secondary research

My competitors in my market are millionaire companies like ‘Coca Cola’ but I am directly in competition with ‘Lucozade Sports’ because they are energy drink company like ours. These companies are very large in the market they are almost monopoly like, so we have to survive first in the market and then develop as we go. ‘Lucozade Sports’ for example are very large company so they can advertise on television and sponsor famous people and teams but we are just a small business so we can only advertise on leaflets or posters.

 ‘Lucozade Sports’ produces variety of energy drinks. Their drinks contain high in energy and very rich in vitamins & nutrients.  Lucozade Sport is an isotonic sports drink, designed to improve sporting performance. It delivers a boost of carbohydrate energy to the working muscles and supplies fluid fast. Together these help to maximise sporting performance and endurance. 

‘Lucozade Sports’ normally costs around 79p or 89p, but it depends on where it is sold and how much ml there is.  ‘Lucozade Sports’ uses various excellent strategic methods to promote their product. They mainly use advertisements to promote their product. They use advertisements on televisions mainly on sports channels; they sponsor famous players and teams. This increases their brands’ awareness among the public, so their sales increase. Another main factor they succeed in this market is that they develop new products on regular basis. The promote various flavours of ‘Lucozade Sports’, they do vitamin tablets of ‘Lucozade Sports’, even ‘Lucozade Sports’ bars. These types of development would surely increase the awareness and increase sales. It is our desire to compete against big firms like them in the future. ‘Lucozade Sports’ place their products all over the shops in various places as they produce energy drinks, sweets, bars, etc. ‘Lucozade Sports’ place their products in mainly newsagents as they believe it will attract general public to buy the products.  ‘Lucozade Sports’ is generally distributed from producers to wholesalers to retailers and then to customers.

Lucozade Sport is a major sponsor of events, teams, and athletes in the UK including the England Rugby Football Union, The Irish Soccer Team, The London Marathon, Michael Owen, James Cracknell, and Jonny Wilkinson. As Lucozade is a large organisation it can afford to sponsor big events and stars and also by doing this they can increase customer awareness so their sales and revenue will increase in the future.  

The website below shows the statistic I obtained about my local council.

         

The government statistics are relevant to our product because it gives us information about how to target our product. For example from the 2001 census, I was able to indicate that there were 46638 teenagers in Greenwich. This data will help me because I now know that there are many people who are teenagers and teenagers are my target group. I also found out that there are 5174 students in Greenwich, students are also part of target market as they fall in the category of teenagers, so I have to target specifically at them. The trend in activities each individual does and the hobbies each individual has affects my business immensely because I have segmented the market according to the lifestyle of people. So if the people take part in sporting activity ‘Jupiter Sports’ will be very useful to them as it is an energy drink.  

This is the information about health in Greenwich.

By analysing the health information in Greenwich, I can see that there are 20071 people who have ‘not good’ general health. So I can see that lots of people in Greenwich who have illnesses, so I can see that as my energy drink is much healthier form of drink than fizzy drinks, it will help the ill people in Greenwich. This means that I can target people who live in the borough of Greenwich because they are likely to buy my drink.

This data below shows information about the work stature in Greenwich, so it shows how many people are employed and how many are unemployed.

From this Census data I can see that 8354 people are unemployed so I can recruit some suited people who can work for my business. Also 87508 people are employed, so I know that most of Greenwich got lots of income coming into household, so they can spend on ‘Jupiter Sports’ for example. There are also 5174 students in Greenwich, as student do a lot of sport they are likely to buy my energy drinks.

So from the Census data I can see that I have made the right decisions in sell ‘Jupiter Sports’ in Greenwich.

From the secondary research, I am able to identify the size of the market as I able to see where the public buy their products from and how many people of my target group there is. In the energy drink market there several key energy drink makers, Coca cola are only kind of in energy drink market as they make other drinks as well. So we are only in direct competition with two main firms ‘Lucozade Sports’ and ‘Redbull’. As there are two major competitors in the market ‘Jupiter Sports’ have to try to overcome them in terms of attracting more customers, making more sales and profits, etc. This is however difficult because they are both large firms who got a good brand image. So one approach ‘Jupiter Sports’ can take is analysing the competitors approach to selling energy drinks. I am also able to analyse the customers of my competitors such as ‘Lucozade Sports’, by that I can analyse how I am doing compared to them. I can also see that there is price war between each competitor in the market, so the customers are better off as the prices decrease. This gives me an opportunity to improve in the future.

‘’Sugary drinks may have been vilified by health and nutrition campaigners, but a new study suggests that supplementary glucose can boost the memory.’’

For the study published in the December issue of Human Psychopharmacology, Leigh Riby and colleague at Glasgow Caledonian University gave 25 adults aged 18 to 52 a flavoured water containing either 25g of sugar (roughly the same as a can of Coca Cola), 50g of sugar, or a placebo.

In the memory tests that followed, they observed that the 25g group could remember 11 percent better than the placebo group, and the 50g group 17 percent better.

So from these scientific data I can see the benefits of energy drinks. So I can extend my target market, by supplying schools with ‘Jupiter Sports’, this is beneficial for both the schools and my business. It is beneficial for the schools because as energy drinks boost memory, so the pupils can perform better in lessons and exams. So if I advertise the benefits of energy drinks then I can extend my target market and also make more sales. Schools can supply energy drinks instead of fizzy drinks in school, this is a healthier method for the pupils and also in a way promoting our business.      

From the secondary research, I am able to conclude that I chose the correct target market and that I have segmented my market in a relative way. This is because there are many people who fit into the way I segment by lifestyle, age and gender.

Overall, the primary research and the secondary research help me decide how I am going to design my product and mainly how I am going to price my product. So from the primary research I can analyse what the customers think of my product and how I can improve it. So by doing the primary research I can understand more of how the customers think, so in other words by doing the primary research I can improve my relationship with the customers. This is essential as in the future my sales and revenue will increase as the customers and I have a good understanding so I provide the product they want. Whereas, the secondary research helps me compare my prices with my competitors’ prices and also compare my strategy with my competitors. So this enables me to compare my company’s position with my competitors. This is quite useful as I can change the approach I take when necessary, so for example, I may lower the price of my energy drink as my competitors have higher price, or I may offer discounts or gifts to attract the audience.

So from the secondary and primary research I have come to a conclusion that I need to sell ‘Jupiter Sports’ at around 80p. Also it is going to be in a can and it is going to be blue and green. I am also going to offer various flavours of drink like apple, strawberry, lemon, etc., I have also identified my target market who are in the age group of 12 to 35 and people who do sports. All this information I have decided upon the primary and secondary research as I was able to analyse what the public want and think about the product and how my competitors sell their product. This now means that I have clear idea of how I am going to sell the product and how I am going to do the marketing mix e.g. price my product, how I can promote, where to sell it and the appearance of my product.  

List of Sources

I got my information for the secondary research from the following websites:

4. http://www.wikipedia.com/

All these sources helped me in analysing my competitors and how energy drinks as a whole is doing in the market.