Case study Judy Greene

International Baccalaureate Business Studies

Case study: Judy Greene

Table of content

Introduction

In 1981, Judy Greene left the company Potaireacht Cléire to start her own business. One year later Judy Greene Pottery was established. The company is specializing in hand thrown terracotta, depicting Irish flora and landscape.

When she started her own business, she did not even have capital or a business plan. It is amazing that she could establish her company close in the Irish market.

Most potters are primarily artists and craftspeople and also business people. Judy Greene is a really ambitious person, who wants to ensure her future prosperity and who is always looking ahead. She is really engaged in managing the production as well as developing new designs and has recorded a high rate of growth over the last ten years.

Handcrafted pottery is not as price sensitive as other products and the pottery which Judy Greene is selling, is in the upper price categories.

We want to find out which types of market research Judy Greene used for getting information and in task 1 we will classify the types of marketing research.

Marketing research is a key element and very important. It is the function that links the consumer, customer and public to the marketer through information. It essentially deals with information about markets and the reaction of these to price, distribution, promotion and product decisions. Marketing research is a method of collecting data which will make Judy Green more aware of how the people, she hopes to sell to, will react to her products.

There are two main sources of data – primary and secondary.

Secondary research means that an organization relies on information that already exists and which might help to understand the problem or can even help to solve them: it, although it was not intended for helping to deal with this specific problem. Secondary research or data can be collected through internal sources, which can be found in the company and external sources, which are available outside the company like business libraries, trade associations and magazines. Because of their availability it is not so expensive to do secondary research and it can be conducted quite quickly.

Primary research means that an organization collects new information in order to solve a current problem or to find out the demands and wants of customers. Primary research is expensive and time consuming, but is more focused than secondary research. This also called desk research can be subdivided into quantitative research or data which produces numbers and answers questions like “who”, “what”, “when” and qualitative research or data which provides information on why people buy something or why they feel and react the way they do and get the impressions that they have.

Qualitative research concentrates on attitudes and opinions like consumer tastes, likes and dislikes which could help the marketer to understand the customers needs, wants and demands.

Judy Greene also wants to find out where people got their ideas, their buying patterns and what brands of pottery they know. Because of that she was practicing Focus group research, which is a form of qualitative research.

Focus group is a small sample of typical consumers under the direction of a professional group leader. Discussion, opinion and beliefs are encouraged and focus group interviewing has become one of the key marketing research tools gaining insight into consumer thoughts and feelings. (principles of marketing)

Judy Greene is also dividing a market into different groups of buyers – market segmentation. There a many ways that a segment can be considered. For example by geography such as where the product was bought, by psychographics as lifestyle and by demography such as age, gender and so on. Judy Greene especially used the geographic segmentation.

Task 1: Classification of the types of marketing research used by Judy Greene over her firm’s evolution

The most important method of marketing research according to Judy Greene is the primary research or field research. To obtain the primary data that she needs, she mainly uses observations of customers who walk through her workshops. She sees them like being a part of her marketing department. It enables her to obtain lots of information about current and potential customers and their perceptions and expectations of her products. She gets to know how customers respond to her products so that she can finally try to adapt to it and fulfill their wants and expectations. To gain information directly from her customers is crucial to her and could be the key to long-term success.

Judy knows about the trends concerning the Irish market for giftware and crafts. For example, young and more traveled customers are removing themselves from traditional products. Furthermore, there is a strong influence of the tourist industry and additionally the opportunities for established but also for new entrants are very good.

Judy can go on collecting information that could be necessary for her, depending on information about these several trends in her home country.

Therefore she has made customer segmentation for her business for the year 1998, because she has needed to know who her customers are and wanted ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

Judy can go on collecting information that could be necessary for her, depending on information about these several trends in her home country.

Therefore she has made customer segmentation for her business for the year 1998, because she has needed to know who her customers are and wanted to know more about the profiles of her customers. The segmentation was based on the division into two periods of time. One was from October till March and the other from April till September. The result was that comparing the two periods there were little differences especially concerning the segment of tourists. But one thing became clear namely that between 80% and 90% of her customers were Irish. This information about the customer segments could probably come from internal records information that is gathered from sources within the company to evaluate marketing performance and to detect marketing problems and opportunities.

Customer trends are changing and Judy Greene is aware of that. It is most important for her to stay ahead of these trends in order to develop future strategies and to ensure sustainable growth.

Judy studies interior design magazines to identify trends. This is a part of secondary research gaining information from external sources. Furthermore, she travels to Europe and the US in order to see what people like and what is selling there, because she knows that later on these trends will be passed on to Ireland. Therefore she has to look which designs and products will be popular in the near future and she does it by gaining information through primary research visiting other countries. For Judy, the timing and designs of new products are very important and essential for being successful. One example is the ceramics fair in Munich which she once visited. There she got the idea to sell oil burners which is today one of her best-selling products. She also achieved a lot of information about the design, function and safety features about the oil burners visiting many chemists’ shops in Germany. She searched for this information and collected it, which was a very expensive process on the one hand, but which enabled her to start the business of producing oil burners at home very quickly on the other hand.

However, Judy knows that reading magazines about designs and collecting information about trends in other countries does not ensure success for her business in Ireland, because anyhow the Irish taste could differ from that. Knowing that most of her customers are Irish, because of the customer segmentation she had made, makes it even more important to go further into the question of marketing research for the Irish market.

In the first place Judy wants to find possible trends and then suit them to the wishes, expectations and perceptions of the home market, because then she will get a better chance of success.

Therefore, customer feedback is very important and crucial for Judy Greene and her business, because she wants to meet their wishes and expectations especially concerning the design of her products which should be up-to-date in some way.

Because of the heavy competition in this market, Judy needs to have new and fresh ideas and lines of design and additionally has to remain true to her own style. Because of this, it is a very difficult task to satisfy retailers and customer demand.

Of course, Judy has also to concentrate on the younger generation because they will be her customers of tomorrow. This generation likes simpler and more classical lines of design, which could also have something Irish. Therefore Judy made up the Connemara Collection which is directed at the younger target group. Maybe she has found out about this by using secondary data from external sources.

Another very important point is that her business is located in Galway which is an Irish tourist town. Therefore Judy has to account for the different tastes of tourists. She sees that German tourists like simple designs and are willing to buy “larger, exclusive, unique and one-of-a-kind pottery pieces.” American tourists buy entire dinner sets or cheap products which are on sale. The French and Italian tourists do not buy a lot of pottery from Judy Greene at all. She probably gets this information by observations in her shops. So this would be primary research because it is only for her own business and she will probably find it later on as secondary data in her own company as an internal source.

Regarding her marketing research it is a great advantage for Judy being a member of the Galway Chamber of Commerce, because it enables her to get access to a research report, Galway Tourism 1997. It shows that in 1996 920,000 tourists visited Galway City spending an average of €21.34 on gifts. Furthermore, she gets the information about how many visitors came to Galway City in 1996 and sees that most people came from Ireland. Clearly this is secondary research gaining existing data or information from an external source.

Another method of primary research is the focus group research which Judy also used in order to get qualitative information about her current and potential customers and their expectations and perceptions. She wanted to learn especially more about the potential customer segments regarding where they get their ideas for fashion, interior design and home furniture from.

Moreover, she wanted to know about their general perception of pottery, porcelain and china as well as what brands of pottery they knew, liked and purchased. Another topic about which Judy wanted to learn more is their buying behaviour and their criteria when buying pottery.

She had not done the focus group interviews on her own but hired a market research firm for that. The researches developed a questionnaire which included nine questions catered to the information that Judy wanted to get. Then they also analysed the answers and the result of the interviews were four customer types: the Young Generation who are the future customers, the Professionals who are higher disposable income customers, the Homemakers who are mature customers and the Loyal customers who are the core customer base.

With the help of the information Judy Greene had gained through her primary and secondary research she is able to implement a well-structured marketing plan in order to achieve several target groups and to ensure future prosperity.

Task 2: Based on the research conducted so far, what recommendations would you make to Judy Greene concerning the way ahead for her company?

Judy Greene organizes a quite successful business so far with a sales turnover of about 1,000 000 00 € in 1998. Her aim is it to increase sale turnover of 1,250 000.00 € in 2000 and further 25 % by 2005. We will suggest different recommendations in the following text how she could realize this aim.

As the craft/gift market’s growths is going to slow down, it is necessary to find ways on how to ensure the company’s success in future.

Looking at the customer segmentation for Judy Greene Pottery, market segments are divided into four categories: the domestic market, export, tourist and mail-order.

On the basis of the four categories, we will discuss various options/alternatives for her company to achieve her business goals.

The domestic market plays a major role with 90 % sales in October to March and 80% in April to September. Those figures show the importance of this segment and therefore it is necessary to keep those customers. As we have already mentioned in the research before, Judy Greene customers can be divided into four different focus groups. Existing customers shall always be motivated to extend their assortment with new products but she has to be aware of the fact that loyal customers might already be a bit satisfied with pottery due to the high competitor extension. Therefore she should put a major focus on customer loyalty.

Furthermore, brand awareness shall be increased to point out the exclusiveness and individuality of Judy Greene Pottery. As a result of that potential customers should be inspired to ‘own’ a piece of Judy Greene. Increased brand awareness can be achieved through more Judy Greene stores or retailers who offer free samples of new products to their customers.

Product differentiation is also an important method she could use. With the implementation of new modern product ranges which still keep her traditional style through using typical ‘Judy Greene symbols’ (e.g. flowers), she could gain further customers. When using this method it is possible for Judy Greene to attract “Young Graduates” who describe their own style as “classical and casual” and design, colour and shape strongly influence their buying decision. If she pays attention to the results of the research conducted so far, this customer group can be attracted through modern, stylish pottery.

Another result of the research is that all of the focus groups get their ideas and incentives through magazines. Thus specific advertisements in typical magazines for each focus group should be taken out. Further, celebrities with whom each of the groups can identify with could promote for Judy Greene Pottery products.

As it deals of handcraft pottery, especially in the production, the motivation of the employees is necessary in order to achieve the best performance. Further, satisfied employees who can identify with their work and offer a good service in stores which is required by all of the four focus groups, are carrying out a positive image of the company. Therefore convenient atmosphere is desirable which can be obtained through better working conditions.

So far we have dealt with the domestic market. Now we would like to continue with the recommendations for export, which plays rather a small role with 2 % sales in October to March and 5 % in April to September.

Increasing her export sales could be obtained through participating at ceramic fairs through giving incentives with traditional Irish but modern pottery and making it attractive. Special sales offers and promotion can be helpful to receive higher brand awareness at foreign trade. Giving favourable prices for pottery importers can make the product more financially rewarding.

Through an extension of her distribution network, rural population (such as farmers etc.) who often prefer traditional goods will be reached more easily and confronted with the product Judy Greene Pottery.

Information about the individual markets can be obtained through her membership at the Galway Chamber of Commerce. It might be possible to receive data from cooperating Chambers of Commerce in other countries so that she could seek valuable information about buying behaviours of potential customers. Thus she can ideally deliver those markets she is operating in so far.

More important than the export is the tourism for Judy Greene’s business. In this segment sales turnover are increasing up to 10 % in April to September, compared to 4 % in October to March due to seasonal factors.

As already mentioned before, brand awareness is an important factor in terms of attracting new customers. Using advertising material such as flyers at the airport in Galway is helpful to arouse interest of the arriving tourists. Through the increased brand awareness and the aroused interest in her products, she could offer, in collaboration with travel organizations, special workshops in pottery.

It would be also advisable to be mentioned in a travel guide such as Marco Polo, so that tourists get in touch with the brand Judy Greene Pottery even before they arrive in Ireland. Further, she could open further little tourist shops in or nearby the local hotels to make it more convenient for the customers to buy her products.

As “the influence from the tourist industry continues to be strong” a major focus should be put on the individual buying behaviours from each of the foreign customer groups. The analysis of the research Judy Greene received from the marketing company can be used to specify the product range in terms of special desires of the tourists. The English tourists for example prefer the typical flower design whereas the Germans favour larger, exclusive and one-of-a-kind pottery.

Two quite unknown tourist groups are the French and Italians who rather buy at ‘Design Concourse Ireland’ shops. Gathering information about the likes of them and realise this in creation of special product designs, could be helpful to lure them away into her stores.

The last customer segment is mail-order. With 4 % in April to September and 5 % in October to March it plays a constant role and is insensitive towards seasonal changes.

The role of the internet is increasing and e-purchasing is becoming a trend through all age groups of customers. An interesting and nice-to-have-a-look-at homepage encourages people to use this convenient way for buying goods. Additional features such as three-dimensional views of products and detailed information about size and weight in different languages attracts customers. Further, offering customers rewards such as bonus points for each purchase, which they can collect and convert into special products later ensures further product purchases. If Judy Greene meets those additional features and offers an easy way to order products online, further customer groups could be made accessible.

Another option is the distribution of goods through cooperations with popular national mail-order companies. An advantage of this is that she doesn’t have to make extra advertisements because the mail-order company already does so. Customers who didn’t know Judy Greene products so far get a first impression of the products and could be attracted.

As feedback has always been an important research method for Judy Greene until now, the use of questionnaires enclosed in the delivery of the goods would be helpful to gain further information from customers. Those questionnaires in a form of a postcard shouldn’t be too complex and easy to understand so that customers are willing to fill them out and send them back.

Summarising the text shows that major importance should be put on brand awareness and customer loyalty which shall be increased. Also product differentiation and advertising are marketing instruments that should be used more efficiently. The distribution network shall be enlarged to attract new groups of buyers. Further, research plays a major role in seeking information about loyal as well as new potential customers. Judy Greene should try to define the preferences in terms of buying behaviour, purchase intention and design for all customers in each market segment more detailed. Company success can be ensured if she pays attention to all those factors which are mentioned above.

Bibliography

Literature

Kotler, Philip, Wong, Veronica, Saunders, John, Armstrong, Gary; Principles of Marketing, Fourth European Edition, Essex 2005

Internet sources

www.marketingteacher.com 18.01.2008