- Do you think that £35 for an adult football shirt is an reasonable price?
The majority of the focus group said that £35 is a good price.
- Would you buy tops from another league e.g. la liga? And if so what leagues?
Every one in my focus group said they already buy tops form other leagues and the two popular choices was the Italian league (seria) and the Spanish league (la liga)
Conclusion from my focus group
The most common place where people said they would buy the football tops from was Stevenage, however there was no set shop that the people in my focus group said they brought from because nearly all of the shops charge the same price £40. I got a mix result from the question on travelling distance as half the people said travelling would affect them and the remaining half sad it wouldn’t. The popular choice for the promotion offer was buy one get one free, however this is not a good offer for me. The reason why is because if I where to sell a top at £35 and have buy one get one free it would work out I am selling a top at £17.50 and also somebody else could buy two tops and sell one off. For the advertising question I got a very good response as it would depend on who I am targeting because if I was advertising to kids I wouldn’t advertise leaflets in pubs/clubs as they wouldn’t be allowed in so the aftermath they will not see the advertisements. An additional question about price a wide proportion said £35 is a good price to charge because it is cheap. The last and final question showed me if there was a demand of other league tops in another country which by looking at the response I received from my focus group showed me there I a high demand for other league tops. The top two was the seria and la liga so I know I should make sure I supply these tops from these leagues because they were the popular choice.
Competitors
I have found out that there are quite a lot of big names across Hertfordshire selling football shirts. However all these stores are only store based so they have got no representing agent whom travels around selling football shirts for them.
The competition from Letchworth is
- Premier league
- Gilesports
As there is only two shops in Letchworth there is not very much competition. Premier league are my main competition in Letchworth because Gilesports do not sell many football tops only the big names such as Liverpool F.C, Chelsea and Manchester United. Gilesports do sell international football shirts but once again they only sell the really big names. The prices from Gilesports varies depending on how new the top is, being the newer the top is, the more it is. Premier league sells a variety of football shirts such as English and Spanish teams as well as international football tops therefore because they can provide quite a lot of football tops they are my main competition whereas Gilesports only sell the big names. The prices premier league sell their football tops are quite high, round about £40. Unlike Gilesports premier league do not reduce their prices as much when the football shirts become old. They only start reducing the price when a new shirt design has come up which is every year, start of the football season. Apart from providing quite a lot of football shirts I think I will be able to beat premier league in prices and beat Gilesports by providing more football shirts such as the small names where they don’t provide for instances I will be selling west ham football shirts. The price for both of the shops for a new football shirt is £40.
The competition in Stevenage is tremendous as there are so many shops selling football shirts. The name of the sports shops are as following;
- All Sports
- First Sports
- J D Sports
- J J B Sports
- K C Sports
- Sports Soccer
Secondary Research
I will be using to help me is finding the state of the economy because this will tell me if the economy is in a boom stage or a recession. This is important because if the economy is in a recession there will be less people willing to spend and more wanting to save, so therefore if I charged high prices then there would be a greater chance of a lower demand. However if there was a boom then the demand for my products would hopefully increase as when there is a boom in a economy less people tend to save and are more likely to spend. This would be good for me as then I could increase the prices for my football tops and people wouldn’t think they are too expensive. Also when I sell my tops I need to consider the employment levels.
State of the economy
The national economy is growing, however unemployment has increased over the years as well. The previous change in interest rates was a reduction of 0.25 percentage points to 4.5% on 4 August 2005. This is the current GDP projection from the bank of England with the highest and lowest interests rates projected
Forecasts show that the UK economy is to grow round about a further 1.8-2.5% this year and round about between 1.7-2.6% in 2006.
Britain has high employment levels but the amount of output produced per worker –productivity- has been lower than other major economies, such as the Denmark, Austria and US. Faster productivity growth, alongside higher levels of employment, will help to deliver greater economic prosperity and rising living standards in the future years to come.
The reason why this is relevant to my business is because this information shows how well the national economy is doing. By the economy doing well, consumers are more likely to be spending more, as they will have more money to spend on themselves and on luxury items e.g. hiring a limousine out for an evening. The information also shows how the UK economy has grown by 1.7% this 2nd quarter year and is set to increase more in the next couple of years. So the economy in the UK is currently at an all time high so this is good for my business
Local Economy
By finding out about the local population will allow me to work out were I could sell my football shirts, because in theory the higher the population the more sales that I will be able to make. The age structure is also very important for selling the football shirts because then this will help me know where the best place to advertise e.g. if 18-45 most likely be in the pubs/clubs. Also if the population as a whole town is not very high then I will not able to make many sales, as there will be less people.
From general knowledge I know that I will make a lot more sales if I sell to more then just one town. So therefore I will need to find out the population figures from more then one town and compare the figures to see which are the best towns to sell at.
I have decided to sell at Letchworth Hitchin and Baldock. The reason why I want to sell at Letchworth and Hitchin is because these towns have a very large population compared to Baldock. The reason why I want to sell at Baldock is because it is very close to Letchworth. I have not chosen Royston as one of the towns that I will be selling at because it doesn’t have a very large population and also it is quite far away compared to how close Letchworth and Baldock are.
I have also found out that there are many schools in Letchworth. So this would make it easier to sell football shirts, as I will be able to visit these schools and target the parents and children at school events. In Hitchin there are more football clubs then Baldock and Letchworth so I could visit these clubs and once again target the children and also the adults as I am selling my shirts to all ages.
Employment figures
From looking at the table above I have found out that North Hertfordshire is very successful compared to the national rate of unemployment as it is below the average of 2.1% for east of England and 3.0 for the of great Britain. Also from the table I have found out that Hitchin has the highest unemployment rate of 1.9% out of the four towns in North Hertfordshire so this could be a problem because this means that less people will be willing to spend less money, as they have no job. Royston has the lowest rate of unemployment at 0.8% in the North of Hertfordshire. But as I decided not to sell in Royston, because the low general population and how far it were the results of unemployment in this town made no difference. However because Royston had a very low level of unemployment, this could be a good place to sell football shirts because then I could charge higher prices for the football shirts to people living at Royston, as they’ll have more money to spend (price discrimination).
Economic Growth
If there is little economic growth this means that the country might go into recession. This will make it very difficult to set up a business, because demand falls, as consumers buy less. This may result in profits falling and workers having to be laid off. As interest rates increases the economy drifts towards a slump (recession).
The first table shows me that the economy is doing fairly well and GDP has increased by 1.7 and set to increase by a further 2.1 this year and next year. However production in Britain has since fallen by 1.9%. This is probably because more jobs are going across to the Far East of Asia due to the fact of paying the workers a lot less then they would have to pay the workers in Britain because of the law (minimum wage). However even thou industrial production has decreased the retail sales are still increasing but it is starting to steady down as last year the retail sales was 6.5% and this year it is only 1.7%. Showing that the jobs being created in the Far East Asia are not affecting the retail industry, which I am in.
(See table 1 below for 2006 figures and table 2 below for 2005 figures.)
2006
Britain +1.7 Q2 +1.5 +2.1 +2.1 –1.9 May +1.7 Jun 4.8 May 4.8
2005
Also from the first table form the economist the unemployment figure has remain the same for this year and the last year at 4.8 so this means there has been no change in the unemployment rate so far from last year.
Demographic External Influences
The population in Baldock, Hitchin and Letchworth is very important to my business, because firstly it will show if I have enough potential customers that are willing to buy football shirts from me. Secondly if there is a wide amount of people at the age between 18-45 the best place to advertise will be in pubs/clubs. If there are more males in a town then they are most likely to be watching football at football grounds then females, where they would be perhaps at the hairdressers.
From looking at this graph it shows to me there is a lot of males and females at the age of 25 to 54 living in the north Hertfordshire.
Economic external influences
The first table shows me that the economy is doing fairly well and GDP has increased by 1.7 and set to increase by a further 2.1 this year and next year. However production in Britain has since fallen by 1.9%. This is probably because more jobs are going across to the Far East of Asia due to the fact of paying the workers a lot less then they would have to pay the workers in Britain because of the law (minimum wage). However even thou industrial production has decreased the retail sales are still increasing but it is starting to steady down as last year the retail sales was 6.5% and this year it is only 1.7%. this shows that the jobs being created in the Far East Asia are not affecting the retail industry, which I am in.
The current state of the UK economy is currently doing well as GDP has increased by 1.7. Also unemployment in the UK was, as of the end of 2000, at a 25-year low and thus employment at a record high. The unemployment figure this year is so far 4.8% which is the same as last year.
Retail sales are steadily increasing so I know that there is a demand for retail goods such as clothes because if there was no demand due to a recession the figure would have been a negative not a positive like now which is 1.7%.
The latest interest rate set by the Bank of England is currently 4.5%. It has been set at 4.5% for the last three months consecutively. This data shows how important the UK economy is on consumers spending as it shows the basic rate, if consumers where to borrow money, or to save. This data is important to me because it shows how well the economy is doing at the moment. Also it shows how consumers spending has increased over the years and how more people are willing to spend on retailed goods e.g. clothes.
This table shows me the average weekly household spent on leisure items and activities in across different regions in the United Kingdom. Firstly households in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland consistently spent below UK averages for each of the selected leisure items and activities in 2002/03, with those in England spending more than any of the other parts of the United Kingdom. In the South East of England, they spent the most on games, toys and hobbies as well as package holidays and holiday accommodations. The reason why the south east spending a lot on hobbies is useful to me is because I am supplying sporty clothes (football tops) which can be associated with hobbies.
The economy for football shirts is dramatically rising because of the high demand from supporters from a club especially when that club is doing well for instance Liverpool winning the champions leagues in 2005. As the team does well they get recognised throughout Europe and sometime across the world like Manchester United well known in America and Japan and Chelsea in Russia. So the more recognised a club becomes by winning well known trophies more people will want to support them and they’ll want a football shirt to show their loyalty therefore resulting in demand increasing. The reason why this is important to me is because most clubs spend their own money advertising such as new home and away kits, quite a lot of advertising will already be done for me for example on magazines, newspapers and television. Another factor is the 2006 world cup in Germany. This is a high profiled world-wide event and will hopefully help me make a lot more sales.
External influences on advertising
When I advertise I will have to consider the following acts:
Trades Description Act.
The reason why is because if I do not follow the guidelines I could find myself in big trouble because it is a criminal offence not to follow. The following rules I must oblige by is,
- Apply a false description to any goods. The description can be written or oral and can apply to the quality, size and specification, ingredients or raw materials, features, date and place of manufacture
- Apply misleading advertisements
- Make misleading statements about the prices
- Apply a false description to services
Monopolies and mergers act
This is part of a body of legislation designed to protect consumers by the promotion of competition between businesses. As a rough guide the concept of ‘public interest’ is used to determine whether a particular monopoly or proposed merger should be allowed to proceed. Here are some examples of situations, which could have an impact on marketing activity
- Using monopoly power to change excessive prices
- Using predatory pricing to eliminate the competition then increase prices after there is no competition left
- Using exclusive dealerships so that competition cannot find outlets for their products
This is not very likely to affect my business because there are many other business supplying football tops so therefore If I were to increase my prices what would happened would be my customers would go and buy from other shops causing me to go bankrupt.
Sales and supply of good act
According to the act the seller must ensure that goods are,
- Of satisfactory quality
- Reasonable fit for any particular purpose i.e. they must be able to do what the seller claims they can do.
Therefore before I supply the football tops I will have to check the tops e.g. checking the stitches. If the tops were faulty then I would have to return them back and not selling it off. The reason why is because if I sell the faulty tops off not only will I be breaking the law but also I will not get no repeated sales as customers would be thinking ‘were better of going to shops as the quality’s a lot higher’.
Advertising Standards Authority (ASA)
The Advertising Standards Authority is the independent body set up by the advertising industry to police the rules laid down in the advertising codes. The strength of the self-regulatory system lies in both the independence of the ASA and the support and commitment of the advertising industry, through the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP), to the standards of the codes, protecting consumers and creating a level playing field for advertisers
The ASA monitors advertisements on a daily basis and can investigate and can investigate written complaints from the general public.
The types of ads the ASA deal with are
- Magazine and newspaper advertisements
- Radio and TV commercials (not programmes or programme sponsorship)
- Television Shopping Channels Posters on legitimate poster sites (not fly posters)
- Leaflets and brochures
- Cinema commercials
- Direct mail (advertising sent through the post and addressed to you personally)
- Door drops and circulars (advertising posted through the letter box without your name on)
- Advertisements on the Internet, include banner ads and pop-up ads (not claims on companies’ own websites)
- Commercial e-mail and SMS text message ads
- Ads on CD ROMs, DVD and video, and faxes
TV and Radio advertising are controlled by the radio Authority and Independent Television Commission ITC, which has the power to take advertisements off the screen.
Its guidelines are published in the ITC code of Advertising Standards and Practise and state, for example:
- Advertisement must by clearly distinguishable from programmes.
- Direct imitations of programmes are not permitted.
- Advertisements for books/videos about a programme can only appear at the end of the programme.
- Phrases such as ‘new flash’ are not acceptable.
If an advert is a ‘take off’ or parody of a real programmes then the actors from the programme cannot appear.
When advertising my business I will make sure that my advertisements are honest and truthful. I will carry on obeying these rules and regulations for my advertising to carry on being successful. Also to keep up to date with the advertising rules and regulation I will be going on the ASA website and checking if any new rules has come out about advertising.
External Ethical And Environmental Influences.
With ever more emphasis being placed on ethical investments and consumer’s becoming more sophisticated critical and environmentally aware the marketing industry needs to make sure that all its activities are seen to be legal, decent, truthful and honest.
Ethical constraints- as part of the trends towards social responsibility, organisations are paying more attention to the need to behave ethically, that is, not knowing doing harm but doing what you know is right. In general terms this means that anyone concerned with marketing should:
- Not offer for sale any product, which could cause harm and should not try to deceive.
- Treat all information about the organisation as confidential.
Many employees now claim that it is almost impossible to behave ethically.
When advertising my business I will let the consumers no before hand if there is any risk involved in the football tops e.g. if the neck is suppose to be very tight as part of the design for the top.
Recycling
The way that I will help the environment is because every football top is inside a plastic bag, I will ask the customer, do you want me to recycle your bag? And if they say yes, then I would take the bag of them and dispose of it to my nearest plastic-recycling place.
The marketing mix for my product; with justification
Product
The product I will be supplying will be a variety of different football shirts from different leagues such as the premiership, la liga (Spain). The for this is because from the results from the questionnaire it showed me that people living in England supported teams outside the English league. I will also be supplying international football tops which from basic knowledge I know will sell very well because of a world cup next year in Germany which England are participating in and finally were living in England with English supporters so England football tops sell well.
The reply I got back from my focus group showed to me if I was going to sell league tops in other country I must choose the seria and the la liga because they where the favourite choices. So therefore I will be supplying other country league tops. The result from my questionnaire show to me there is a high demand for football tops because 92% of people who answered my questionnaire said they have more then one-football top, and over half the football tops they had, the team was in the premiership. So therefore supplying premiership football top is essential because there is high demand for tops in the premiership then any other league as shown in my pie chart of results form the questionnaire. When asking the question what league does your football team play in, I had left it blank so then the person filling it in could choose any league not getting pressured into choosing one. Say for instance I had a list and none of the leagues in the list did appeal to the person they would just tick any box whereas when I left it blank they could write anything down. Because I had left the space blank I got a list all the leagues therefore not only will I be supplying premiership football tops and the la liga, I will be supplying football tops from the seria and the Scottish league.
From my secondary research I know that the retail sector is doing well because it is +1.7% even thought has dropped by 4.8% since 2005, it still remains positive showing that people are still buying a lot in the retail sector. Also from looking at the average weekly household expenditure it shows that the south east is joint first when it comes down to spending on hobbies. The reason why this is useful to me is because my business is linked with the hobbies and if the south east is joint first with spending the most money in a week it shows to me the south east is a sporty part of the country and they will carry on spending more money.
Therefore altogether I know that I will be supplying club football tops both home and away for the premiership, la liga, seria and the Scottish league. Also I will be supplying international football tops because even thou I did little research on international tops I know there is already a very high demand for these football tops because of the well known tournaments, ‘The World Cup’. The international tops I will be supplying is unknown this moment because it will depend on which country makes it through. I know that England and Brazil have qualified so far.
Price
The price for my product will vary depending on how old the football shirt is because if it has only been released then the price would be £40 in shops. As time will go on the value of the top will decrease because every year a football clubs releases a new football. For instance last august Manchester United released a new top. Giles sports sold the top for £40 and come near the end of the season, mid May early June the price will drop significantly to round about £20 for an adults top where it was originally £40.
The demand for the shirts will have a major factor, especially for international shirts. Because unlike clubs which the demand for them don’t often fall until the end of the season, international clubs e.g. Holland, the demand will fall quickly if they have not made it into a major competition. For instance in the world cup 2002 when Holland failed to make it into the group stages, the demand for the shirts fall dramatically, whereas else other clubs who had made it into the group sales increased e.g. Senegal.
The results from my questionnaire show that 71% of the people I asked would like to pay £30- £35 for a football shirt. The reason why I want to sell my shirts at £35 is because that at £30 per top I would be making very low profit. From my focus group is showed that £35 is a good price to pay because even thou it isn’t a major discount it is still good because you are saving money by £5 as the R.R.P at retail shops is £40, sometimes £45 depending where about you buy if from. By looking at my competitors locally, which is shops in Letchworth and Stevenage, if I where I to charge a football top as £35 I would be difficult to be beaten at price. The reason why is because all the shops which sell newly released football tops all charge £40 whereas I will be charging £35. The only way the competitors can beat me is if they cut down their prices, but looking at previous top prices of a brand new football top it is always £40
The conclusion from my secondary data is that even thou the economy is still growing it is slowing down. This could be a problem because people might stop buying however looking at the projected forecast from the Bank of England there is signs that the GDP is going to grow because at 2007 there is a steady line going up. This would help me if I wanted to increase my prices because I know the GDP is going to go up and when GDP is up people spend more rather then save. Also because the demand for club football tops is very high, as football is the number 1 sport in England this will help me out a lot because there is already a high demand so I know that even if GDP was to fall the demand for the tops will remain high however the only difference is probably will be that people will be willing to travel slightly further for cheaper bargains.
Therefore I will be charging £35 for a club or international football top. As the season will come to an end next year I will drop the price to £20 for a club football top. The reason why I will be dropping the price down to £20 is because then I can keep up with the competition as they charge £20-25for an old football top such as Gilesports and J J B Sports. For a international football top, when the demand falls I will be checking the prices that my competitors are charging as charge round about the same price.
Place
I would be distributing the football shirts in a large van. The reason why I have chosen to distribute ‘on the go’ is because I feel that delivering tops will make my service unique and also help those people who have travelling difficulties fro example cannot drive. By making my service on the go not only will it help those who have travelling difficulties but also for those people who have not got the time because all they have to do is order and I will drop the tops to them especially near Christmas time as all the shops became very busy and it is hard to get around because towns/city are also busy so therefore delivering the tops will once again save time.
From my questionnaire the question about delivering my football tops to customers was not the feedback I expected because I thought that every one would say they would buy more if the tops were delivered for free. But looking at the results it showed me different as all the results were close, saying either they would buy more, wouldn’t buy more and finally not bothered. However I feel if I did deliver the tops it would make my service unique and it should pay off especially for people have travelling problems. Also from my questionnaire I have found out that a lot of people buy their football tops from shops. Even thou the number of people buying from the Internet is low compared to shops, internet sales are going up because it is more convenient for people as they do not need to leave their homes. So that’s why I am deciding to deliver the tops free as then not only will I beat shops at prices but I will beat the internet because quite often they charge postage and packaging fees. Form my focus group, it shows to me that more people would buy less football shirts from me because even thou the prices are low some people might find it hard to travel for instances they live with their mum and she cannot drive therefore if I opened a shop in Hitchin, people living in Baldock might find it hard to travel to Hitchin whereas if the tops came to them they would buy more as they wont need to worry about travelling.
As a result I will be delivering the football tops to people because like I stated in the first paragraph and from my primary research by delivering not only would it save time for the customer but it will make my business different which will help me stand out and also by not having a shop I can save a lot of money because it will not need to be paying for premises, rent, electrics bill etc.
Promotion
I will be using a variety of different promotion strategies to help promote my business and any special offers I will have. Before I advertise my business I will check that none of the advertisements are false, not misleading people otherwise I could be in trouble with the trade description act.
The results from my questionnaire show that the best promotion offer what would attract the future clients is buy one football top and get 1 football top free. However this is not a good promotion for me as I would lose a lot of money. It would be all right if I was selling burgers because burgers prices are low in the first place whereas football tops are expensive. The second promotion which the clients liked and I feel will do well so I will be using this promotion offer is recommended a friend receive a percentage discount which will be 10% of the total price.
When promoting my business I will not be using the school as a source of making more sales. The reason why Is because I thought if I gave some money to the school to help them fund in buying in new equipment, people especially students would want to help out by buying from me. However looking at my results from my questionnaire it shows to me that 72% of the people do not want to help fund the school so therefore I will not be using a school as a source.
For my questionnaire it showed me that a wide proportion 32% of the people said advertising using bus stop shelters is a good way of getting something across, as there are so many bus stop shelter and they are hard to miss. This is a good and cheap way of advertising because not only will the people who catch a bus be able to see the advertisements but people walking or in their car. Another way I will be helping me to promote my business is by using leaflet and flyers. The reason why is because leaflets and flyers have always been a good way for a new business telling people what they are about. Also leaflets can be distributed anywhere such as through peoples door through their local paper. Therefore I will be advertising through the local paper by having leaflets and flyers inside it.
From my focus group I will be putting leaflets in school registrations so then I will be able to attract school pupils to my business. And for parents I will be making advertisements in the local school paper, making them aware of my business.
From my secondary research, because there is a lot of males and females aged between 25-54. I would be posting my leaflets in pubs/clubs and late night food takeaway shops. The reason why is because quite often males and females aged between 18-45 are in pubs/clubs so they will be able to see my leaflets on tables or on windows. The reason why advertising at late night food takeaway shops will also help me promote my business is because, quite often after a night out, people are hungry and they pop into a takeaway place to eat. And while in the takeaway place weather eating or just ordering they will see my leaflets advertising my business.
The final place where I will be advertising will be at football clubs across Hitchin. The reason why is because out of all the towns, Hitchin has the most football clubs so I would be able to target a lot of people such as parents for home or away teams, supports etc. I will be putting up posters across the clubhouses.
Links between internal and external
From my research in external influences I have found out that there is a market for football tops.
There was a problem with the internal and external parts of the business for the promotion side. The reason why is because people want any offer which will just give them the most however this will only benefit them and most often not the business. E.g. buy one get one free is good for cheap products such as chocolate bars but not good for expensive products such as televisions.
Another important link between the price of the tops and the customers, is the price because charging high prices may decrease my sales however as the GDP is going up I can slowly increase my prices which would mean more profit for me. There has been no conflict so far about the price of a top.
Also looking at my market research I have found out that my customers normally spend a fair amount on leisure items, so therefore I could increase my prices slightly, as from my research it shows customers are prepared to pay a fair amount of money on leisure.
How the marketing strategy for the product relates to the principles of marketing
Understand customer needs
Understanding the customer needs is important to me because to any business knowing their customer needs makes them successful and to follow in the same steps I will need to find out the customers needs. To meet the customer needs I will need to provide high quality goods at the right price and delivering it at the right time in perfect condition. To do this I will need to know;
- How many customers there are?
- How much they are willing to pay
- What their requirements and expectations are.
- How can I persuade and convince customers to purchase the product for me.
- What attracts customers to buy particular brands; for example, quality, design, colour?
To keep up to date with my customers needs I will be using market research to help me. The market research I will be using will be questionnaires to find out what my customers think about my service.
Understand and keep ahead of competition
The reason why I want to keep ahead of competition is because otherwise if I lose all my customers to other competitors my business will come to an end (bankrupt).
After setting up my business, I will make constant visits to other sports shops to see the prices they are charging for both club and international football tops. The visits to sports shop will become very important to me near Christmas time because that’s when all the shops have special offers e.g. 25% of football tops. So therefore I will try to offer the same offer they are offering or if I can even better e.g. 40% of football tops. Another way how I will keep ahead of competition is that I will check out the top internet web sites selling football tops because quite often they have special offers throughout the year. Also I will be handing out questionnaires and some of the questions will be about ‘where do you buy your football tops from?’, and if the majority of the results are from shops then as a following up question I could ask ‘why do you buy from a shop and not an agent?’
Communicate effectively with its customers to satisfy customer expectations.
Communicating effectively with customers is important to me if I want to keep my customers. If a customer has a problem by communicating with then not only will it allow me to find out their problem but also how I can improve this certain problem and stop it occurring again.
The way in which I will communicate with my customer is that I will give them a short questionnaire once a month. The questions will be based on my service I am providing so any negative feedback I receive I can try to improve and next time that certain customer buys another top of me I can see if they said the same thing again. Another way I can communicate with customers is through advertisements and promotional offers so they will be able to see when I have a new football top to sell.
Co-ordinate its functions to achieve marketing aims
You can have the best product in the world but if no one knows about it, what’s the point? Therefore planning is vital, so I will have to link everything to the business – from ordering the tops far enough ahead, to scheduling the distribution, to making sure there is enough stock available and all orders are in place for delivery.
Be aware of constraints on marketing activities
It is important for me to be aware of any constraints on marketing. The reason why I because so then I will not break any rules or regulations.
Just before when I make a new advertisement for my business I will make sure that my advertisements do not break any codes or practice. The ways how I will be aware of any new laws that come out on advertising, I will be going on the ASA (advertising standards authority) website. As they control a lot of different advertisements from newspaper advertisements to TV commercials. So if a new law were to come out about advertising they would post it on their website so any one would be able to see it. Another method I could do to see if customers have a problem with my advertising strategy is to tell them to fill out a short questionnaire saying ‘are you satisfied ’
Checking validity of data
Questionnaire
The sample sized I asked was in total 25 people. To make the questionnaire equal I tried to ask even amount of males and females but as I asked an odd amount one was going to be greater then the other which in this case was males, which was only 1 extra person. Another way I could check that my information was correct is by conducting another questionnaire but this time asking about 20 boys and 20 girls from every age group to get a fair result.
Therefore the information from the questionnaire may not be totally reliable.
Focus group
If I had more time I could have set up an interview with an marketing director from a large company such as Reebok whom supply Liverpool F.C football tops and ask them ‘what methods do you fell are the best ways to advertise successfully and the not so good ways’. As well as other questions relating to the marketing side. Also I could organise another focus group asking the same or different people what do you think of my final proposals.
Competition
The research I had done for the competition in the primary stage was very reliable because I went across the, varies towns my self-looking for any sports shops. However since then a new shop could have opened so therefore I could go around again the varies towns and check if theirs any new shops opened which is to be very unlucky because there has been no or little advertisements suggesting a new shops shop is opening up.
Local population
This information I gathered for the local population may have been unreliable, as the figures may not have been up to date, and could be a few years old. However from the information I did get an idea of the population and the growth of each of the different towns.
To make sure the population figure is up to date I could ask the local council to send my information about the population structure and figures.
The economy
The information I gained for the economy such as the economic growth and GDP projections are all up to date as the dates which they where published are all recent. Also since then I have checked the bank of England’s website a numerous time to see if there has been an update which so far there hasn’t been an update.
Bibliography
