unit 10 p1 p2 m1 d1

UNIT 10 P1

Describe types of market research

In this task I will be explaining the different types of market research there are to gather information. There are two types of data in which market research can collect; qualitative and quantitative. If you use both these types of data to find out information to help each other, it is called triangulation. It allows the data to be more accurate and not biased as it will have detailed answers along with statistic figures. There are two types of ways in which market research could happen; primary research and secondary research. Primary research is first hand data which you gather yourself from going out and getting it however, secondary research is data which is already created for a different purpose and anyone can get.

Qualitative research gives information about peoples buying decisions and what makes they but the product or service they buy. It is used to look at the reactions from customers about advertisement campaigns and new products or information about the consumers preferences. This type of research gives more detailed answers than quantitative research because the answers can be long worded and can be answered in as much detail as possible. This helps businesses because it gives them more detail.

Quantitative research is based on figures and numbers. This data can be used to see the patterns within a business using their statistic data. An example of something it can show is the amount of stores that stock a particular product. Another example is that you can see how much cash has been invested into the advertising for a single product.

Primary research is extremely useful for many reasons. One of these reasons is that it is specifically fit for the purpose of your data you want to find out. Therefore, you can choose the most suitable type of method to gather the information depending on what you need to find out. Also, by getting information yourself you can do it in the most cost efficient way however, the more money you spend, the better and more detailed the information you get will be. If you spend more money on the method of retrieving the data, then your information will be more accurate and it will be more reliable. There are loads of different types of methods of primary research you could use in order to find out information about phone cases such as;

focus groups- these are when a group of potential customers discuss products and give their opinions on them and their will be around 4-6 people, they are usually quite small. The purpose of focus groups are to generate useful information rather than standard responses that wouldn't be as useful and helpful. This type of research method is expensive to carry out as they have to usually pay people to take part in it and it is hard to gather enough people for it to take part sometimes.

panels- these are when there are surveys that are given to the same people over a period of time and the information that they include in the survey are things such as; typical items bought, which items more/less popular over time, how customers respond to the different factors, how consumers respond to marketing campaigns. The advantages of using panels to find out information is that you can make sure they retain interest in the product however, some people may drop out. 

e-market research- there are two main approaches to this type of research. There are standard questionnaires which are related to an interest which is quick to fill in and they can fill it out in their own time. The other type is interactive questionnaires which is when one question is given at a time because the questions are specifically sequenced.

observation- this is when businesses send in mystery shoppers to watch their reactions and habits when shopping. The spy's analyse the customers buyer behaviour with specific products. This is primary research because they are getting the research first hand as they are doing it themselves and witnessing it therefore it is extremely accurate data.

postal survey- the response of this type of method depends enormously on the relevance of the information and the answers may not always be representative of the whole target audience. This type of research is cheap which means the answers will be brief, meaning you won't get detailed information which can be unhelpful to the business and means you will get poor response rates.

email survey- this is when surveys get emailed to a specific type of target audience and they are easy and quick to complete. They are also easy to access because email is easy to use for most people. On the other hand, some emails may suffer survey fatigue and get sent into spam which won't help the business because people won't see that the email has got sent to them. 

telephone survey- this is when businesses call up people using a phone log of potential customers, already existing customers and people who have browsed their website etc. This type of research is regarded intrusive as people do not have time to answer a survey via the phone. They are usually conducted in the early evening when people are relaxing and not busy which increases the chance of people answering yet some people feel that it is annoying.

face-to-face survey- this is the best form of two way communication and it allows you to find out more personal information as you are speaking to someone face-to-face where you can see their facial expressions. However, information can sometimes become distorted as people are in a rush ad may make up answers or not properly complete the survey which leaves you which incomplete data. The advantages of using face-to-face survey is that you can see someone's facial expressions when they answer the questions and this can help because this makes the information more accurate but on the other hand people sometimes cant be bothered to stop to fill a survey in or also it depends on the weather. 

experimentation- this is when people review people taking particular actions. Businesses usually use this type of research method when they are making a change in the marketing mix such as changing a product. An advantage to this type of research method is that it is like a trail run to see how well the product would do without producing it on a max scale and launching it. 

field trips and piloting- this is when people test a new product before it launches because they want to find out what customers respond to these products. Field trails allow for businesses to make changes before the final launch of the product. Piloting is the first test that occurs to identify strengths and weaknesses. However, field trails are expensive to carry out.

Secondary research is data that has been produced already. An example is finding information in books or off the internet. Government statistics can be shown in these places and they are factual and accurate because they are from the government however, you would need to be careful when finding secondary research because some things are inaccurate. An example of an inaccurate website is Wikipedia, this is because anyone can post information onto the website which makes it unreliable.

Internal sources

Data records- This is the information on a database with chooses who the customers are etc. This information is kept hidden from businesses members as its valuable information. It also shows the location of customers who bought products from the business, where they have purchased from, when they bought it etc. All of this data will affect the businesses decisions therefore close inspection should be done in order to improve the businesses sales.

Website monitoring- This can give essential information about a website for the owner of a business. It counts the number of people who go onto a page and the cookies used. It also tracks the pages requested and the length of time on the page.

E-transactions- This shows stuff like the name and emails of customers along with what people have bought and how much they have spent etc. This allows the business to filter their emails to send them tailored emails specifically for that type of customer depending on how often they buy and what they buy etc.

Accounting and production records- This shows details about how the customers actually buy products from the business. An example of this is by using credit card. It shows what has been produced and what has sold and how much the business has made in the past.

Sales personnel- These are the people who are employed to sell products and know their customers and their buying habits. It allows them to encourage customers because they know how and what they like to buy.

Delphi technique- This is a method which can predict the future buying patterns. Someone has a knowledge about an issue in which they are examining. Then a panel of experts provide their views but do not have to have the same views. One person collects the views and extreme views are discarded. The person in the chair sums up the point snap date rest comments and fine-tunes their views eventually coming to a final agreement.

External sources
Internet- This is the use of search engines. It has a lot of information within it which is easily accessible. It is the home to thousands of sources that are submitted to the internet every day.

Company reports- Public limited company must produce an Annual General Report to show their business strategy and market research processes. This is useful when looking at competitors because you can see the difference between their businesses and yours.

Social trends- This shows the social and economic data which brings a broad picture together of the British society.

Monthly digest of statistics- This is a summary of the economic trends. This is useful to see how the economy has changed over time.

Expenditure and food survey- This shows how much households are spending and how patterns change over time.

Annual abstract of statistics- These are details about population, social conditions, prices and employment. These can be used to see how well the business is doing and make appropriate judgements on how to improve the business.

UNIT 10 M1

Explain with examples, how different market research methods are appropriate to assist different marketing situations

In this assignment I will explain how different marketing research methods are appropriate to assist different marketing situations. Businesses need to find out the most appropriate research methods in order to find out about their customers interests and preferences to ensure 100% satisfaction when the new range of phone cases are launched. Businesses carry out various types of market research to get a range of accurate, reliable answers to find out ways to produce their new range.

The business, Jack Wills needs to decide who their target audience is going to be for the new range of phone cases and one way they could eliminate their target audience is by using secondary research to look at existing phone cases and see who their target audience are. This could be done by looking at the businesses data records and their e-record to see what customers have bought and what they bought. This would be useful because the business could use this information to see what type of people would buy the new range of phone cases and who they are aimed at in comparison to existing customers. The best method to find out the target audience for the new range of phone cases would be to use questionnaires, because this is a way in which you can ask questions to a variety of different people and from the responses you get, you will be able to spot who the new range of phone cases appeal to most. Questionnaires are a good research method because they are efficient and people can write as much detail and as little as they want. However, it can be hard to find enough people to fill out the questionnaire as it wastes peoples time and can be quite expensive to produce the questionnaires.

Furthermore, businesses need to decide where they are going to place the new range of phone cases as this is extremely important when producing new products. An appropriate market research method to use to find out this information is observation. This is because it analyses individuals in a natural or planned atmosphere. It is an appropriate method to use because the observer would be watching the individuals every move meaning this is very accurate. The observer would go round different shopping centres in various different areas and assess individuals who look at phone cases. Another method that you could use to find out where to place the new range is face-to-face survey. This is because it is the best form of two way communication meaning you can communicate with passers by to see where they purchase their phone cases from. Another advantage to using face-to-face survey is that you can go across different areas so you get a vast variety of answers to make an accurate decision. Also, you are getting the information yourself which makes it accurate as well as speaking to people face-to-face and seeing their facial expressions. A disadvantage to this is that some people can't be bothered to stop and fill out a survey which could make it hard to get enough responses.

A market research method to use when deciding the price of a product is by giving out surveys to the target audience, because this is an effective way of collecting information about how much the phone cases should be sold at. Because we will be carrying the surveys out ourselves, it will be accurate information which is why this research method is a good and reliable method to use. An example question that could be asked within the survey is 'How much does price depend on your decision when buying a phone case?'. Surveys involve a mix of open-ended and multiple choice questions to get a mixed range of answers through  detailed and one word answers. Therefore this will give you a lot of information that will help you to work out the pricing for the new range of phone cases. There are various types of ways in which you could carry out your survey such as doing face-to-face, email, post etc. However we feel face-to-face survey is the most suitable because this is the easiest and simplest way because experienced interviewers know what they are doing and know the right people to ask although it can be expensive to product the surveys to hand out as well as not being able to get enough people to fill in the information as some people may not want to stop and answer the survey,

Market researchers need to assess the quality of the phone cases before they launch the range of them to ensure maximum satisfaction. The best market research method would be to use field trips and piloting. This is because it allows the business to test their phone cases with a group of people who fit their target audience to see their responses to the quality of the product. It is a suitable method to use because it allows businesses to make changed and alter the product depending on what the group of people say about the quality of it. The group of people will give their opinions and will get asked if they would buy it if they saw it in the shop which allows the interviewers and the business to get an understanding of how well it will sell. A disadvantage to using field trips and piloting is that whilst piloting is cheap to identify the products strengths and weaknesses, the actual field trip is expensive to conduct.

Also, a marketing situation that could be done is to test trail the phone cases before being launched to the public. The most appropriate market research method for this would be to have a focus group. This is because the product can be shown to a group of people who can offer their host opinions and give feedback about the product. Focus groups are an appropriate type of market research because it allows people to speak freely about the product because it doesn't limit what they can say like questionnaires. Also, it is a good method because people can actually see the product in front of them and look at it and see what it would really be like, instead of seeing a picture or a video of it. A disadvantage to using focus groups to trail a product is that sometimes it is hard to find people of their target audience to be willing to take part in a focus group. Also, some people may feel awkward when they are in a room with strangers who they don't know therefore, this may not say much which will not help the business because this won't give much information. Eventually they will be able to have the knowledge to understand what customers want in terms of the new range of phone cases.



UNIT 10 P2

Explain how the different market research methods have been used to make a marketing decision within a selected situation or business

Dear Director of Fonecases,

In this assignment I will be explaining the types of research that were carried out to find out information such as who the phone cases target audience were, deciding the price of the phone cases etc. Also, I will be explaining the decisions that were taken as a result of this research. In order for your business to bring out a new range of phone cases, you need to ensure you have carried out appropriate research in order to get reliable and relevant information that is going to help you produce a successful range of phone cases with full customer satisfaction.

Jack Wills carried out a focus group in order to find a target audience for their new range of phone cases. A focus group was chosen to make a marketing decision because it provided them with qualitative research which was useful to the business to understand who their target audience are in order to produce their new range of phone cases. For their focus group, they gathered people of a rough target audience they feel the phone cases would appeal to. Within the focus group, they showed a group of people new ideas and potential aspects that would come together to produce Jack Wills new range of phone cases and asked them to state their opinion on each idea and the aspects strengths and weaknesses to eventually come to a final decision and pick the best option for each aspect. By having a focus group, it allows the business to see if the target audience is appropriate for the product or if they need to change it depending on what they say in the focus group. By having a focus group, it allowed the target audience to give their opinion's freely and allowed them to be opinionated which left us with a mass number of information. From doing this focus group, Jack Wills were able to come to a decision about the target audience for their new range. They decided that the original target audience they had chosen for the focus group wasn't completely perfect for the new range therefore they should undergo a second focus group in order to make their results more accurate and get a clearer idea of the target audience.

Furthermore, we decided to carry out more primary research in order to find the best possible location for the new range of phone cases for Jack Wills. We decided that an observation would be the most appropriate method to use as this examines customers buying behaviour and it allows the observer to see what they look at etc. This was carried out by having a person within the business go into various shopping centres and observe shoppers in phone cases stores. From doing this research we gathered a load of information about the target audience and what they look at, what they look at first and other information that is important for the business to know before producing the phone cases for Jack Wills. One thing they found by doing this research is that customers don't look at the back shelves because they usually find a phone case that attracts their attention near the front. Also, the new ranges of phone cases are always at the front to entice the customers and they always go straight to the new ranges first before browsing through the rest of the store. This is important information to know before launching the new range because they will know to locate their new range at the front of the store rather than the back.

Another marketing decision Jack Wills made was that they wanted to find out the pricing for the phone cases. They prepared surveys and went to locations which were surrounded by the majority of their target audience and gave them out to find out peoples preferences about the pricing of a product and how much is affects their buying decision. From doing this method research, we found out that pricing was a big decision when it comes to buying phone cases, as a result of this we will be thinking extra carefully about the price of the phone cases. Furthermore, they found out that the majority of the target audience would spend between £3 and £10. From doing this research, we can tell it was beneficial for Jack Wills as we discovered a lot about customers buyer behaviour when it comes to the pricing of a phone case which will help us when launching the new range.

Jack Wills used field trips and piloting to assess the quality of their products before the range launches. It enabled them to understand what the target audience thought about the quality of the product and if they would buy it. At the end of the field trip, the public were asked to complete a report on their thoughts and opinions about the new products which will help the business to measure how likely the products are to sell. From doing this research we came to a conclusion that the majority of the target audience were happy with the quality of the product and said they would purchase it. However, a small minority said the quality was a bit poor and they weren't sure if they would buy it because there is very strong competition in the phone case market. Jack Wills came to a decision after this research, and decided that they were going ti slightly improve the quality of their phone cases as there is a strong competition therefore they want to stand out and get more business than their competitors, especially as they are a small business.

In conclusion Jack Wills used a variety of different market research methods in order to gain a wide range of information and knowledge about their new range of phone cases. By using a range of different methods, this allows Jack Wills to update and alter their products necessarily which will make it more successful which is why they wanted to do market research. It was extremely beneficial because their initial target audience wasn't right for the product therefore the products wouldn't have sold very well. Because they gathered their target audiences opinions and preferences they can explore and look into different opinions in order to try and incorporate some of these into the products to ensure it appeals more to their target audience.