Primaray and Secondary Research for my chosen business

Looking at all the different ways of gathering the primary data for my marketing proposal, I have chosen to use questionnaires and focus groups as these methods of primary research are much more efficient and reliable than others. Another reason for why I have chosen to use questionnaires and focus groups as part of my primary research is because I was informed by my business teacher that the exam board wanted focus groups and interviews as the two primary research methods that students were to gather as the two primary research methods.  

   

Primary Research Objectives

Boots business has many primary objectives. I intend to always ensure that I establish what it is, that I need to find out. I need to choose a suitable data collection method of market research so that I do not ask for the wrong things and get the blame for a bad idea later. Most importantly, I need to construct a questionnaire. I will be questioning twenty people and the questionnaire that will be constructing will consist of fifteen questions. The reason for why I chose fifteen questions is because then it will cover all my points that I will need to enable to proceed on with marketing proposal as the fifteen questions that will be asked will result in me gathering all the necessary information that I require.  

Once all the necessary data is collected, I shall collate, analyse and interpret the data and present our findings with forecasts as required.

As the marketing Manager of Boots some of the questions I will need to find answers to before introducing a new DVD Camcorder on the market are:

1. What / where DVD camcorders are already available?
2. How much do DVD camcorders cost on average?
3. How much money are people willing to pay for a DVD camcorder?
4. How often do people buy DVD camcorder?
5. Where do people usually buy their DVD camcorder?
6. What features do people want in a DVD camcorder?

On the following page is the questionnaire that I had constructed.

I gave this to twenty people in the school 10 of them were teachers and 10 if them teachers.

I am currently studying AS level Business Studies, for my coursework I have been given a task to research and market a new product which is a DVD Camcorder. In order to do this I need to find out the customer’s views. I would be delighted if you could fill in this questionnaire. Any answers will be kept confidential.

You can tick more than one.

1. Age?

  a) Under 15 {  }          b) 15 – 20 {  }               c) 21 – 32 {  }               d) 33 – 40 {  }      

   e) 41 – 50 {  }           f) 51 – 60 {  }                g) 61 +     {  }

2. Gender?

a) Male {  }                b) Female {  }

3. Employment Status?

a) Unemployed {  }       b) Employed {  }        c) Retired {  }        d) Student {  }

4. What electronic brands do you usually buy?

a) Sony {  }       b) Panasonic {  }          c) Philips {  }          d) JVC {  }          

e) Toshiba {  }                f) Other {  } Specify……………………………………..

5. Where do you buy your electronic goods?

a) Dixons {  }         b) PC World {  }            c) John Lewis {  }          d) Boots {  }

e) Other {  } Specify……………………………………..

6. How essential is packaging?

a) Essential {  }          b) Not Essential {  }        c) Very important {  }      

d) Quite Important {  }       e) Not at all important {  }

7. What new changes would you like in a DVD camcorder?

a) Size {  }          b) Colour of the camcorder {  }          c) Better features {  }      

     

d) Other {  } Specify……………………………………..

8. How important is sales promotion in terms of encouraging you to buy a new DVD Camcorder

a) Essential {  }                        b) Not Essential {  }                 c) Very important {  }  

d) Quite important {  }                        e) Not at all Important {  }

9.  What price are you willing to pay for a DVD camcorder?

a)  £150 - £200 {  }              b) £201 - £250 {  }            c) £251 - £300 {  }        

d) £300 or above {  }          

10. Do you take notice of DVD Camcorder promotions?

a) Yes {  }                   b) Sometimes {  }                       c) No {  }

11.  What newspaper do you read?

a) The Sun {  }        b) Evening Telegraph {  }         c) The Guardian {  }  

d) Daily Mirror {  }                e) Times {  }                        

f) Other {  } Specify……………………………………..

12. What do you think of Boots electronic goods?

(1 as representing very bad and 5 representing very good)

1 {  }                2 {  }                3 {  }                4 {  }                5 {  }

13. Do you think it would be a good idea if Boots sold a new DVD Camcorder with new features?
(1 as representing very bad idea and 5 representing very good idea)

1 {  }                2 {  }                3 {  }                4 {  }                5 {  }

14. What colour would you want a DVD Camcorder to be?

a) Black {  }                 b) Blue {  }                 c) Red {  }                 d) Gray {  }    

e) Other   {  } Specify……………………………………..          

15.  How often do you shop for electronic goods from Boots?

(1 as representing never and 5 representing very often)

1 {  }                2 {  }                3 {  }                4 {  }                5 {  }

Thank you for your time.

Above is the questionnaire that I had constructed. This is just a template. I actually had to print twenty of these copies out to give to twenty people.

The feedback of the twenty questionnaires are also in with this portfolio work to prove that I have actually went round to ask people to fill in my questionnaire. In this case it was twenty people, ten of them teachers and the other ten students.

On the following is a results table showing all the results questionnaires put together and the last row showing the most common answers.

This table shows the results of my questionnaire. I asked 20 people to answer the questionnaire, so I can try and find out their views.

I will be putting the results for each of the questions in a graph or a pie chart so that it easy for me to see the differences and similarities of peoples views. I will also be explaining the data on each and individual graph

From this graph I can see that majority of the people are aged between 15 – 20 that answered my questionnaire.

The pie chart on the left is telling me the percentage and the amount of people that were female and male in the 20 people that I had questioned.

It shows that 60% of the people that I questioned were Male which means that more male were interesting in answering my questionnaire. My questionnaire results are going to be bias towards male.

The graph above shows that 50% of people were employed and 50% of the people were students. There were no people that I gave a questionnaire to, that were retired or unemployed.

The XY scatter graph above shows how many people by particular electronic brands.

Twelve people said Sony is what they would usually by as an electronic brand. However not many people said Panasonic. Due to the fact the company that I am promoting for is Boots I will have to consider grabbing my target audience attention to Boots company brands.    

The pie chart shows the percentage of people that go to different shops to purchase their electronic goods from.

Most of the people that I questioned choose to go to Dixons to shop for their electronic goods.

From the result of this question I am able to understand there are majority of people who buy their goods from Dixons. However my product is to be made for Boots and to be sold at Boots. Therefore the electronic good will have to be well advertised in order for customers to buy it.

The data on the Doughnut shows how essential packaging is, in percentages and the amount of people.

From this graph I can deduce the fact that majority of people would like better features on a DVD Camcorder. This fits in well with my marketing proposal as I was deciding to invent a DVD Camcorder with new features anyway. Creating a DVD Camcorder with Better Features will fulfill customer needs and wants and at the same time I would have met my marketing proposal aim and objectives.

The graph shows that 30%of the people that I questioned think that sales promotion in terms of encouraging you to buy DVD camcorder is not essential.

By looking at the result of this question 6 people said DVD Camcorder promotions are not essential in terms of encouraging them to buy it. Therefore I will not spend that much time and effort in creating promotions. However this does not mean I will not spend time and money on advertising as this is different.

The results of this graph show ten people out of twenty people that I questioned are willing to pay between £201 - £250. Taking this into consideration I will price the new DVD Camcorder between £201 -£250 as this was the popular answer so therefore having this as a price will attract more customers as this is what they will want and therefore I will attract more customers.

The result of this pie chart shows that 70% of the people that I questioned take notice of promotion sometimes.

The bar graph above shows the results of different newspapers that people read. Most people that I had questioned read The Sun. No one from the twenty people that I questioned reads the Daily Mirror. This will inform my marketing proposal as I will advertise the new DVD Camcorder in The Sun as this is a most popular read newspaper according to the analysis I conducted from my questionnaire.

The pie chart above shows the results from the twenty people of what they rate out of five the Electronic goods from Boots. Ten out of twenty people gave chose to tick three on the like hurt sale which means they are OK.  

The pie chart above shows the results from the twenty people of what they rate out of five weather or not it is a good Idea if Boots sold a new DVD Camcorder with new Features.

The graph above shows the amount of people that demanded for different types of colours for the DVD Camcorder. Black was the most frequent answer. Eleven people would want a black DVD Camcorder. This will have an affect on my marketing proposal as I will make sure that the new DVD Camcorder is black because 11/20 people said the colour of a DVD Camcorder they would buy is black. This makes it the popular colour; therefore having the new product black will attract the customers as the product will be designed to their satisfaction.  

From the bar graph above I can see that not many people shop at Boots for Electronic Goods. Twelve people out of twenty people chose to tick number two on the like hurt scale which represents not so often

RESULTS OVERALL FROM MY

QUESTIONNAIRE

From the results of all my questions that I asked and the answers I obtained it seems that the product I should market is male range of DVD Camcorder. The age group I should aim my product at is 15-20 as this was the dominating age group in my questionnaire. The results are going to be bias towards them. So my questionnaire results are bias towards males that are in the age range 15-20.

According to my results I found out that selling the new DVD Camcorder at Dixons might be promoted enough because many people would purchase the new DVD Camcorder from their. Also I need to promote my DVD Camcorder elsewhere. According to my questionnaire the most popular brand of Electronic Goods is Sony. The price that people were most willing to pay for a new DVD camcorder with new features was £201 - £250 of the people that I questioned were willing to pay this amount.

Majority of the people that I questioned said it is not essential for having sales promotion in terms of encouraging you to buy DVD camcorder, this means that I should not pay that much work into designing the promotional methods as many people said that they are not essential.

I missed a big gap by leaving out questions regarding about what features they would like in a DVD Camcorder. I did this on purpose as this make it exciting for the people to find out. I will be doing a focus group which will give me a chance to question the people about what features they would like in a new DVD Camcorder. This would be a more effective way to finding the result as it will be a face to face discussion and any queries I or the people will have could be answered straight away.  

As part of my primary research I will also do a focus group, as I have already mentioned above. In order to do this I will have to interview five people randomly. The five people that I will have a Focus Group with are going to be totally different to the people who filled in my questionnaire.

The five people that I will be doing Focus Group with are people from School and this time when I do the focus group I will pick random people from different levels in the school including teachers.

Below is a table showing all the necessary information in a table.

   

I told them the situation about the Focus Group and so they did agree to take this opportunity to tell me what they thought of my marketing proposal. I asked them the time and date that they were best available making sure that they were all happy with the time asked how long the focus Group meeting should take. Surprisingly all of them said 20-30 minutes.

I had prepared for the questions that I would ask. In this case I prepared for six different questions. I wrote them down on a card so that it is easy for me to remember and would make things speed up.

Finally I was at the quiet room and I had my guests coming into the isolated room one by one. They were all on time ready, ready for the meeting to start.

Below are all the questions and response by the five people: -

1. What Electronic Brand is the biggest at Boots?

Mohammed Qadeer –

        ‘I don’t think Boots actually sell electronics goods’.

Mrs Brasington –

        ‘As I live near town Centre, I go shopping quiet often. Recently I popped in Boots and I saw quiet a few electronic goods by Sony but I don’t tend to buy electronic goods from Boots as It is not a specialised business in electronic goods so therefore I go to somewhere like Dixons or PC World to shop for my Electronic Goods.’

James Gun –

        ‘I don’t shop at Boots that often so therefore I don’t know anything about Boots.’

Samantha Cole –

        ‘I do go shopping with my mum to boots but I don’t actually see my mum purchasing any electronic goods from there. I’m not quite sure weather they even sell electronic goods as we normally shop for toiletry products from there.’

Aiesha Saddique –

        ‘I’m a regular customer at Boots and I’m familiar with most of the goods at Boots and recently I have noticed that they have started selling electronic goods at the front section of Boots. Electronic goods, such as basic mobile phones and cameras. I do tend to look forward to these offers at Boots and do purchase them. The most popular electronic brand that I know of that Boots sell is Sony and Panasonic.’

2. What type of person do you think tends to purchase DVD Camcorders?

Mohammed Qadeer –

        ‘I think a person that is into modern technology may purchase a DVD Camcorder.’

Mrs Brasington –

        ‘I think there would be variety of people that would purchase a DVD Camcorder. For example people in different stages of their lives and people that have different occupations. An example of who I think would purchase a DVD Camcorder is a person that is willing and able to spend that much money to cover his costs for the DVD Camcorder. A person that has a big demand in buying a DVD Camcorder.’

James Gun –

        ‘I think a person who is rich, would buy a DVD Camcorder.’

Samantha Cole –

        Yeh, I would say the same, a person that is rich.’

Aiesha Saddique –

        ‘I would say a person that is in need of a DVD Camcorder.’  

3) What features would you want in a new DVD Camcorder?

Mohammed Qadeer –

        ‘I don’t normally purchase any big electronic goods such as Camcorders but I do pay a lot of interest into these types of electronic goods. I have realised that none of the DVD Camcorders that have been introduced do not have a wireless link, so that we can access home made videos on hour PC. It would be a very good idea if they had a wireless link in a new DVD Camcorder that can be accessed on to different electronic Devisees such as a PSP, where you can see videos as well as play games.’

Mrs Brasington –

        ‘I don’t really buy electronic goods my husband does, so therefore I do not know much about the features that a standard DVD Camcorder has.’

James Gun –

        ‘I don’t know because I don’t know anything about camcorders in general anyway.’

Samantha Cole –

        ‘I would say the same.’

Aiesha Saddique –

        ‘I would want new features in a new DVD Camcorder. Features like, having a built in front light so that you can see in the dark and make clear films. Having new video affects would be a brilliant change in a DVD Camcorder.’

4) How much money would you or your family be willing to pay for a new DVD Camcorder with new features?          

Mohammed Qadeer –

        ‘A normal camcorder would cost around about £300, however for a DVD Camcorder I would be willing to pay £350- £400. It also depends on the type of features the DVD Camcorder has.

Mrs Brasington –

        ‘I don’t normally purchase Electronic Goods but I have a rough idea that my husband would normally spend on a DVD camcorder because he’s already brought one but he doesn’t like it so he might give it back because it hasn’t got better features. He brought that one for £230 from Dixons but i would say he would pay the same amount if he were to buy another one and gave this one back.

James Gunn –

        ‘I’ll have a guess. £300.

Samantha Cole –

        ‘I would pay around about £300 as well.

Aiesha Saddique –

        ‘Roughly I would spend £300, partly depending on the type of features and th quality of the DVD Camcorder itself,  

 

Validity and effectiveness of my research bin relation to my chosen strategy

I did primary research by giving out questionnaires to 20 people all at different age groups.  These were distributed in school. The data that I have received is useful as it shows me how many people buy camcorders in general and what price would they be willing to pay.  This is also showing me whether they go for quality and is it big issue or not.  

It has given me the chance to explore customer needs and the activities of Boots competitors.  It has also given me the understanding of the market of the product so therefore after looking at my results I can find out what customer needs need fulfilling and in what way.  For example I can find out what Boots competitors are doing which Boots can do and do better.  

Secondary research

This is the gathering and analysis of already available information.  This is a natural starting point it is quicker and cheaper and commercial organisations are always keen to save time and money. The problem is that information already available is already partly out of date. It may not be precisely what is required, either. Therefore, I will have to check its collection date and relevance.

The main sources of secondary data are Annual abstract statistical books

(Government)

• Market research firms
• Company Information
• Newspapers
• The Internet.

Some secondary data is free, whilst others are paid for.

A marketing database lists and carries information about people, or organisations, in any one market E.g. a local supermarket will have a ‘list’ of its customers if they have applied for a loyalty card. Data can be bought from professional agencies; this will give information on others firms in their same industry. Bought-in lists have become so sophisticated that they are often linked together. There are many of these firms, each trying more accurately to explain who and where the potential customers are, and what they buy.

A marketing database helps to provide information on consumer behaviour, as research would have been conducted into consumer preferences, buying patterns, sales trends and product substitution. Data would be collected nation wide or even globally giving a wide area of scope to analyse.

In addition, information on the market would be issued, this being market share, segments and competitor activities. This would be collective data conducted from financial accounts from firms within a certain market, this way data can be analysed and consequently used appropriately.

The costs and benefits of using secondary data are as followed;

Secondary research objectives

My secondary research objectives consist of:

        

• How much money does the population in our area/ product/ service spend?
• The circulation/ viewing figures that correspond towards our project.
• Also, market size.  To see if there is growth or decline within our sector
• Research into how much money spent on electrical products such as camcorders

To gather the information the sources we will consider using are as followed,

• Statistics on Social trends,
• Annual statistics book,
• The Internet,
• Business related textbooks

Over the Internet the easiest possible way to find out what I will be looking for, so by using search engines such as: -

 

        to find web pages on statistics.  From this I will search for the relevant data, this should be simpler as I should be able to type in what I’m looking for and the data should come up.

By using, business related textbooks I should be able to find some of the relevant data within them, using them appropriately. All the information collected will be explained. Explaining how it is relevant to the product at hand.

There would be a variety of aged group people that would shop at Boots for many different reasons. The reason for this is because there is a variety of different range of goods that Boots provides. The different range of products is brought by different age groups depending on the type of product they purchase.  This information was found from the Boots website, which is:

        Therefore the product that I will be marketing which is a new Boots DVD Camcorder will be brought by people who would need a DVD camcorder. People that may have a keen interest in recording videos.

This type of data is the existing data that a business can use for its own purposes.

The Internet

This is a type of secondary data that a business can use such as it contains a lot of published material but it may not be as reliable as books, magazines.

Government statistics

Government prepares statistics and the Central Statistical Office (CSO) publishes both a monthly and annual analysis.  This provides us with information about the different markets.  Above are just some places where I can get secondary information.

The secondary data shows advertisements are sold in spots and the daytime spots cost less because there are little audiences.  In the evening between 5.30 p.m. to 10.30 p.m. there is a much bigger audience because people have finished work, school or whatever they are doing to relax and watch television.

In the UK, ITV (including GMTV), channel 4 and channel 5 (1997), show advertisements between programmes and in intervals within the programmes themselves.  Advertising time on TV is sold in ‘spots’ ranging from one minute down to seven seconds.  Daytime spots, when audiences are low cost less than those do in ‘Peak time’- the evening when millions of people may be watching Independent Television.  Most evenings from 5.30 p.m. to about 10.30 p.m. is peak viewing time when TV audiences are largest.  The ITV companies usually show the same programmes, though they may show different advertisements.

TV advertising time in Britain is sold on the ‘spot’ system.  A ‘spot’ can last for a few seconds as with many of the ‘still’ advertisements for local stops or for a minute or even occasionally more.  ‘Spots’ are bunched into breaks which may contain just one advertisement, though this is rare, or several.  Each of the programme companies charge different rates, or prices, for its spot time.  It is not hard to see why.  One company, Grampian Television, serves only about 2,023,000 homes, but the London Region, whose programmes are provided by Charlton Television during the week and by London Weekend Televisions at weekends, has about 5,491,000 homes- 2 and a half times as many.    A half- minute spot in mid-evening on a weekday could cost £1,250 on Grampian Television whereas a similar spot time cost on Carlton Television might be £23,000.

On a weekday evening when a very popular programme is being shown on the whole ITV network, as many as 20 million people may be watching.  On Sunday morning the audience may only be a few thousand.  Round about teatime during the week, a high proportion of the audience will be teenagers and children.  Earlier in the afternoon in term-time, most viewers will be housewives, elderly people or shift workers.  This information allows the advertiser to select his audience.  It allows them to advertise to the correct audience.

There are now over 240 commercial stations, licensed and regulated by the Radio Authority, that pay for themselves by taking money from advertising. There are now national, regional and local commercial stations broadcasting.  Commercial radio stations, unlike TV stations, are no longer restricted to a limit on how much advertising they can take per hour- however they normally stick to 9 minutes as viewers tune elsewhere.  They are sold on ‘spot’ basis.  Peak audience times are different, however, with radio at breakfast period and evening rush hour has its largest audiences.

Out door advertising- poster sites in Britain are mainly in big cities alongside main roads close top the cities.  Outdoor advertising also includes the sides and backs of buses, banners and boards at football and other sports events, both the inside and outside of London and other city taxis, bus shelters, and boards at bus and railway stations. So posters are often used to remind people of brand names, or tie in with TV advertising to remind people of the TV message.

Point of sale (POS) advertising includes posters for the shop window, complete window displays for the advertiser's products, 'Open' and 'Closed' notices for the door with a product name on them, and the various other small advertising items that you see in shops. These are sometimes part of a short-term advertising campaign, but more often they are used to keep an advertiser's name in the minds of shoppers.

In 1998, £14,307 million was spent on advertising in Britain. Over 80 per cent of this was spent on display advertising of goods and services in the press, on television, radio, posters, direct mail and in the cinema. The remaining 20 per cent or so bought classified advertising (small ads), financial and legal notices, company announcements, and recruitment advertising (job ads) and advertising in the business and professional press.

Companies also spend substantial sums on other forms of communication but statistics are not always available. However, it is estimated that in 1995 £750 million was spent on exhibitions in Britain and substantial sums are also spent on sponsorship, sales promotion, mail order and other forms of activity.

This is where the money was spent:

Who are the advertisers? 

The table below shows the amount spent on advertising in 1998 by various product groups and by other groups of advertisers.

Advertising Rates 

The media fix their advertising rates according to the size of their audience and its age and social profiles. The rates are highly negotiable depending on numerous factors including possible large discounts. Here are some examples of 1998 rates:

Another means of identification used in advertising is 'social grade'. This is a classification based on the occupation of the head of the household, and it indicates the household's spending power. The table below shows the special grades, the occupation to which they refer, and the approximate proportions of each grade in the total UK population:

A Higher managerial, administrative and professional 2.8%

B Intermediate managerial, administrative and professional 18.6%

C1 Supervisory or clerical and junior managerial, administrative and professional 27.5%

C2 Skilled manual 22.1%

D Semi-skilled and unskilled manual 17.6%

E State pensioners or widows (no other earnings), casual or lowest-grade workers 11.4%

So if you wanted to advertise say, an expensive but sporty car, you would look for a newspaper or magazine with a high readership of fairly rich 24 - 35 year-olds - in other words, an AB readership aged 24-35. Naturally, you would be 'buying' some other readers as well, because there are plenty of younger and older people, and plenty of C1s, C2s and Ds, who like to read about expensive cars even if they can never afford one. But then those younger people will get older, and some of the C1s, C2s and Ds may get promotion to the point where they can afford your car. Age and social grade classifications do not work precisely but they help the advertiser to get reasonably close to the audience

I have been able to get some information on the facts and figures on advertising figures to use.  This information as it shows me, which forms of advertising are the best ones to use.  This information shows me where the most money was spent on advertising.  It showed me that the three main advertisements where the most money was spent on were television, national newspapers and regional newspapers. So therefore this is useful so I can therefore later on apply this to my marketing strategy where I have to decide on the type of promotion I am going to use.  This is shown in the appendices 1.

Also later on it shows which newspaper would be the best one to use.  Looking at this data the tabloid newspapers are the most popular e.g. the sun.  This also shows me which channel would be the best one to use on television.  So I can apply this to my marketing strategy as to what channel is the one to choose.

In conclusion the DVD Camcorder is seen as an electronic good, which is rather popular, the price will be lowered and by advertising, the consumers will be aware of the latest technology in camcorders. The best method is TV and prime time will be the best as it has a high audience even though it is expensive.

 This secondary information is really useful as it allows me to see what is the best form of advertisement is and when the best time is to advertise.