank could create a niche focussing on this segment for its long term business strategy. You will have to customize the product/s to cater for this group. i) Highlight briefly the relevance of niche marketing to an IFI in creating a more fine-tuned product and services for the identified segment. (4 marks) ii) Customize a product or package to cater for this target group by highlighting the product features inclusive of the appropriate Shariah contract applied and its benefits. The product or package should be different from those already in the market. (12 marks) iii) What are the appropriate promotional tools that IBL should adopt in order to ensure that the targeted segment are aware of the availability of the product and at the same time the bank can increase its revenue? (4 marks)
