The planning permission is normally needed to setting up a new business. If any one wish to open up a new business in Bramhall, he or she will have to go through the necessary procedures laid down by the Borough Council. In this case, the person must have to provide all details of the expected business. If there is charge to be paid he/she will have to pay to the Council.
Similarly, the permission is needed to change an existing business to another type. For example, if some running a fast food business wants to change it into a fruit and vegetable shop, he/she need to inform the Borough Council of the expected change and provide the necessary details about it. The Council again may charge for the change. Having considered all these, the permission may be granted.
4. Understanding the Market and Market research
4.1 Understanding the Market
A business would need to know what its target market is for determining the type of crowd that they are going to target at. Different types of crowds would have different kinds of expectations. By focusing on meeting one of these expectations, a business can be much more successful as it would gain advantage of expertise in a particular service.
In the areas like Bramhall, there are a number of market sectors. These include food products, daily consumer products, (soap, toothpaste…), clothing, entertainment, toys, stationers and newspapers, furniture, motoring and so on.
Knowing these would help a businessman to determine what kinds of shops that already exist and what kinds of businesses that will have to be in Bramhall. Having chosen a particular sector for a retail business, she/he will also have to know what is less competitive and what is more competitive.
4.2 Market Research
A businessman may have to carry out a market research for finding out what the target market would be and, most importantly, for determining what the particular needs would be. In brief, a research would be useful to collect data about customers’ needs. Such a research can either be a primary research or a secondary research.
By doing a primary research, for example, a businessman can collect first hand data through administering a questionnaire designed for the purpose. This is a hard type of research, as it requires time labour to complete.
On the other hand, a secondary research involves either collecting secondary data that have already been collected by someone for general purposes. For example, these data can be found in existing statistical handbooks or reports. It can also involve telling some labour force to do it for you. The disadvantage of this type of research when considering existing data is that one has to pay for such handbooks or reports. Sometimes, these data might not be that useful to a business in Bramhall when the data is outdated. However the most important disadvantage of them all is true for both the types of secondary research, and it is the fact that you have to pay money for the information.
5. The Questionnaire
- What is your age?
16-25 26-35 36-45 46-55 56+
- Where do you live?
East Bramhall West Bramhall
- Do you shop in Bramhall?
No Yes
- Is there a particular shop you regularly go?
No Yes
- What kind of shop would you like to have in Bramhall?
- Supermarket
- Fast-food shop
- Catalogue shop (Argos)
- Household utilities shop
- Clothes shop
- Do you want the shop to be ‘low quality-low price’ or ‘high quality-high price’?
Low-quality, low-priced High-quality, high-priced
6. Answer sheet
7. In-depth interview
I have chosen to do my in-depth interview with one of my father’s friends, Trevor.
Researcher: What is your age?
Trevor: I am forty-eight years old Kasun.
Researcher: How long have you been in Bramhall?
Trevor: Since I was married, which is about twenty years now.
Researcher: Do you like Bramhall as a shopping area?
Trevor: When I first came to Bramhall it wasn’t very good but now it has developed into a very convenient place to shop.
Researcher: Do you usually do your shopping in Bramhall?
Trevor: When I first moved into Bramhall my wife did all her shopping in Stockport, but now Bramhall fulfils almost all of our shopping needs so she shops there.
Researcher: How many times a week does your wife shop?
Trevor: She usually shops once or twice a week?
Researcher: When does she shop?
Trevor: She usually shops while I have gone to work.
Researcher: Earlier you said that Bramahll fulfils almost all of your shopping needs, why did you use the almost there? Is there any shop that you would like to have in Bramhall?
Trevor: Well, yes you are right there is one shop that I feel missing in Bramhall, a supermarket.
Researcher: How would a supermarket help your shopping?
Trevor: Yes good question, I think that a supermarket would be very useful to us. It would surely cut down the shopping times as it would offer a variety of things that usually were bought in several shops. And of-course it’s cheaper too.
Researcher: In general there can be two types of supermarkets. One with-low quality, low-priced and less renowned supermarket like Aldi or Netto. Another with high-quality, high-priced popular supermarkets like Sainsbury’s. Which kind of supermarket would you prefer?
Trevor: Well, naturally I would be inclined to go to a place where affordably. However, quality is also an important thing to me so we are prepared to pay a higher price if quality is guaranteed.
Researcher: Do you consider any particular feature in such a supermarket?
Trevor: Yes of course, I should not be wasting my time trying to understand what the goods are and where the prices are displayed. If these two things are clearly displayed I would be more than happy to shop at such a supermarket. Oh, there is one thing I almost forgot, a most important feature for me is car parking facilities, a supermarket without such a feature will be no good as parking is very hard in Bramhall.
Researcher: Do you have anything else to tell me? Or do you have a question to ask?
Trevor: No, and good luck with your project
Researcher: Thank you. Thank you very much for your valuable time.
8. Analysis of Questionnaire and In-depth Interview
To understand as to what kind of retail business to be set up, a questionnaire survey followed by an in-depth interview is an important tool of analysis. This section devotes to analyse data collected through the questionnaire and the in-depth interview. This exercise will help me to explain whether Bramhall would be a good place to open a retail business. For this purpose, I will use necessary statistical tools such as graphs and charts.
I administered a short questionnaire and it included six closed questions which directly served the purpose of this project. Thirty people responded to the questionnaire. The answers were recorded in an answer sheet. However, before recording the answers to the questions, I managed to note down whether the respondents were male or female.
The in-depth interview was to obtain a detail understanding of the answers given in the questionnaire. It was conducted with a friend of my father. I like to acknowledge his valuable contribution made to this project giving me important clues for the proposed retail business. The question I asked were mainly open ended allowing the respondent to detail his answers with proper justifications.
8.1 Analysis of Questionnaire
Out of thirty respondents, 33.33% was male and 66.67% was female. The composition is shown in chart 1. This composition is good as female are very much interested in doing shopping so their views are very important for this analysis. However, as male respondents have also given answers, I was comfortable in making reliable judgements on the issue in hand.
Chart 1
Chart 2 shows a summary of the answers given for question 1. As is shown in the chart, almost 30% of respondents come from ’36-45’ age group. This is the highest percentage compared to other age groups. Their views are very important for my subsequent analysis. In addition, 23.33% of respondents come from ’46-55’ age group. This means 53.33% of respondents are between 36 and 55. These people are adults and they do some thing for living. They are a powerful group for making buying decisions. This group is the majority. Most of questionnaire surveys look for the views of the majority.
Chart 2
Chart 3 summarises the answers obtained for question 2 -‘where do you live?’. I wanted to know whether they liven in either Bramhall West of Bramhall East. Out of the thirty respondents, I have found, 60% live in East Bramhall and 40% in West Bramhall. So, I will be able to rely more on the views of the people came from East Bramhall. If I want to focus the target market on East Bramhall, these views will be relevant for making a better decision.
Chart 3
The following chart shows the summarised data for the question – ‘Do you shop in Bramhall?’. The reason why I want to ask this question is that, if I know about this, I will be able to judge whether people concentrate on Bramhall for shopping or they are inclined to go out of Bramhall. The figures tell me that 56.66% do shopping in Bramhall and 43.33% do not. This indicates that I can attract more people who already do shopping in Bramhall. In addition, if I can set up an attractive business, then I will be able attract some other people too from the category of ‘not doing shopping in Bramhall’. In other words, there is good potential in Bramhall to set up a retail business.
Chart 4
The next question is ‘Is there a particular shop you regularly go?’. The answer to such a question will lead me to understand whether people are used to go to a particular shop. If it is the case, it may be hard to divert them into another shop easily. I got 76.66 to say ‘no’ and 43.33% to say ‘yes’. So, it is easy for me to set up a new business and attract people into it.
Chart 5
The questions so far I have asked were useful for me to investigate whether Bramhall is a good place to start up a new business. I obtained a positive result from the investigation. The next question leads me to investigate the type of business. The question is – “what kind of shop would you like to have in Bramhall?”. As is shown in Chart 6, majority of people, that is 56.66%, wanted to have a supermarket in Bramhall. This is a clear cut investigation as this figure stands very far from other figures such 13.33% for a catalogue shop, another 13.33 for house hold utilities, 9.99% for a fast food shop, and 6.6 for clothes shop.
Chart 6
Moreover, I wanted to ask whether the people like to buy low quality low priced goods or high quality high priced goods. Chart 7 summarises the answer given to this question. I got 36.66% of the respondents to say ‘low quality low priced’ and 63.33% of respondents to say ‘high quality high priced’. This tells me that the potential super market can have high quality high priced goods.
Chart 7
8.2Analysis of In-depth Interview
As I have already mentioned, the in-depth interview was conducted with a friend of my father. He is 48 eight years old and has been living in Bramhall for last 20 years.
According to the respondent, Bramhall has developed into a convenient area for shoppers though it was not that good about twenty years ago. This means people are now inclined to concentrate on Bramhall to do shopping rather than going out to Stockport.
One of the other important things the respondent told me is that his wife goes shopping several times a week while he is on work. This tells me that people like to do shopping several times within Bramhall rather than doing the same occasionally out of Bramhall. For example, people like have regularly bought fresh food.
However, according to the respondent, there is a problem for shoppers in Bramhall: they have to do shopping at several shops spending so much time. As rightly pointed by the respondent, Bramhall village has all types of shops but a super market.
The in-depth interview revealed that having a super market in Bramhall is advantageous for several reasons. First, a super market can save people’s time as everything is available under one roof. Second, a super market is a good place to buy things at lower prices. Third, people like to park near a super market conveniently.
Moreover, the respondent continued to tell me that people like to have a super market where they can buy high priced - high quality goods rather than low priced – low quality ones. In such a super market, prices have to be displayed clearly.
9. Analysis of Secondary Research
9.1 Analysis of Population data
One way secondary research can be analysed is by looking at population data in the Bramhall area. In terms of the residents’ age structure, figures in both West Bramhall and East Bramhall are quite similar.
However, when comparing the figures with Borough, we can understand something different. We shall take different age groups separately.
The population in the age group between 0 and 4, both in East Bramhall and West Bramhall, is well below the average in the Borough. That indicates that both areas in Bramhall are not that ideal to put up a retail business aiming at that age group.
By contrast, the population in the age group between 5 and 15 in East Bramhall is well above the average in the Borough but in West Bramhall it is slightly higher than the Borough. This signifies that the ideal place for putting up a retail business for this age group is East Bramhall.
With regard to the age group between 16 and 24, both Bramhall areas indicate a higher percentage compared to the Borough. This concludes that both areas are similarly important for putting up a retail business for this age group.
The age group between 25 and 59 carries the highest population percentage in any area so it is the most important category of population. In East Bramhall, this population is considerably higher than that of the Borough. But in West Bramhall, this population is just below the average of the Borough. This tells us that East Bramhall is an ideal place for running a retail business targeting this age group.
When considering the age group between 60 and 64, we understand that East Bramhall is not an ideal place as it carries a lower population percentage than Borough. Nevertheless, West Bramhall is better for putting up a retail business as it indicates a slightly higher population percentage than the Borough.
The age group between 65 and 74 tells us another story. The population percentage in this group within East Bramhall is similar to the Borough. In West Bramhall, this percentage is less than the Borough. So, both areas are not that good for setting up a retail business.
The last age group in the breakdown falls in the range of 75 and over. There is a less population percentage in this group in East Bramhall compared to the Borough whereas there is a slightly higher population percentage in West Bramhall. This tells us that West Bramhall is good for setting up the business
In a nut shell, we understand that East Bramhall is ideal for setting up businesses for three age groups: 5 -15, 16 – 24 and 25-59. In contrast, West Bramhall is good for these three age groups: 16 – 24, 60-64 and 75 above. This means East Bramhall can be an ideal place for a business targeting 13675 people ageing from 5 to 59. But West Bramhall can be place for running a business for 3723 people in the above age groups. However, this does not mean that we need to physically locate the business in East Bramhall. What this analysis tells us is that we need to target the people living in East Bramhall rather than West Bramhall. Nevertheless, we need to make a decision after considering other factors too.
9.2 Housing Tenure
Another type of secondary date available for me to analyse are on housing tenure. Here, I am making a comparison of East Bramhall data with that of West Bramhall. Also, I am comparing these data with the Borough.
First I would look at the owner occupied houses in the two areas. The percentage of the owner occupied houses in West Bramhall is considerably higher than that of the Borough. However, East Bramhall housed the highest percentage, which was almost twenty percent higher than the Borough and over six percent higher than West Bramhall. Hence, this confirms that the population in East Bramhall is the wealthiest in Stockport. This would be very helpful to a new business because the shop would get the more profits from East Bramhall than in any other place in Stockport. Wealthier the population is the more they can spend.
Next I shall consider the issue of council houses. The percentage of West Bramhall is almost half of the Borough. However, East Bramhall has only a mere eleven houses, which is just over one percent of the size of the Borough. Usually, the poorest places have the highest percentages of council houses. This means that East Bramhall (which has only eleven council houses) must be a very wealthy area. This results higher profits as I mentioned in the last paragraph.
I will now look at the percentages of houses owned by the Housing association. In the Borough, 3% of the houses is owned by the Housing Association. This figure is much higher than that of East and West Bramhall which have figures of only 0.9 and 0.8 percent. This also tells me that Bramhall people in general are wealthier to have own houses instead of renting from Housing Association.
In respect of privately rented houses in Bramhall, the figures are very low compared to the Borough. In the Borough, it is 4.8% whereas it is East and West Bramhall 2.5% and 2.9% respectively. This also repeats the same clue that Bramhall people are wealthier to have their own houses.
9.3 Economic Characteristics
Economic characteristics are also important for me to make decision regarding setting up business in Bramhall. In East Bramhall, there are more full-time male employees compared to West Bramhall. In general the figures for both East and West Bramhall are comparable with many areas in the Borough.
On the other hand, least male unemployed people live in both East and West Bramhall and this figure is much lower than that of the Borough and Greater Manchester.
Economic figures on male are very important in making a decision because their economic condition is decisive for a family to become a better life. Since these figures are substantially positive in the focus area, I see that is a good place to setting up a retail business.
