Puja Patel

Task B

There are four types of vital research I will need to carry out in order to gain a clearer insight on making, producing, marketing and selling personalised T-shirts.

Underneath is a list of the four methods of research I will carry out;

PRIMARY RESEARCH

This is research I will carry out myself. For my primary research I will carry out three types of research, this will include Observation, Product Analysis, and Questionnaires.

I will have to carry out primary research as this will allow me to be specific in what it is I am looking for. E.g. in my questionnaire, I can hand it to those specific to my target market. In order to use the results given by my primary research I will firstly need to analyse and interpret the data. This research will help me find facts about the market, for example; desired price and location. This will give me an idea on how successful my business will be, and also identify what kind of things the customer requires before hand. So when it comes to starting the business I will be prepared from an earlier stage.

SECONDARY RESEARCH

This type of research has already been conducted, and is ready and there for me to use. There are three main sources of information I will rely on;

  • Internet
  • Books
  • Newspapers/Magazines

Carrying out secondary data is vital as it allows me to view information that has already been analysed and interpreted. The major advantage of using secondary data is that it is more likely to have been performed on a larger scale. For example, they will ask more questions, to a wider market, and to a lot more people. By using legitimate websites I can find reliable data and also I may be able to find statistics that relate to T-shirt printing. Also, by using secondary research I am able to view the general weather forecast for the year, so I know before hand if I need to order thinner or thicker T-shirts.

Also, I can view fashion magazines and websites and find out the new trend in colours, and order my T-shirts accordingly.

There are two types of data that my market research will need to provide; qualitative and quantitative.

Qualitative Data

This is where the respondent can give their own opinion to the question asked. For example, rather than asking them to choose out of a multiple choice of answers, they can give their own answer, and in as much detail as they wish. This applies to my business as the question could be ‘Where would you wear a personalised T-shirt?’ The correspondent can answer this question how they please, e.g. “I would wear a personalised T-shirt on holiday, I may also decide to wear it to the gym as I have nothing else to wear to the gym.”

However the down side to this is that qualitative data cannot be analysed statistically so the correspondent’s opinions will have to be examined by a differently, which will take a lot longer time.

Quantitative Data

This would be data that can be analysed statistically, for example, with an observation the numbers of times people would go into a clothes shop and buy something, every hour. As this is an amount of people the data is quantitative, this is because it can be measured. This type of data consists of having more set answers, rather than descriptive ones. Thus on a questionnaire, for example, the questions would be closed: this is when the correspondent has a choice to pick from a number of answers given. This produces quantitative data because the number of people who chose an answer can be turned into a statistical graph. Quantitative data is important to my business because it will allow me to have numerical values of specific prints and designs that are more popular. This is because I can create a questionnaire with closed questions, and count the amount of times a particular answer is chosen. Then by putting these into graphs I can see what the majority of people prefer, and act accordingly.

TASK B2

I feel it is vital to carry out research when setting up a specific type of business, for example, in my case, T-shirt printing. The following list shows why I think research is so vital:

  • Location: I will need to decide the best possible place for my business. I already know I want the business to be set up within Bedfordshire, but to decide exactly where in Bedfordshire, e.g. Bedford town, Kempston etc. is where the customers come in. They will tell me where the best location they feel is for my business, and the most appropriate to them. Using this quantitative data I will put in the information into statistical charts to find out where the best place is to set up. However, before asking the customer I will first need to identify places that are available for me.
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  • Latest Trends and Colours: I will conduct primary research by going into shops and doing a shop survey, this is where I will look at the latest styles of T-shirts, and materials used. To find out the latest colours I will have to carry out secondary research where I look in magazines and online to find the next seasons colours. By doing this I will be able to find out information about my specific market type, e.g. T-shirt printing. To find out what are the most popular products selling at the moment I will have to carry ...

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