a) A niche market refers to a lucrative and small market segment. Marketing strategy is targeted and concentrated at this specific market segment. Pink Ladies are specifically targeted at women travelling alone who do not want to or have to use their own cars.

b) Any two Merits clearly explained for maximum marks. Merits could include:

• There is limited, if any, rivalry since Pink Ladies offers a unique service. Therefore premium prices can be charged, consent to the firm to earn higher profit margins
• Focused marketing at the precise market segment helps Pink Ladies to meet their consumer needs better, thereby convalescing the firm's competitiveness
• There is more effective use of the marketing plan since marketing is highly concentrated on the particular target market
• The highly specialized service helps to encourage customer loyalty

c) Award up to 2 marks for the accurate definition of ‘pilot scheme' (or piloting). Application should be demonstrated for utmost marks.

Piloting is the procedure of introducing marketing activities to a group of people, such as to measure their responses, ladies travelling alone at night, reactions and feedback to a product (in this case a ladies only taxi service). A pilot scheme might be significant to Pink Ladies because:
• It can potentially save Pink Ladies a lot of money and time by providing useful information and identifying areas in necessity of improvement before it launches the service on a much larger, perhaps national, scale.
• It can help to refine product development and design t (in this case a female-only taxi service) to raise its probability of success
• It helps the firm to improve its marketing strategy and plans to better meet the needs of its clients
• Given the high failure rate of new products launched on the market, piloting can help to diminish the threat of launching an unsuccessful or unpopular product
• Hence piloting helps Pink Ladies to reduce the uncertainties and risks of operating in niche markets.

d) Award 2 marks for each alternative process of market research that is considered in the context of Pink Ladies (up to a maximum of 4 marks). These might include:

• Quantitative Vs Qualitative market research techniques
• Focus groups
• Surveys / Interviews with potential female clients
• Secondary research, e.g. cost-effective data (to judge the level of consumer spending levels)