IKEA Middle East Entry: Qualitative Research in a Closed Market

Mohammad Aslam was part of the research team at Research Nester tasked with helping a major international furniture and home goods company assess the secondhand furniture market across Middle East countries. This was a market entry question: could they compete in a resale segment in a region where consumer attitudes and distribution networks were largely unmapped.

His role covered both the quantitative and qualitative dimensions of the project. On the quantitative side, he prepared market size estimations and forecasting, mapping the current state of the secondhand furniture market and projecting growth trajectories based on key demand and supply drivers.

The harder part was the qualitative work. He connected directly with consumers in the Middle East to understand their attitudes toward secondhand furniture, a category that carries social and cultural weight in a region where many households are affluent and the concept of buying used goods is not universally accepted. Getting honest responses required navigating those sensitivities.

He also ran competitive profiling on established players already operating in the market, covering their financials, growth strategies, and distribution structures. Finding certified distributor details proved difficult, as most companies only reported through formal channels and contact information was rarely public.

The final deliverable was a structured report covering market definition, size and forecast, consumer sentiment, competitive landscape, and opportunity mapping. The report was designed to give the client a clear read on where the market was heading and what it would take to enter it.