Would A Tuck Shop Be A Profitable Business?

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Mathan Navaratnam 11F 12.08.2001

Would A Tuck Shop Be A Profitable Business?

INTRODUCTION:

I chose to do my coursework on the idea of setting up a possible tuck shop. This was so because as I am a student at Watford Grammar School for Boys I already have a good idea of the type of business that would be successful. The tuck shop will be part of the consumer market, which will specialise to satisfy the secondary school student subpopulation.

In order to complete my coursework I will have to use a variety of methods and media to obtain and analyse evidence, which will give me a very good idea to whether my idea of opening a tuck shop would be a profitable business. I will need to find out what products my student customers would want and to find solution to any problems that I might identify. Some of these methods and media include market research and articles and statistics from places such as the Internet, television etc.

Market research is the process of collecting, collating and interpreting information about the market for a product. Market research is important because it will help to plan how successful a possible business will be which is exactly what I require - suggestions to my possible bussiness' future. Market research would also help to predict the popularity and possible income and expenditure. Again it helps me to know what the potential customers demand and how great demand will be.

There are two main methods of market research:

* Primary research/field research (obtains original data or information, which did not exist before, from customers and other people)

* Desk research/secondary research (uses data, or information, which already exists in printed form or computer files)

The primary data gained by field research are very significant, because it is not available to any other businesses, unless they do their own research. Though, it is much more expensive than desk research and much more time consuming. When the information has been gathered, it has to be collated, and then analysed before a report can be formed.

Secondary research is much easier and cheaper than primary research, because the data are already available and do not have to be gathered and analysed. But it is less valuable because it is often out of date and does not always cover the specific theme of study.

For my coursework I believe it would be best to use a collaboration of the two types of market research available to me. With both types of market research I would almost definitely get the best indications to whether setting up a tuck shop would be profitable.

A good way of carrying out my market research will be to use a questionnaire which would be primary research. A pilot survey will show if the questionnaire works. It is useful to me because I can see and alter which questions didn't work. From this I can rephrase and change certain questions to make my questionnaire work usefully and efficiently. My pilot survey would be a slight mixture of qualitative research and quantative research.

Qualitative research involves interviewing people to find out their views and opinions. Quantitative research involves carrying out numerical information. Qualitative research tends to be more time consuming and the answers are usually very individualistic. This is good to find out exactly what the demand is but it is also bad in the sense it is far too time consuming and time is money. Quantitative research is good, as it is quick and easy for the customers so that they are more likely to participate in the surveys. But the answers are not very specific so I wouldn't know exactly what the demand and opinion is.
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My questionnaire had many objectives for me. These included how much if any profit (difference between the price and the cost of making a product) there would be for my business. The amount of revenue for my business. An indication to the prices my business should be operating at, incoming and outgoing. The quantity I should be buying and selling. If there is any possible market niches (gaps in the market which a firm might want to fill with a new product) which my business could fill. Also my questionnaire could tell me what market segments are and ...

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