Primary or field information is usually gathered by interviewing the target market through Questionnaires or in person. The questions should be clear and simple. These are often the best ways or through the post ,which can be slow and could produce a poor response. Another option is by telephone which is quick and easy but is not reliable, they sometimes don't take it seriously.
Different types of Market Research.
- Questionnaire
- Group discussions
- Single interviews
- Experiments
- Observations
- Desk research
- Field research
- Telephone Questionnaire
- Through the post Questionnaire
Economic and Legal factors.
Things like rates, tax, government grants and loans will economically affect my business. My business will be affected by indirect tax which is taxes on prices whereas direct tax is taken of individuals. The legal factors that will affect my business are the law of property act I925 which affects all businesses. The laws on copyright, sales and advertising particularly affect my business. The sale of goods act I979 which states that the goods must be fit for the purpose it is sold for and any defects in the good must be pointed out at the time the good is sold affects my business. The trade description act of I963 affects my business because traders must give an accurate description of their goods or services. e.g. Beef burgers described as I00% beef must not contain anything else. The Consumer Protection Act I987 states that prices must not be displayed in a misleading way, this affects my business.
Planning permission.
In order to be able to open my business, I will have to obtain permission from the local authority which in my case is Newham council. To do this I will have to submit my plans to the council and they will look at them at see if the shop will be beneficial to the area in any way or if there is a space for another shop like the one that I am proposing.
The council will also have to think if I can afford the costs that with opening a business. If all this goes all right then my business can open any time. There will be other factors but this will be the main ones. My business will also have to pass the requirements of the law of property act I925.
Media suitable for supporting my marketing campaign.
There are a variety of media available to thy business such as magazines, television, flyers, newspapers, radio and posters. Each has advantages and disadvantages.
The two types of paper I could advertise in are national and regional. National papers like the Evening Standard, The Sun and Daily Mirror get their papers sold throughout the whole of Britain. Advertising in a national paper is more expensive than advertising in a regional paper which is sold locally. Regional papers in my area include the Newham News and Newham Recorder. My business is only new and is small so I will only advertise in regional papers. The same thing applies to television because television is very expensive and will advertise to people not in my area e.g. people living in Birmingham will not come to Newham in London just to buy some sports equipment.
Flyers and posters are very good ways to advertise locally but you have to pay for printing and not a lot of people will read the flyers and some will not be interested.
Radio is just like newspapers because it can be divided in to national and regional stations. There is no need advertising on a national scale when the business is only small, but I could advertise on one of the many local radio stations.
There are magazines that specialize in sports such as ' Sported' but they sell all over Britain and they are expensive and there is no need for me to advertise nationally but there are no local magazines.
SWOT ANALYSIS:
This page shows the Strengths, Opportunities, Weaknesses, Threats of AKA SPORTS.
STRENGTHS: The things that can make my business a success.
There is only one other sports shop on the high street, which is good for my shop because there is less competition. The high street is a very busy place and well established. It is hardly ever empty and customers come from all over the place to shop there. The location is very good because its very accessible from public transport and the area is a pedestrian zone. The quality of my product is hopefully going to be of good standard. I hope to have a good work force so more products can be sold.
WEAKNESSES: The things that can stop my business from growing.
I will need to have a very large and exciting promotional campaign because my shop is surrounded by many other stores. Products not marketed properly. A poor marketing strategy,. Poor customer service. Poor customer relations. Poor quality of products.
OPPORTUNITIES: Things I could do to make my business a success.
I will have to change my prices often. I could give extras like 'discount card'. I could expand my target market. I could get someone famous to open the shop e.g a football player.
THREATS: This includes things that can stop the success of your business.
There are many other shops like my own which have been established in this area longer. The are more well known sports shops around my area like: Cobra sports LTD, Cassetari sports, Rowe sports LTD and Greenwood Sports Supplier prices could go up. The area could have a high crime rate.
Business:
I know that being a sports shop, the business will have to be product orientated, where the product is the most important factor. My product will have to be of the best quality because that is what the customer wants.
Target market
I will have to aim at a certain age group, because my establishment is a sports shop. I don't have to aim at a gender group. To find out my specific market, I will hand out a Questionnaire to random people on the High Street and wait to see their replies.
My target market applies to the social grades of the Skilled manual (C2) because they have the most population percentage in the UK (3I.2) and it also applies to the Supervisory or clerical and junior managerial, administrative and professional (Cl) because they have the second most population percentage in the UK (22.3). The semiskilled, and unskilled manual (D) could be included because they have a I9.I population percentage which is third. The rest are too small to be included because most of the money is in this area.
Market strategy
This is a brief plan of the months and weeks leading up to the opening of my business which is a sports shop.
2 Months before opening:
I will begin to distribute flyers to homes around the local area to introduce the local customers to my business.
1 Month before opening:
I will put up posters where available in the local area and in other areas. I will also distribute flyers to houses in other areas and in the local area again but this time the flyers will feature special offers.
2 Weeks before opening
I will distribute leaflets to random potential customers in the local area, mentioning special offers and sales.
I will also put a little article in the regional papers. I will hand out flyers in the High street. The shop will also announce it's opening day.
1 Week before opening:
I will put colourful and eye catching posters in my shop window which will give information about special offers. There will also be information about who will open the shop and hopefully I can get a footballer that plays for the local team like West, Ham player John Hartson. Flyers will be handed out for the last time before the opening. I will advertise the opening on a local radio station.
Opening day:
Sign will be put up in the shop informing the members of the public that the shop was open. Customers will be encouraged to buy things because anything bought will be signed by the professional footballer who is opening the shop and for about hour he will be signing autographs for any one who wants one.
The first 50 customers will all get discount cards and there will be free gifts for young children given to them by the person who opens the shop. There will also be signs to inform the public of special offers and designated opening and closing
times.
The success and failure of my businesses.
Things to follow to be a success.
Companies such as Littlewoods, The Bodyshop and Microsoft came from small one person businesses or partnerships. Hopefully my business will get to this status and to get there I must make profits so I can expand and also attract investors. This is not the only factor to being a successful business.
The quality of products/service effects the success of your business, an effective management team can also help your business be successful and if you can sleep at nights your business is doing well. Every thing does not have to be about profits because you could ant long term survival rather than short term profits. If your company gets too much money then you would have to pay more tax and that could make your company attractive to being bought by a larger company. I would like my company to grow at a steady rate which is known as a problem child whereas if the company grows too fast it would be known as a star. I do not want my company to be a failure which is known as a dog.
Things to avoid so not to be a failure.
If your company is a limited company and has limited liability and is run by a sole
trader or partnership, and if they fail they will only lose their assets but a company
without limited liability if they fail will lose all their assets as well as their personal,
assets e.g. Their house. I have decided to be a sole trader because I can not afford
the extra costs needed to get limited liability. So I will have to be careful with my
spending.
- Why do small businesses fail? There are many reason for small businesses failing such as:
- Lack of all round business skills needed to run a business on their own.
- The market that the business was aiming for was not there or had fallen due to recession and most businesses run out of money due to, sales falling, this can occur if a business tries to expand too quickly.
- Another reason is that you did not have enough money to open, the business in the first place so you would go bankrupt.,
- The quality of the products make a difference as well.
1 out of I0 businesses survive and do well, the other 9 fail due to some of 'the reasons above.
AKA Sports
I07 High Street North,
East Ham, E6 2LT
Questionnaire
A questionnaire for my market research done on the general public:
Please answer this questionnaire, it is for your benefit.
Please tick boxes.
I. Do you wear trainers: Yes No Sometimes
2. If yes how many do you buy a year: 1 - 3 4 – 6 7+
3. How much would you spend on a pair of Trainers: Less than £20 More than£20 but less than £50 More than £50 but less than £I00 More than £ I00
4. What type of trainers do you like NIKE
REEBOK ADIDAS OTHER (Please specify) ..............................
5. Do you like wearing tracksuits: Yes NO Sometimes
6.Do you wear a lot of sports equipment: Yes No
7. If yes what type: Please specify .................................
8. Are you completely satisfied with the choice your usual sports shop gives you:
Yes No
9. Please specify any other things you would like in this sports shop: ................................................................
Thank you for taking time to answer this questionnaire.
PHONE 0I8I 47I0857 FAX 0I807 4582I2
Social grades.
Grade Job description % of UK
A Higher managerial, 3.1
administrative professional
B Intermediate managerial, 13.4
administrative and
professional
C1 Supervisory,or clerical and 22.3
junior managerial,
administrative and professional
C2 Skilled manual 31.2
D Semiskilled and unskilled 19.I
Manual
E Casual labourers; state 10.9
pensioners + the unemployed
Social grade is based on the job of the head of the household and gives an idea of the approximate proportion of each grade in the total UK population in percentages.
I have decided to aim for grades C1 5 C2 and D because they have the most population so they will be more likely to buy my products.
Analysis Of Questionnaire Results.
In a survey of 50, I found that:
D (I2.0%)
C2 (40.0%)
Sports shops predicted grades.
E (6.0%) A (2,0%) B (, 0.0%)
This was an account of how many people from which social grades would
come to my shop. I found that most of my sales will be made to the people in
grade C1 and the least of m y sales made to grade A . I found this out through
my questionnaire.
Conclusion.
My market research told me that my main customers will be aged between I2 and 40, the gender of my customers will not affect my business as both male and female buy sports wear. The other thing that affects me, is what to put in my sports shop but I decided to offer sports clothes e.g. shorts and tracksuits. I also decided to sell trainers and sports equipment such as footballs and basketballs. The social grades will affect my business, as some items are very expensive so the people in grades D+E may not buy as much as the other grades. I will mainly aim at grades C I, C2 and D.
I decided to locate my business in East Ham, Newham, London, which is a very busy area ( the location of my business can be seen on the map).
My advertising is going to be small scale so I decided to advertise in the local newspaper such as the Newham Recorder and on the local radio station and I also decided to hand out flyers and put up posters. The prices of my products will be the same as some of my competitors and cheaper than the rest. The laws that affect my business are the laws of copyright and advertising.
The first thing shall do in my marketing campaign will be to start the market research which will tell if there is a market interested in my U. S.P. I will then ill, research into what type of equipment the other sports shops sell and I will see if my idea to give out discount cards will work.
Then I will begin to advertise in the local papers to inform people about my shop especially my, special offers. I will then send flyers around to houses in the immediate area and I will also hand out flyers on the High street and I will also put up, posters. By then my business will he ready to open, and to attract people to the opening, maybe getting a sports star to open the shop will be appealing and draw the crowd in.
References.
GCSE Business Studies ( David Butler)
Business Studies For GCSE ( Renee Hugget)
Business Studies: Basic Facts ( Collins Gem)
Field InformationFor Questionnaire Personal Research
What Is Marketing? ( Video)
World Book Encyclopedia.
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Afison Okoukoni Manager
08I47I0857 or 0958
