Marketing Bescaffe Coffee Company

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

From:

Research Executive

ABC Ltd. (Research Company)

To,

Director – Marketing

Bescaffe Coffee Company

SUB: Research Brief (Requirement of further information regarding bescafe coffee company regarding research.

Dear Sir/Madam

First of all I want to say thank you for allowing our company to do a marketing research to see reason & cost of change of packaging for CoffeeMax. To know more about your company’s product, prices, objectives & targets we have already prepared questionnaire. We will be appreciative if you can supply information in a following firm.

Background :

When is your company started?

What are the products of the company?

How big is your company in the market?

What is the turnover of the company?

How many plants the company have?

What are your brands positioning in the market?

Who are your competitors who have taken the share of your market?

What research was carried out regarding the existing product?

Can we have access to that data?

On what basis you have chosen your previous design?

Who are your competitors?

How much market share you lost till Now?

2) Rational:

What are your company’s Objectives?

What are your decision areas regarding new packaging?

What are your business objectives?

What are your marketing objectives?

3) Objectives:

Objectives of research brief.

Are you willing to gather certain information about competitor’s product?

What are your customer preferences?

What are attitudes of customer regarding product?

What are the attitudes of customer about packaging?

Would you like us to explore competitor’s products?

4) Research Methods:

How you want us to do research, from collecting primary data or secondary data?

What methods you like us to use, Quantitative or qualitative?

Do you have any customer data base maintain with you? Can we have a access to that data? Can we Contact that customer to see their attitudes regarding product?

What are your old marketing research initiatives?

Would you like us to frame any new information regarding product?

5) Reporting;

How you want us to Reporting, Formal or informal?

To whom you want us to submit the report?

Would you like us to make a backup for you? And In what manner you like us to give backup?

Would you like us to make a report in a PowerPoint slide?

When do you want us to give the final presentation?

Do you want any interim presentation? If yes, than when you want us to give you?

Answer 1 (B)

We appreciate & thank you for the time you spent for answering our queries which will very be helpful as a start of our research. We have got good amount of secondary data from your side.

Please find herewith the brief of research techniques that we will be using for the research to answer your queries & solve the problem

As you have answered our question of Age Group & Sex Group of people who are the maximum consumer of coffee, we will be starting our research with college female students. To start with, we will be taking sample of around 200 female students from different parts of country. We will be visiting college canteens, malls, coffee shops etc. to get the view of consumers about the coffee & packaging of the same.

We will be using Qualitative & Quantitative data research techniques to come to conclusion about the same. But as per our past experience, please note that we cannot change the packing straight away. As per our research for one of the company in past, the consumers shall be informed well in advance that you will be changing packing in due course of time. They started printing on their running packaging as SOON TO BE CALLED ITALIAN. By this way, whenever you change your packing, the consumers will be having this thing in mind that this is coffeemax only who have changed their design & packing.

Now, to give you a brief of Qualitative & Quantitative Techniques of Data Collection, Qualitative Technique is "A method of advertising research that emphasizes the quality of meaning in consumer perceptions and attitudes; for example, in-depth interviews and focus groups."(Lake, 2012). The Quantitative Research is "The use of sampling techniques (such as consumer surveys) whose findings may be expressed numerically, and are amenable to mathematical manipulation enabling the researcher to estimate future events or quantities." (N/A, 2012)

We are going to use the qualitative techniques for collecting information:

Face to Face intensely Interviews : Our Interviewing team will visit the public places where your coffee is available for purchase & will ask the consumers that are they using our coffee? If yes, do they face any problems due to similar packaging? How many times have they purchased different coffee just due to similar packaging? If they are not using our coffee than we may ask them that what are the reasons for using other coffees

Focus Group: In this technique, our team of around 10-15 persons will go to different locations, will make a group of some helping & friendly people, will ask them questions, will make a debate on some particular points to come to conclusion about the packing of your product.

Email Surveys: Today, UK is maximum user of coffee. We are having good database of UK. We can send them mails regarding some questionnaire & can expect good feedback from them.

Online Surveys: We can put a feedback form on your website as well as some of the website which people uses the most to know there preferences about packing of your coffeemax.

Telephonic Interviews: Our team of surveys will call people randomly & will ask them about their preferences of packing.

Now, We are going to use quantitative techniques for collecting information:

Personal Observation: Our team will go to malls & supermarkets to see the problem consumer face in picking up the coffee just due to similar packaging.

Use of Technology: We will check the cameras of supermarkets & will check if the customer is facing problems in picking up the coffee

Disguised Observation:We will be visiting your retailer disguisedly to view whether he is helping customer in picking the coffee or not? We also welcome you to see us disguisedly whether we are doing our work properly or not?

Audit: This is a time consuming technique but will be very helpful. One of our team will visit the homes randomly & will ask them about the coffee they are using. If they are using our brands, they will ask them about the problem they face in purchasing the coffeemax brand due to similar packaging.

Reporting:

As desired by you, the total research shall be completed within 6 weeks, we will complete it in time. We will send a full fledge report to marketing manager in every weekend & abstract of the same to Directors &CEOat same time. We will be having meeting with Marketing Manager on 2nd, 4th& 5th Weekend for discussion. If you need any other report in due course of time, you can ask us for the same.

Time Scale & Cost:

Following is the time scale of activities we will perform throughout the given time & will come out with conclusion.

Week

Activities

1st Week

Secondary Data Observation & analysis

2nd Week

Data Collection through Qualitative Techniques

3rd Week

Data Collection through Qualitative Techniques (Continue)

Data Collection starting through Quantitative techniques

4th Week

Data Collection through Qualitative Techniques (Continue)

Data Collection starting through Quantitative techniques (Continue)

5th Week

Data Collection through Qualitative Techniques (Continue)

Data Analysis of data gathered through Quantitative Technique

6th Week

Data Analysis of data gathered through Qualitative Technique

Preparation of Presentation & Report

Meeting with your company with conclusion.

Following is the chart of time scale as decided & the expected amount as decided we will be using for completion of target. For 1st& 2nd week we will not require a big amount but as the time goes, the amount spending will go high.

Answer 2 (A):

Secondary Data: Secondary data are the data which is available without need of search or the data which some other organization or distributor has already searched for a particular reason.

Primary Data: Primary data are the data which researcher has to search through various research techniques. These data are original & it can be secondary data for some other organization in future.

The advantages of Secondary Data:

Ease of Access : The data is already available with some organization & moreover with use of online technology it is very easy to access those data for particular reasons.

Low cost : As the data is already available & the company need to gather the data through various techniques, it is very low-cost for the company to use these data.

May Answer Research Question : Sometimes the secondary data is so adequate that the information that they were looking for are available in the same & they may need not to search more for the same. This can save the time & money both for research..

Clarification of research question : for the questions which are very complicated, secondary data can clarify the question which the company is looking for & by this way, the research company can act more perfectly.

May show possible difficulties for Primary Research : By viewing the secondary data, the research company can come to conclusion that how difficult it will be to search primary data & what sort of difficulties they might have to face in gathering those data.

The disadvantages of Secondary data:

Quality : Many times it is questionable that how is the quality of research for Secondary data. So the research company has to scrutinize the data quality & ask many questions about the research of the original company.

Researcher’s needs: The data collected in the past might be for some specific need of some company & it is not required to be same as new question. Now, the research company has to see which data & how much data is required for the specific need of new research.

Incomplete Information: The information collected original company through which they have collected the secondary data might be incomplete because it was for some other need. Now, the research company has to see how much information is missing & they have to work over it.

Time Frame: The secondary information has to be collected in the past & the same may not work properly this time because in the meantime the taste of customer might have changed & so as technology. So time is a big factor before using secondary information.

(PRESCOTT, 2008)

Answer 2 (B):

For marketing intelligence, Customer Database is primary thing because today’s market is customer driven market & through analysis of customer database, we can find some very important information.

If the researcher company is having customer database, the company can do 2 sort of analysis. One is Macro Analysis & second is Micro Analysis. In Macro Analysis they can do PEST Analysis. In PEST Analysis, P stands for Political factors. Now, if Marketing Research Company is having Customer Database, they can analyse that at what level political factors can affect the business. But in case of Base café, Political factors will not affect a lot. "E" stands for Economical. Now, with customer database company can analyse that how many customers are demanding the expensive coffees & how many customers are demanding low-cost coffees. In both of the cases, how much they are interested about the packaging. "S" stands for Social. With customer database, the company can analyse what social factors are affecting sales of coffee like what age group is demanding for coffee at the max, what sex group is demanding coffee & so on. "T" Stands for Technological. With Customer Database, company can analyse what sort of coffee customer likes the most & through same they can discover which technology bas café should use rather than changing the packaging of CoffeeMax. Now, these all factors are such factors which they cannot control but there are some factors which are a bit controllable which are known as Micro Factors.

Micro Factors are the factors which is controllable by the bas café. Micro factors include Suppliers, Whole sellers, retailers etc. With Customer Database, they can analyse them & can find out the customer satisfaction due to above factors & can make changes in the system if required.

Answer 2 (C):

There are 8 principles of Data Protection Act 1998 which should be followed when establishing a customer database is as follows:

Processed fairly and lawfully: The data provided by bas café shall be processed fairly & lawfully. In the sense, it should not be used for any unlawful processes or the data shall not be licked & especially to the competitors.

Processed only for one or more specified and lawful purpose: The data provided shall be used for specific purpose only & that shall also be lawful. Because the data provided are secondary data which includes a cost of gathering. In addition the data are private for the company which shall not be licked.

Adequate, relevant and not excessive for those purposes: Only adequate & relevant data shall be used for the purpose. Any excessive data shall not be used for any purpose.

Accurate and kept up to date: data topics have the true to have inaccurate private data modified or demolished if the personal data is incorrect to any matter of fact.

Kept for no longer than is necessary for the purposes it is being processed: The data shall be either destroyed or returned after process is over. It shall not be kept with Research Company.

Processed in line with the rights of individuals: This includes right to be knowledgeable of all the statistics held about company, to prevent processing of their private information for marketing, and to recompense if they are able to prove they are damaged by a data controller's Act.

Secured against accidental loss: destruction or damage or against unauthorised unlawful processing. This applies to Company even if the business uses third party to process information on their behalf.

(DATASHRED LIMITED and MSO.net, 2012)

Answer 3 (A):

Please find attached herewith the discussion guide containing all discussion about all we are actually going to do outside organization.

A) Introduction Phase

Introduction of Project Leader: Our Project leader will introduce himself with instructions about terms & conditions of the project along with disciplines to be maintained while this project is completed.

House Keeping: We will discuss about health & safety measures while this project is going on. The emergency steps will be discussed as well.

Purpose: We need to discuss about the purpose for which we are getting together i.e. to discuss about the outdoor activities to be performed for completion of project of Bescafe Coffee.

Timings: The total timings of today’s Guide presentation will be around 2.5 hours.

Data Protection: The data which is either provided by Bescafe Coffee or the data collected by us is to be kept very confidential & it should not break any rule of Data Protection act 1998.

Miscellanies: All the discussion carried out in today’s guide will be video recorded for our record but it is also to be kept confidential.

B) Warm Up Phase

Introduction of Project Members: All the project members have to introduce themselves.

General Queries: This is a short time for general queries about the members of this project.

Question Answers Phase: This is the most important time of this phase. In this phase, the questions for the project will be answered by the project leader.

C) Discussion Phase

The discussion phase will be divided into 2 phases. All members of the project are required to participate in this phase.

Phase 1: This phase is regarding current awareness & attitudes towards Basecafe coffee as a Brand & thinking of people about their packaging. Our Planning team has prepared following questions which are to be asked to customers at various places:

Do you know about Base café Coffee Brand?

If the question is Yes, Do you know the Max Brand of Basecafe Coffee?

Have you ever tried the same brand?

Are you regular customer of Max Brand of Basecafe Coffee?

From 1 to 5 ranking, where do you put Basecafe Coffee Max Brand Packaging?

Phase 2: This phase is regarding opinion of end users about packing. Our Planning team has prepared following questions which are to be asked to customers:

Do you find problem in differentiating Max Brand & other brand as there are number of similar packaging available in Market?

How important is packaging for you while Purchasing?

What sort of Packaging you are looking at? More informational or Better Designed?

After getting above questions, show them 3 possible packaging designs & ask:

Which of these would you like to see as next packaging design of Max Brand?

In one or two words kindly provide reason for choosing this design out of three.

B) Wrap Up Phase

Debate Phase: In this phase, everyone will get time & opportunity to express their views about the project.

General Instructions: Again this session will be taken by Project Leader. The general Instructions related to your reimbursement, leaves, timings etc. will be communicated.

Answer 3 (B)

There are 2 projective techniques that could also be used within the group discussion alongside guide to help meet the research objective.

Brand Mapping : The brand mapping is a part of Focus Group & we can compare our product with competitors product in 2 ways one is pricing & second is perceived quality by customers. Brand mapping can be defined as "Brand mapping is a research technique to identify and visualize the core positioning of a brand compared to competing brands on various dimensions" (Ikanae, 2009). In this technique normally making a small camp, the people are being asked about their opinion about the product & if they have not used the product they are asked about the perception about the product. Then they are asked about the comparison with their competitor. Following is the chart to make after getting the results from consumers.

Mapping your Brand against 3 main competitors on Price and Quality

(Stefan, 2010)

The second technique is Completion Technique. In this exercise, the consumers are given fill in the blanks or complete the story type of questionnaires. This is the best way to know the opinion of the consumers because they can write whatever they feel in those questionnaires.

Answer 4 (A)

Definition of Panel Research: "A general term used to describe a pre-selected group of homogeneous people used more than once over a period of time to collect information."(N/A., 2012)

Concept of Panel Research: When the research company make a panel of short group of around 2-4 persons for longitudinal study over a particular subject, it is known as Panel for research. This panel are specialized in their subject & they carry on their research on a group of people for a time period which varies from 1 to 4 months depending upon the subject. The data collected by Panel research members are accurate & they search for change of behaviour of consumers over a period of time. Panel Members are well trained & Research company keep them up to date with changing phenomena.

(N/A., Research & Consultation Guidelines, 2012)

Definition of qualitative research (Focus Group):"An unstructured interviewing technique where a small group (8 to 10) of eligible respondents are invited to participate in a discussion about a particular topic. A trained moderator guides the discussion of the respondent group."(N/A., 2012)

Concept of Focus Group: Focus Group is a qualitative research technique in which a small group is invited for a group discussion or debate on a particular topic by research company for coming up to a conclusion about the question subject.

Difference between Panel Research & Focus Group:

Sr. No.

Panel Research

Focus Group

1

Panel is generally of around 3-4 Person

Focus Group is of 8-10 persons

2

Panel searches for change in attitudes & behaviour of consumer over a period of time

Focus Group search for opinion of peoples.

3

Panel works for a longer period of time

Focus Group works for a shorter period of time.

4

Panel search for competitors product behaviour also.

Focus Group focuses on company’s Product only.

5

Panel research is a time consuming method

Focus Group is not so time consuming

6

Panel Research is Expensive method

Focus Group is relatively low cost method

7

The data searched by Panel Research are reliable

Focus Group data are not so reliable

Answer 4(B):

The Benefits of recruiting and developing a panel of coffee drinkers for research purpose:

Panel research is not an Ad-hoc survey. It is a systematic long term survey. Hence, the result company get from panel research is reliable.

It is more cost effective in 2 ways. One is less number of members are to be appointed & second is more surveys of same nature can be included in same questionnaire.

Demonstrates a long term commitment with consumers.

Relatively quick method for viewing sample of conclusion

Can Survey as per demographic needs

Work is relatively easy as the research is carried out through trained & expert staff.

Qualitative data can be carried out which can also be used as secondary data in future for any other research confidently.

The Challenges of recruiting and developing a panel of coffee drinkers for research purpose:

Right person has to be appointed at right place

Have to train them for every specific needs time to time

Have to keep them up to date with change in technologies.

Have to give them feedback at regular intervals & have to take feedbacks & reports from them on regular basis.

Have to have second line of employees ready in case of someone leaving company so that work does not get affected.

Answer 5:

While preparing or presenting report the most important factor to keep in mind is audience. The report should include at least the following points:

Abstract

Introduction

Methods used

Result of research

Conclusion

Any good presentation should include following things:

Bulleted Points which is easy to understand

Pictured explanation.

All Important Points

Brief of techniques used

The abbreviation of Audience can be explained as follows:

A : ANALYSIS

The research company should analyse the audience before presenting the report or presentation. To analyse the audience they must look for 2 factors: Who are the audiences & how many are audiences? Asking these 2 questions they can conclude the length of report & quality of report. In case of Basecafe, the research is being carried out to discover whether they should change the design of the Coffee Max or not? If yes, out of 3 possible designs, which design they can choose? Now, this is a management level decision & the report viewer will be either CEO or Director level person. Here, the report should not be so lengthy that they can’t go through the same due to lack of time. The report will also been seen by Marketing Manager & it can be a bit lengthy including the steps they taken in research so that the company can analyse whether research company has done work as per their need or not?

U : UNDERSTANDING

Understanding here stands for understanding the needs of client. The report shall follow the exact need of client. In Bascafe, they need to know about the design change process only & the report shall move around the design criteria only.

D : DEMOGRAPHICS

The report should take care of demographics of the audience. e.g. Age, Status, Position, role etc. in the company. Taking these factors into account, the research company can make report because for most of these factors the report will vary from each other. In case of Basecafe, the report for Director may vary from report of Officer. The report for marketing team will vary from report of purchasing staff.

I : INTEREST

The report should take care of their interest also. Say for example, the marketing manager may not be interested in viewing the production problems with new designs. So reporting shall be as per the interest of the audience only.

E : ENVIRONMENT

The environment here is to deal with working environment of the company.

N : NEEDS

Here, two things are to be kept in mind. One is what company needs from us & second is what we need company to understand. In Basecafe, they need research from our side about the design change possibilities & after research we need to make them understand about the same. So the report should be prepared in such a manner that it can solve the requirements of both parties.

C : CUSTOMIZED

The report shall be customized as per audience because the need of every audience will be different from each other. E.g. in Basecafe, the Director will require an Executive Summary while a manager will require a full fledge report to research more over it.

E : EXPECTATION

There is a difference between needs & expectation of the company. Although the need of the company here is to know the possibility & requirement of change of packaging of Coffee Max but the expectation can be a lot more than it. To expect high is basic nature of human being & the research company shall keep these things in mind. Their report must have something more than their expectations which can help them to get more research orders in future.

In Audience, there are number of factors to be looked. The criteria of good research report can be explained as follows:

Readability:

Consider the reading skill of the audience to succeed high readership

Make the  subject matter motivating to the readers

Keep the subject matter in the field of the skill of the clients

Disclose how the report will help the clients

Follow standard readability guides

Comprehensibility:

Avoid haziness, multiple meanings, suggestions

Choose the required words only

Define ideas and constructs operationally.

Establish sentences sensibly

Do not mix Major & Subordinate plans.

Focus on pace

Tone:

The Tone should be proper

Avoid talk about the readers

Write the opinions positively and eliminate negative wording without changing recommendations.

Final proof:

Ensure that writing streams smoothly with appropriate transitions

The organization of sentences should be appropriate for readers

Ensure that the conclusions meet the problem and research objectives

The graphs or graphics display the right information

At the end, write executive summary which should include all information.

(Jadu, 2011)