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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 out my research in both popular clothes shops (River Island, New Look) and shops that print T-shirts (Josens)
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Price: To come up with the right price I will have to carry out both primary and secondary research. I will need secondary research as I will have look in shops and online at what the current selling prices of Tops and printed T-shirts are. This will enable me to be compete against compete against competitors, for example Josens. My primary research will be carried out as a questionnaire asking people what the idealistic price is for them.
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Customer requirements for products and services: before setting up the business on T-shirt printing I will first need to find out if there is demand for it. With no demand my business will be have a high risk of closing down. In the questionnaire I will ask the customers what they expect form my business, in terms of the products I am selling (printed T-shirts) and the service I provide. I can then set up my business to meet the customers’ requirements; this will have an effect on my sales as it will increase demand.
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Advertising: to find the best place I can advertise I firstly need to research all the options I have for advertising, e.g. local radio, local newspaper, dropping leaflets through letter boxes. Firstly, I will need to decide on a target market and then find the best place for advertising for that specific target market. E.g. if my target market was for school children or students I would advertise it either on the local radio, after 3 o’clock. Or put posters up on bus stops, at the local youth centre, etc. Also, I will need to design my own advert, the research I will carry out to do this is by looking at other clothes shops and seeing how they advertise. By combining all the ideas together I could make an original advertisement that is attractive and stands out.
Task B3
There are a wide range of methods I can use to do my research. However, I have selected a few main methods of research that I will certainly use. The following methods of research are available to me and are shown below:
The two most important methods of primary research I am going to carry out are shown on the left; shop survey and questionnaire. I will give the questionnaire out in Bedford and Kempston, as these are the two focal points for my business. The secondary research I will do is shown on the right; this consists of looking at media e.g. through newspapers and magazines and browsing the internet.
Shop Survey
A shop survey is where I look at a range of T-shirts within shops and compare them with one another. I will look at indirect competitors who are those that sell T-shirts as their secondary product and direct competitors who are those that sell T-shirts as their primary products. This will enable me to analyse all the competitors and view their product range, and prices. To create a shop survey, I will look in a variety of shops and find the basic information about their T-shirts. Then I will input the information that I have gained from each shop into a table. By doing this I can see the whole range of products that are in shops and compare them.
Questionnaire
Using a questionnaire is the easiest and most efficient way to gain information about the. This is because I can directly ask them questions and create graphs showing the data clearly. This will enable me to see if my T-shirts are appropriate, and what I can do to ensure they are well advertised and reach the customers requirements. I will create a questionnaire for students only because they are the market that I am certainly likely to aim my products at. However, I will also create a questionnaire for other citizens (especially small business owners) of Bedford. This is because I feel students will be my main buyers; however other people are also just as likely to buy my T-shirts, especially small business owners as they may decide they want personalised uniform for their staff. Once I start selling my T-shirts I will try and diversify them, e.g. make sell different styles and launch a new line for babies and young children. In this questionnaire I will use close questions this will make it more efficient for me to analyse and interpret my results. This makes my questionnaire quantitative; however, to make it qualitative I will include an ‘other’ box after some of the questions. This is just so that if none of the options available applies to them then they have the option of expressing their true views. By using multiple choice questions I am able to easily put the results into pie charts and see the percentage difference clearly between all the options.
Internet
The internet is the most important method of secondary research. This is because it is cheap and easy to get hold of. I will use the Internet to get information on my competitors. This is because I can look at their websites and see the product range that they have. Also, many T-shirt printing businesses are set up online. Therefore, I will be able to look at them, as many of them are very well known, e.g. ‘t-shirthell.com’. This will allow me to see what types and colours of T-shirts will sell and how the prices differ. I will also use the Internet to research information for when I design my own website. This is because it enables me to find ideas for my own business. The Internet has many uses, as well as for advertisement. Therefore, I will use it to research the range of online advertisements that are available. Also, I need to find a supplier; this will also be done online as there is a wider variety online than I’ll be able to find in a local newspaper for example. This is because T-shirt suppliers (wholesale) are not very easy to come across, and so it would be most likely to find them on the internet compared to anywhere else.
Media
I will research the media in order to find out where and how current businesses promote their products. I can look at newspapers, magazines and even television to see how clothes are being advertised. However, I will also need to ensure that the advertisement I use is affordable. This is a type of research because it means that I can view the range of advertisements that are available, and select the ones that are most appropriate for my business.
Task B4
Sampling is the process of selecting a group of consumers, who are representative of a large population. The following is a list of the various different types of sampling methods that I could use;
- Snowball sampling; this is where the chosen person links on to the next person. This is because they consign one another; however, this sample is developed from the contacts of existing customers.
- Random sampling: This is where all the people have an equal chance of getting picked because they are chosen at a random. This could be carried by going to various locations in Bedfordshire and handing out questionnaires to who ever walks passed.
- Quota sampling: This sample is when a number of people are selected and interviewed from each group. For example, 20 males and 20 females. For this method, a planned number of people from each segment are interviewed.
- Stratified Random sampling: This is when a specific group is selected but the people from it are chosen randomly. For example, the group may be students that are chosen at random. This is a focused more on sampling than random sampling.
- Cluster sampling: This type of sample consists of breaking an area into smaller sections. Then several people are selected for interviews from each area. For example; in Bedfordshire.
I believe the best method of sampling for the research I intend to carry out is Stratified Random Sampling. This is because some factors of the people I will ask are particular; this makes it a stratified sample. For example, I only want to have information from people within Bedfordshire and students in particular. However the sample is still random because I will randomly select the people from a list.
Task B5
Primary Research
The main method I intend to use for my primary research is direct questioning. This is where I will create a questionnaire in order to obtain the views of the targeted people, in my case it will be students within Bedfordshire. This method is a good technique to use when researching the popularity of the printed T-shirts. This is because using a direct questionnaire has many advantages; below I have produced a list which includes the advantages;
- Answers are easy to analyse and compare because the majority of them are closed questions, which allows me to produce quantitative data. This can then be put into graphs to show the research.
- A large number of people can be used to answer the questionnaire because it can be answered efficiently. Therefore the results will be more reliable. This is because by having answers from a majority of people, they will be more representative of the consumer as a whole, and also can be generalised.
- If a person does not understand a question it can be explained to them without the threat of the person who is carrying out the questionnaire (me) being bias. This allows the questionnaire to be more valid because the people can answer according to what their actual opinions are.
- It is cheap and quick to carry out. This is because I can create one questionnaire and hand out the same one to all to whom it applies, it does not take a long period of time to create a questionnaire and have it completed.
Before carrying out my primary research I have to plan and prepare the questionnaire. This is so I can ensure the questionnaire is easy to understand, includes all the information, is not time consuming, and is not bias, for example; people with taste and class are willing to pay £20 for a printed T-shirt, are you prepared to pay that much, yes or no?
The following page shows the questionnaire that I used. With this questionnaire I randomly selected 40 people, and directly questioned them. I ensured my sample was stratified as I used only students however I picked them at random. Therefore, the sample I used was most definitely stratified randomly as I selected people at random but from a particular group (students). I have not included a question about whether the person who is filling out the survey is student or not. I did this purposely as I will ask the person if they are a student before handing them the questionnaire. This will save me time and money, as I will not have to wait for them to fill in the questionnaire when I am not even going to use it, and it will also save me money because I don’t have to print off any extra questionnaires.
The following page shows the questionnaire I have created and carried out. The pages thereafter then display the results.
QUESTIONNAIRE:
This questionnaire is designed for my business ‘passion4fashion’, which is an upcoming personalised T-shirt printing business in your area. This is to find out if students will purchase my products. Please can you take some time to fill in this brief questionnaire?
- Are you
- Are you from Bedfordshire
- How old are you?
- Would you wear a printed/personalised T-shirt?
- If you were to buy a printed T-shirt , would you prefer to choose your design from a catalogue, or have your own personalised design?
- Would you prefer to buy from a shop or online?
- How far would you be willing to travel to purchase your printed T-shirt?
- O-2 miles
- 2.1-5 miles
- 5.1-10 miles
- 10.01 miles +
- How much would you be willing to pay for your printed T-shirt?
- £1-£5
- £5.01-£10
- £10.01-15
- £15.01-£20
- £20.01+
- What clothes shops do you shop at?
- Primark
- New look
- River Island
- Josens
- Do you
- Listen you the local radio, e.g. Chiltern Fm, RadioNow, etc.
- Read the local paper, e.g. Times and Citizen/Beds on Sunday, etc.
THANKYOU
Task B6
Secondary research
This is sources of research that has already been researched. The following are all examples of primary research:
- Magazines/Newspapers
- Books
- Internet
It is important to carry out secondary research because it will allow me to view already analyses data. If I use the correct sources I will have reliable data of the how the market is now. Also, secondary research has the benefits of providing information on the background of T-shirt sales, it can show the trends of the particular market and it identifies the prices and sales of existing products.
I have looked on the internet and in the yellow pages for local T-shirt printers, that will be my competitors.
Here are all my competitors in Bedfordshire;
No Limitz Sports-
42, Harpur Street,
Bedford,
Bedfordshire
MK40 2QT
Tel: 01234 350720
Redmark
Unit 3c Stephenson Court,
Fraser Rd,
Priory Business Park,
Bedford,
Bedfordshire
MK44 3WH
Tel: 0845 8385535
BMC Leisure
42-44, High Street,
Kempston,
Bedford,
Bedfordshire
MK42 7AL
Tel: 01234 840750
Sportsform
56, Bromham Rd,
Bedford,
Bedfordshire
MK40 2QG
Tel: 01234 210005
Tel: 01234 330123
By looking at each website separately I have seen that all of them offer very competitive prices, ranging from Sportsform who on average charge £14.50 for a T-shirt to BMC leisure who offer £21.50 on average per T-shirts. My price per T-shirt on average is £15.83 so this would be a very competitive price, and would hopefully give me a large market share.
Also, all of the printing companies are located in very good and accessible locations. I would have to take this into consideration when choosing my location to set up. Most of my competitors are based in Bedford town centre, therefore I feel in order to gain their clients plus new ones, I will have to locate nearby.
In order to gain high market share I will have to offer a higher range of products than my competitors. I have been into each store named above and have analysed that they do not have a vast range in products. This is a very big advantage for me. One of the above competitors (No Limtiz sports) do not even do personalised T-shirts as their direct product, they sell sports wear, and print names on sportswear. This means there target market is also different to mine, as their main target is sports persons and mine is students.
However, being so that ‘sportsform’ is near to a school (Biddenham Upper School) they may gain the success of having school students go there. In order to avoid this happening I can go to Biddenham Upper School and offer the P.E. and dance teachers to personalise their sports kits, if they promote my company and allow me to hand out leaflets and flyers. This would gain many students interest and increase my profits.
Task B7
Reliability and Validity
It is important that the research that I have carried out is reliable and valid because it allows me to have a basis of what my market is and how I can reach their requirements.
The data that I have researched is reliable and valid because by using secondary research, I have studied the most up to date information. This includes this season’s magazines and information from current businesses.
With the primary research, I ensured that all my data is valid by creating a questionnaire that is easily understood. Also, as it was a direct questionnaire, I could explain the questions that people didn’t understand. This allows the research to be more reliable because I know that those that answered the questions fully understood them and perceived them the correct way.
All the research that I have gathered is a representative view of my target market because a majority of the people who answered the questionnaire were aged 18 – 22 from Bedfordshire. Therefore, I can use the information throughout my market plan as it is a reliable source of the wants and needs of the customers. Also, as I carried out the research myself, I know that I have asked the correct questions and the right groups of people that can relate to my business. The secondary research that I have carried out is also valid because I’ve used information from current trends and those that are coming up, rather than ones in the past. This shows that my data is reliable for the current trends and colours. Therefore I can produce items that fit in with today’s trends and colours.