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Islamic marketing: The birth of a new social science

Article  in  Journal of Islamic Marketing · March 2010

DOI: 10.1108/jima.2010.43201aaa.001

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Baker Ahmad Alserhan

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 Islamic Marketing: The birth of a new social science

Baker Ahmad Alserhan, Editor

It is with great deal of pleasure and enthusiasm that we, the Journals’ editor, editorial

advisory board, and publishers, welcome readers, authors, and contributors to the inaugural

issue of the Journal of Islamic Marketing (JIMA). The journal has been founded to support

Islamic Marketing as a newly established social science that is introduced as an alternative to

the traditional marketing theory and practice. It does that through adding a religious-based

ethical framework to the practice of marketing. Such a framework, which opens a whole

new array of marketing opportunities, affects the behavior of the consumer, community, and

company in ways that could not even be envisioned by marketing practitioners who are

restrained by short term requirements dictated by the conventional marketing thought.

Why Islamic Marketing?

In an Islamic market, religious teachings clearly influence the choices of Muslims. For

example, the concept of Halal, which is comparable to Kosher in Judaism but with much

broader applications since, unlike Kosher, it is not only restricted to food, affects every

single aspect of a Muslim’s life; it affects the decisions of what to buy and what to sell, the

terms, time, and place of the sale, the promotional activities, and whom to transact with. It

also affects margins, markups, and ingredients. In addition to Halal, these activities and

decisions are also subject to the central Islamic concept of “no harm” which forbids all

exchanges, activities, and transactions that cause harm to the earth or to any of its

occupants, including humans, trees and animals, seas and oceans, and land and air. An

exchange that is perceived to be in violation of these or any of the other numerous detailed

Islamic principles is likely to face major obstacles in a Muslim market that is increasingly

becoming aware of the values dictated by its religion, which is creating complex challenges
for international marketers who are used to neglecting religion in their marketing campaigns.

The changes brought by this awareness are influencing Muslims economic decisions and

forcing marketers targeting them to play by new roles and often in unfamiliar playgrounds

that are characterized by transformed world markets, unusual advertising strategies, and

religious instead of the rational model of consumer behavior.

The benefits of applying the principles of Islamic Marketing, which adds an ethical dimension

that is grounded in religion to marketing relationships and decision making processes, clearly

outweigh those of solely relying on the conventional marketing wisdom, which has a less

than honorable record; one can easily notice that such wisdom has done little to bring

order to the prevailing economic chaos or ease the severity of the economic hardships of

the past two years, that is of course, if it is at all possible to assume that conventional

marketing wisdom was innocent from creating such chaos in the first place.

A second important factor that is giving rise to the practice of Islamic Marketing is the sheer

size of the Islamic market, which is usually estimated between 1.5 and 2 billion consumers

representing nearly a quarter of the current world population (Huda 2009; PRC 2009). The

largest Islamic body, the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), is composed of the

economies of 57 member states, 50 of which are overly Muslim. The remaining members

have large Muslim populations, although Muslims are not a majority in them. These 57

countries have a combined GDP of nearly USD 8 trillion (before the oil boom of 2008).

These countries currently import USD 1 trillion worth of products and export USD 1.4

trillion, creating a growing combined market of USD 2.4 trillion. Although a significant

percentage of exports are oil-related, both exports and imports span all types of industrial

and consumer goods and services.

Muslims represent a majority in more than 50 countries and about one person in four of the

world population heeds Islam’s call, embracing the religion at a rate that makes it the fastest

growing of all religions on earth. The impressive size of the Islamic market translate into real

economic figures, with some of the Muslim countries today are, by far, the richest in the

world. Moreover, although the overwhelming majority of Muslims live in countries that are

overly Islamic countries, Muslims live in economically feasible numbers in most countries in

the world, with very few countries having small Muslim communities that are not feasible to

target. Muslims are increasingly becoming more observing and the rules that guide their lives

are being increasingly Islamized as more and more people resort to religion as an identity

and as a way of salvation. As the influence of the Sharia-compliant supporters increases, the

whole society is being driven towards Sharia-compliant marketing practices. For example,

more and more TV advertisements in the Arab World are being produced using animations

and cartoons or women wearing head scarves. The traditional reliance on the look of

beautiful Arab women wearing non-Islamic outfits to sell, although still having many

advocates, is being gradually replaced by more Islamic substitutes under the overly strong

influence of the more conservative trends in these societies.

Research opportunities in Islamic Marketing

Islamic marketing provides almost unprecedented research opportunities for researchers,

academics, and professionals. Moreover, the publication arena in this area remains virtually

vacant and researchers have much greater possibilities for publishing and making actual

pioneering contributions than in any other comparable social science. It is indeed a rare

chance that is hard to come by again, it should not be missed. After all, it is not everyday

that a new social science is introduced?

Possible areas of investigation in Islamic marketing include, but not limited to, Trade with

the Islamic world, The Muslim consumer, The Islamic marketing mix, Islamic Branding,
Islamic retail and distribution channels’ practices, Islamic pricing practices, Islamic franchising

practices, Islamic market segmentation, The Muslim consumption pattern, The Muslim

dressing pattern, Gender separation and its implications, Islamic life style markets, Islamic

marketing/business ideals, Advertisements and promotions to Muslims, Current trends in

Islamic markets, Commercialising Islam, Global events and the Muslim consumer, Islamic

Hotel Branding and Muslim Hospitality, The global Halal market and the Halal supply chains,

Halal excellence centers, The global Islamic finance market, Islamic financial services

marketing, E-marketing in Islamic markets, Islamization of Commerce, Islamic products

global image positioning, etc.

The Journal’s progress

The Journal of Islamic Marketing has had a warm welcome by Academics and professionals

around the world. Numerous messages of support, encouragement, and interest continue

to be received from as far as Argentina and Brazil in the West to New Zealand and

Australia down under. This interest has been expressed in the noticeable number of

submissions received from authors having different academic, professional, cultural, and

religious backgrounds, which truly helps position and promote the Journal as having an

international focus. The Journal has also helped create awareness and momentum in the

field of Islamic Marketing worldwide. International research teams composed of well-known

researchers are being formed with the help and participation of some of the Journal’s

Editorial Advisory Board to establish research in the various fields of Islamic Marketing,

including Islamic Branding, Islamic Hospitality, Halal Innovation, and the Islamic food bridge,

to mention only a few. The Journal promotion has also instigated the idea of Islamic

Marketing conferences, which is currently being pursued in several countries in three

continents.

The journal’s outlook

The Journal of Islamic Marketing is envisioned to be among the most widely acknowledged

journals in the field of marketing and to be a top tier journal within the first five years of its

launch. Towards that end, the journal: (1) continues to attract some of the world’s most

brilliant minds in marketing and management to serve on its editorial advisory board and to

guide its progress, (2) continues to establish links with researchers and research institutions

all over the world, (3) implements coordinated awareness campaigns utilizing the skills,

resources, and networks of its dedicated EAB members and publishers, and (4) adheres to a

very strict policy of author service as indicated in its code of conduct.

The code of conduct of the Journal of Islamic Marketing

The editorial team of the Journal of Islamic Marketing including the editor, the editorial

advisory board, and the publishers acknowledge and respect the importance of the time

factor for the journal’s authors and hence vow not to waste it and not to keep authors

waiting needlessly. To achieve that, the editorial team will abide by the following set of rules

in managing the various affairs of the journal:

1. Authors’ general and support inquiries will be answered within 24-48 hours.

2. Decisions on manuscripts will be made within a maximum period of 15 weeks. The

Journal’s editorial and review teams will provide professional reviews benchmarked

against the best journals in the area of marketing within the specified time frame.

3. If, during the review process, it becomes evident that a review will take longer than

the specified 15 weeks period, affected authors will be notified and given the choice

to either keep the paper in the journal’s review process or to withdraw it.

4. If authors decide to withdraw a manuscript from the journal’s review process their

future submissions will not be affected whatsoever.

5. Authors will never be asked to reference articles published in the Journal of Islamic

Marketing as an “implied” precondition for publication in the Journal.

 6. The quality and contribution of the manuscript is the only factor underlying the

publication decision.

References

Huda. (2009). "World's Muslim Population: Statistics About the Muslim Population of the

World." Retrieved 21/12, 2009, from:

http://islam.about.com/od/muslimcountries/a/population.htm.

PRC (2009). Mapping the Global Muslim Population: A Report on the Size and Distribution

of the World's Muslim Population, Pew Research Center.

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