Research method
Before visiting Somerset house I designed a questionnaire which was filled in by different people at Somerset house. The results are presented below.
1.
This graph show that the most people to visit Somerset house are the above 55+ with 16 out of the 20 people the questionnaire was presented to. It also shows that there are know 26-55 year olds visiting the museum.
2.
The pie chart above shows that 40% of the people questioned were male and 60% were female, it also shows that there 20%more females who visit Somerset house than males. This is a major point to take into consideration when making my marketing strategy for Somerset house.
3.
The graph shows that 55% of the people questioned were retired, 25 in professional jobs and 20% in manual and other WC; this will have a great influence on my pricing.
4.
The graph show that all the people questioned came from outside London. Somerset house’s existing strategy targets people in London, from my results you can that there strategy is not working they need to expand the area of concentration to include outer London residents. This is a point I will take in mind when marketing the products.
5.
The results from the graph show that all the people travelled by train to Somerset house. Somerset house is easy accessible by the London underground.
6.
From the graph above you can see that 50% of the people had about Somerset house through the radio, 30 through the internet, 20% through word of mouth and news papers.
7.
The pie chart show that of the 20 people questioned almost 3 thirds of them had used the café/ restaurant.
7.
The graph shows that all the people who used the restaurants were all happy with the service and pricing by Somerset house.
8.
The pie chart shows that majority of the people I questioned had access to the internet and 40% don’t have access to the internet. This is useful if the products are going to be marketed on the internet.
10.
This graph shows us that 75% of the people I questioned visited the souvenir shop and actually buy some thing from there.
11.
From the chart you can see that 60% of the people questioned booked tickets from ticket master, 30% from the internet and only 10% on the Phone.
12.
Of the 20 people questioned 14 of them were going to spend the whole day at Somerset house, 2 till lunch and 4 for a few hours.
13.
This graph shows that 80% of the people had not visited the Ice rink this may be due to the fact that 55% of the people I questioned were retired and there were only 15% were teenagers.
14.
The graph shows us that 50% of the people questioned thought it was excellent, 20% V.good, 10% good and only 20% poor. This can be put right through asking the customers to fill in a short question about there day.
15.
From the results on the graph you can see half of the people enjoyed the Hermitage and the ice rink and Gilbert collection with both 20% each. The Courtauld gallery with only 10% marketing may have been responsible for this. The Ice rink got less people because only 15% of the people questioned were teenagers, most likely customers of the ice rink.
16.
This question was designed to fin out whether Somerset house has many competitors and from the results you can see that 80% of people had visited other galleries in London.
Existing markets
From my research I found that Somerset house attracts a large number of the retired audience to the galleries this was from my primary research. The secondary research I got from Somerset house showed that there were large numbers of Gold and Silver enthusiasts attracted to Somerset house as the Gilbert collection and shop is the only place in the area that sales expensive and unique silvers. The existing markets also include overseas cultural tourists and UK tourists. School groups and higher education who visit Somerset house mostly for educational purposes. There is a small number of younger audiences attracted to Somerset house only for the pop music events which take place in the courtyard, these are only seasonal and are mostly not to visit the galleries and not to come back. The restaurant’s existing market includes day trippers in higher education and income categories. The ice rink has an existing market of mostly teenagers but these don’t visit the galleries and because the ice rink lasts for only six weeks it does not reach its expected sales.
Future/possible markets
There markets Somerset house has not explored, Somerset house targets residents of greater London but from my primary research you can see that most of the people questioned were actually from out side greater London. To reach this audience Somerset house needs to increase its marketing campaign to include the people who come from outside London.
There is a possibility of a future market of parents and there younger kids to visit the galleries, this could be attracted in a number of ways for example if Somerset house opened up a new system, that the kids are looked after while the parents visit Somerset house. This would attract many parents therefore leading to an increase in the sales and number of people visiting Somerset house. It would also improve the public’s image of summerset house being a place of births, deaths and marriages.
The other market I would like to explore is the market of the younger generations; this would be good customers if they were pleased with the service they receive, as they are most likely to tell there friend about what they have seen or how good and spectacular the event was and then may be come back to visit again. Which h would form repeat customers and increase sale.
Competition
Somerset house does not only compete with museum but also other restaurants and gold and silver shops in inner London. Somerset house does not only compete locally but it also has national and international competition because of the single market in Europe, this causes even a greater threat to Somerset house as museums can enter the UK museum freely. Its many competitors in the museum industry include the natural history museum, national gallery, science museum, British museum imperial war museum and madam Tussauds etc. Most of these museums due to recent government legation offer free entrance to the public at all times yet they have a competitive advantage over Somerset house. But still to most of the upper class people it looks like they are getting a better service because they are paying.
There is also a problem as Somerset house has to prove to the public that the service the public will receive from Somerset house is worth the money, Somerset house could do this through product differentiation, adding valve to the service they provide.
The other competitors are the restaurants located in London; these compete aggressively with Somerset house the location of Somerset house gives it a completive advantage.
Whole market development
The market for museum is changing from the static’s in my secondary research you can see that at in the early 1990’s not many people used to visit museum but recently in the late 1990’s there has been an increase in the museum market. As people get more money they tend to spend it on luxurary thing like days out to museums. Also some people visit museum because of curiosity about there history or the history of other things. Some visit simply because they are interested in some kind arts and culture. But in the last few months we have seen a decrease in the number of people visiting the museum, this is because the economy of the UK has been fall since September the 11 and people were saving instead of spending.
As we approached the new millennium and new technology changed we saw museum take a new step in using new technologies like the use of the internet and the use of new interactive service like touch screens available in the museums. Somerset house also has an active interactive link to St Petersburg museum in Russia which enables you to see what’s going on St Petersburg.
Other museum like the natural history museum have computer programs that allow you to go back in time and see what the earth looked like and what creatures roomed the earth.
Ever since the election of the new London mayor; London has been put on the map, with plans for better transport and more attraction in London. The mayor’s plans for London have many influences on trade and business in London. For example the mayor’s plans to freeze tube fares in real terms for fours year and to freeze bus fares for four years and urgently investigate the feasibility of introducing a 70p flat rate bus fare throughout London. This attracts more tourists and because the fares will be low you will find that more people visit London.
Conclusion
After all the research I have under taken I have decided on a strategy that will attract more people of all generations to Somerset house, because the ice rink is opened for only six weeks I thought this is not enough time. So I have decided to keep it open for the all of the winter season and this time the rink will be covered with a water proof over it, which means we will not have to close the ice rink when it’s raining as Somerset has done in the led which led to a huge decrease in there sales as people we take on the ice because it was raining. Also I would like the rink to be even bigger this year instead of 700 square metres, I will have it 900 square this will accommodate more people. I will have events like the ice hockey finals from local clubs take place on the rink this is for publicity reasons, these events will be held in the evenings so that they don’t conflict with other thing and people at Somerset house. I also plan to open the rink for longer hours on weekend, this is because the age group am interested in are in education during the week days. I will invite the press round on the grand opening and on the special which will help improve the image of Somerset house. My strategy also includes changing price but I will not increase the price instead I going to increase the age at which teenagers can get in a child from 12 years to 16 years this will hopeful encourage more teenagers to come and visit. Prices will be adults £8 and under 16 £6. This will be my winter strategy.
In the summer season I intend to promote the fountains and a music festival which will last for a week, on my publicity I will also include the galleries and other products that Somerset house provides so that customer can know about what is on offer apart from the event they are going to. As well as attracting younger generation and increase repeat customer I will make sure that my marketing strategy meets there demands and expectations and does not conflict with other things going on at Somerset house.
Evaluation of research validity
The methods I used primary research, this involved gathering fresh information about the market and secondary research this involves using data that is already available to you. For my marketing strategy I was allowed to change the product, price and promotion but I couldn’t change the place as Somerset house is a history building. So I went on and carried out the appropriate research. I constructed a questionnaire that I questioned 20 people.
The questionnaire had closed questions; I collected quantities data that I later turned into statistics, which I presentated in pie charts and bar graphs. The problem with closed questionnaire is that people don’t get to give there own opinion about the product instead they are forced into answering questions with out giving there own judgment. This met I may have missed out on ideals that I might have used in my strategy. I only questioned 20 people that I conceded to be a representative sample of London however, there are many more people in London that I sampled this may cause problems. Because my results are recent this makes them valid as I conduct the research personally and asked questions that were relevant to the topic issue.
The secondary research I have is valid but not for this particular time as most of it is 2-3 years old fore example the trend in museum market information and tourist’s information, this could have charged over the last year. This will affect my marketing strategies. It would have been of use if I looked into reference books in the libraries but due to the time difficulty I was not able to.
Overall am satisfied with the research methods that I used to collect the information and do think to a certain extent my research is valid and will be of use when am drawing up my strategy which will later attract more younger generations and increase repeat customer.
In London there are vast numbers of competitors and it’s impossible to research all of them as this will cost a lot of money and time. I might have over looked some competitors. I have not researched national and international and other leisure activities that appeal to kids and younger adults like bowling alleys and cinemas.
Secondary research
Tourism is one of the drivers of the British economy, supporting around 1.7 million jobs. It is also one of the fastest growing industries with one in five of all new jobs created in the tourist industry.
The last years 25.7 million overseas visitors came to Britain, spending more than 12 billion. The British tourist Authority estimates that by the year 2003, overseas visitors will spend around £18 billion a year in the UK, 44% more that the past year.
The British tourist Authority works with the national tourist boards for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to build the value of tourism in Britain, generating addition tourism revenue throughout the year in Britain.
The graph above shows most tourists are overseas visitors to the UK, since internal trade was improved the UK receives loads of tourists and the remove of trade barriers and the introduction of a single currency in Europe has add to the number of tourists visiting the UK. You can also see from the graph that there are a total of 148 million tourists who are interested in day trips; this may include trips to museums which work as an advantage for Somerset house. I will have to gear my strategy to attract a large proportion of these tourists.
This graph shows major tourism receipts the USA is the major tourism receipt with the UK at the bottom.
Tourism in the UK economy
The most relevant data from this table is the service exports, services that the UK provides to tourists. It shows that the service usage by tourist’s accounts for 26.5% of the U.K. economy and this figure is increasing yearly.
Months of trip
From the table above u can see that in the winter time trips to UK places are high in the wintertime. Which will be advantage if am to promote the ice rink as a winter activity, this might attract a larger number of UK day-trippers and increase my sales.
Also from the table I have highlighted the importance of having a summer activity, though the numbers of UK residents going abroad are high there is a large majority of people who remain in the UK for there holidays not forgetting those who come from abroad to visit the UK.
