Wadiah and Setting Up A Target Market

Wadiah Definition: Quite often when it comes to Islamic financing, some of the terms used will be quite specifically laid out and easy to understand. Simply put, this term is all about any kind of deposits or savings that are guaranteed. The definition also includes any kind of deposit that is kept with a person that is not the owner for safekeeping. The idea of making sure that a deposit is kept and guaranteed in safe custody is one of the cornerstones of Wadiah. With that in mind, there are two types.

Wadiah yad amanah generally refers to property that is deposited using this particular method. Wadiah yad Dhamanah refers to monetary savings that are guaranteed for safekeeping. The whole concept rests upon the idea of social justice in Islam and sharing profits.

Wadiah is a common term used quite often in Islamic financing to refer to a deposit by someone with an ijara loan. There is a lot to do when you’re putting together a small business using ijara financing. Beyond setting up your business structure so that it is sharia compliant, there are some more traditional things that you will need to look into.

One of the first things that should be top of mind for any start-up involving wadiah is defining your target market. While your business structure needs to be free from riba, you’ll also need to clearly define who you are going to sell to.

Even Muslims who are planning on selling online products and services need to go through this exercise. Generally, there are a few common steps that will help you.

If your business is already established, you can define your target market even further by taking stock of the customers you serve presently. If you’ve got a store that’s either brick-and-mortar or online, you’ll more than likely have regulars, people who drop in and just clients who buy from you occasionally.

Defining your services through a target market means deciding which of these groups is more important than the others. A good way to help you make a decision is to look at some sales numbers.

Wadiah can help you make that decision when you further narrowed down your scope by looking at deposits.

Another excellent way to further define your target market is through social media. Regardless of whether you’re online or only have a brick-and-mortar store, you should have a Facebook page and a Twitter account at the very least. Finding someone to monitor the posts that come in on these feeds is a good way to gauge the types of people who are buying your goods and services.

Make sure that you get all the feedback you can from sale staff and front-line employees. These are the people who are instrumental in dealing with customers and they’ll be able to give you the kind of insights only face-to-face communications can.

Here’s one of the best pieces of advice you’ll get about setting up a target market. Remember you can’t be all things to everyone. That means focusing on one or two customer types out of the information you get is the best practise.

The idea to setting up a target market is having the same focus and discipline you did when you chose Islamic financing and wakalah by proxy. Call us or click online to find out more.