Marketing research P4:M3

AS and A Level Business Studies

Unit 10 – Marketing Research

Task 4 – P4:M3

CONFIDENTIAL

For: MCK Electronics Managing Director Date: 4th November 2008

From: MCK Electronics Marketing Manager

REPORT ON THE RESULTS OF MY MARKET RESEARCH ON THE MP3 MARKET

TERMS OF REFERENCE

As the marketing director of MCK Electronics I was asked to look into the mp3 market, and whether it is worth producing a rival to the Apple iPod. If this is so I would then have to research what the public would want in a new mp3 player.

PROCEDURE
In order to obtain the relevant information and opinions, I followed the following procedures:
2.1 Find if there is a gap in the market. This will enable me to discover if it is worth rivalling the Apple iPod.
2.2 Once a gap is established I tried to find what the gap is and how to fill it.
2.3 Once this is established I worked on different product ideas to fill this gap.
2.4 Tests and analysis were then undertaken to find if these new products would be successful.

FINDINGS
3.1 Here I discovered what a strong contender Apple is. While analysing my questionnaire results I discovered that the majority of mp3 player owners own an iPod. However a number of them did admit to be interested in buying a new mp3 player. This shows that there is a potential to snatch apple customers and new ones in order to over take Apple in the mp3 market.
3.2 My secondary research has found evidence to show that there is a possible gap in the market to play MP3s in the home at a good level. Although iPod and auxiliary ...

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FINDINGS
3.1 Here I discovered what a strong contender Apple is. While analysing my questionnaire results I discovered that the majority of mp3 player owners own an iPod. However a number of them did admit to be interested in buying a new mp3 player. This shows that there is a potential to snatch apple customers and new ones in order to over take Apple in the mp3 market.
3.2 My secondary research has found evidence to show that there is a possible gap in the market to play MP3s in the home at a good level. Although iPod and auxiliary port docks are available but they lack the sound quality of a truly good hi-fi unless you are willing to pay thousands of pounds for it. I think that a hi-fi MP3 sound system at an affordable price is definitely a gap to aim for.
3.3 To find a suitable product to fill the gap I undertook some primary research. This was in the form of a questionnaire. I got a sample of 50 people and analysed the results to see what the general public is looking for. I only asked 16-30 year olds to make my findings more accurate and I tried to get an even amount of male and female samples. Using Quota sampling. Using the results from the questionnaire and the secondary research a product idea of an MP3 hi-fi system was created. The product needs to be compact without losing sound quality and volume ability. It needs to be bright and bold with a variety of colours and designs to choose from. It should also have an easy to use music library that also has video playback and a photo viewer. The memory capacity should be substantial and built into the product to ensure great quality sound. Another possibility which was not discussed in the questionnaire could be Bluetooth as a way to transfer documents and files to the system.

3.4 A focus group was created using willing applicants from the questionnaires. They liked the idea of a MP3 hi-fi system. Feedback has shown that they do not want the system to be too large and generally stylish. Sound quality is also an important factor. The focus groups like the idea of something colourful with an easy to use library as well. Easy connection to a PC was suggested for transferring music files to the library as well as the idea of some form of internet access to download directly to the system.

CONCLUSIONS

To conclude there is definitely a gap in the market. If we act quickly enough we may be able to snatch the market majority. The favoured idea is and MP3 quality hi-fi system. The focus group have suggested colourful and not to large but keeping the high quality. The also do not want it to be overly expensive.