Marketing Research

Marketing Research Essay retrieved from http://www.antiessays.com/free-essays/38089.html Executive Summary Introduction: The marketing problem addressed in this study is, “How can we improve sales at the Intramural Activities Center (IMA) Dawg Bites snack stand?” Our objectives are to assess current levels of customer satisfaction, to gain insight to the demographics of the IMA population, and to gather suggestions on future product offerings. Methodology: We collected our primary data through a nonprobability, convenience sample from the IMA. Our undisguised questionnaire, designed for both descriptive and exploratory study, was handed out at different times of the day and on various days of the week to a fixed sample of 150 participants. Major findings/Brief Recommendations: Although there is a steady customer flow, we find that the Dawg Bites snack stand can have quite a bit of improvement. Most aspects were rated satisfactorily; however, two categories fell short of expectations. Price was the category that was most unsatisfactory and we can understand why. A smoothie cost about five dollars, which is enough money for a small meal! The average university student does not have the steady stream of income that a full-time worker would have. As a result, we recommend that management look into lowering prices to a more reasonable level so that more students are able to afford it. After running a few tests on the feedback we received, we found that there was a high correlation between willingness to purchase items and the product offered at Dawg Bites. Smoothies were ranked the highest with juice and energy drinks trailing not far behind. Our recommendation to management would be to consider expanding these items. There are already many selections of energy drinks at the snack stand. However, management should include more smoothie flavors and juice options. Another thing management should take into consideration is marketing more towards the students who live on campus. We found the easiest targets to be people living in the dorms. Most dorms are just a short walk away and posting up fliers and posters of the products offered at Dawg Bites may help increase awareness. The study that our group held is very small scale and may not be so representative of the population that frequents the IMA. We suggest that management take a closer look at their potential customer base focusing more on smoothies, energy drinks, and juice before deciding to make any major changes in their product offerings. However, we do believe that price is something that can be changed. Introduction

Dawg Bites is one of the Espresso Cafes at the University of Washington located in the Intramural Activities Center (IMA). That is the reason why it represents the best option to get refreshed after a workout. Moreover, we can find a large selection of menu items including Organic To Go salads and sandwiches, thirst-quenching beverages, Freshens Smoothies, espresso, toasted bagels and more. The aim of this project is to tackle the following decision problem: How could the Intramural Activities Center (IMA) snack bar improve its sales? For this purpose, we arranged an appointment with the Dawg Bites manager to discuss the feasibility of our project. We showed how this research study could help the café to raise its sales and consequently its profits since this is the major goal of business. This is a strategy-oriented decision problem that has arisen from a planned change, with an emphasis on how the planned change should be implemented. In this way, our research group has proposed a study to provide an answer to this question with the goal of revamping the marketing mix and giving the IMA a better idea of people's perceptions of buying food and drinks at the Dawg Bites snack stand. Subsequently, we believe that the best focus for our study is to gain insight into the population that frequents the IMA, mostly students. Therefore, we will be able to know more about their consumption practices as well as their wants, habits, and dislikes. In order to fulfill the goal of the project, our team decided on four research objectives for the study: 1) To uncover the perceptions held by IMA users of the campus food system as a whole so as to discern a general dislike for food on campus from a specific problem with the IMA café so that once we know the real decision problem we will be able to focus on it. 2) To attain evaluations of the IMA snack bar itself for the purpose of revealing current satisfaction with present snack bar location, offerings, ambience, prices and staff. This will let us find out how this kind of variables affects the population. 3) To discover the general eating habits of IMA users whose responses will then serve as a guide to modifying product offerings. In this way, we will ask for preferences on the menu list and suggestions. 4) To gain general demographics of the IMA population in order to better identify the target market. For this objective, we will find out variables like gender, location, area of study or class standing. Addressing these research objectives will help us to assist in the goal of raising sales with specific recommendations in the different aspects of the marketing mix. Finally, this report will be offered as a proposal to the manager of the IMA snack bar. Methodology Our project took the form of an investigation into the satisfaction of IMA users with the Dawg

Bites café. In addition, we also collected basic demographic information about the IMA population. As our main goals were to assess consumer satisfaction and evaluate product offerings, our study could be classified as both exploratory and descriptive research. The project was proactive rather than reactive because our group took the initiative to perform this study for the purpose of planned change—actions to improve currently stable sales—rather than as a response to unplanned change (weakening sales). The target population of our investigation was IMA users. Both individuals who currently do and do not purchase from the Dawg Bites café. We chose to look at both purchasers and nonpurchasers because nonpurchasers would be able to offer us valuable information on why they do not purchase, i.e. aspects Dawg Bites could improve upon to gain new sales. Our sampling frame consisted of the individuals utilizing the IMA facility. This sampling frame was easy to access and included a large population. We undertook a nonprobablity sampling procedure for reasons of ease. Within nonprobability procedures, we chose a convenience sample as our research was exploratory and we knew little about our target population in terms of the research problem. We had a fixed sample size of 150 with a precision of + or -.06 and a confidence level of 95 percent; detailed calculations for these numbers can be seen in appendix B. Our team collected data in the form of a questionnaire for reasons of cost and ease. Questionnaires are easy to develop and implement, and cheap to produce. We passed out the questionnaires in a mall intercept form to individuals inside the IMA. Utilizing a mall-intercept form of data collection allowed us to attain responses quickly. We were also able to address any questions respondents had in person. These questionnaires were distributed by each member of the team, 35 per member, at different times of the day and different days of the week. We did such in order to capture all the different users of the IMA and their varying characteristics. Dividing the questionnaires between team members for distribution helped to address any bias one member might have for a certain type of population member (males, females, younger users etc.). The potential problem of nonresponse error was addressed by handing out 25 extra surveys. Following data collection, we transposed paper survey responses into electronic form on the Qualtrics system. Our questionnaire was designed using the program Qualtrics. It was two pages in length and consisted of ten questions including three questions in the form of Likert scales. The questions asked respondents to evaluate Dawg Bites on several factors, their willingness to purchase both current and future product offerings, and general demographic information. We also investigated IMA users’ criteria for choosing other campus food locations in order to account for a possible negative bias for the campus food system as a whole. Introductory questions concerning the frequency of their IMA usage and purchases from Dawg Bites were included as well.

Evaluations of Dawg Bites were used to gauge consumer satisfaction and areas that needed improvement. Willingness to purchase current and future products was necessary in order to not only identify undesired products but to gain information on desired, but currently unavailable products. We asked respondents to indicate their current exercise routine in order to compare answers with willingness to purchase future products so as to gauge a desire for offerings that complemented work-out regimens. The full questionnaire can be seen in Appendix B. In addition, our coding scheme was designed on Qualtrics. Errors in coding were fixed by recoding through SPSS. Analysis and Findings The analysis of the data we gathered can be comprised in three sections: demographics, expectations, and actual satisfaction of the IMA goers as far as the IMA Dawg Bites is concerned. In order to have an idea about the profile of the target market, we focused on some elements such as: gender, class standing, area of study, and location of residence. The following figures show the distribution of each of the aforementioned elements:

The next set of descriptive data shows the frequency people go to the IMA and how often they purchase from the IMA: Figure 1 : How often do you purchase food from the IMA Figure 2: How often do you go to the IMA? These two figures show that not going to the IMA is not a reason for people not buying food from the IMA snack bar. In other words, most people surveyed do go to the IMA regularly. However, 39% never purchase food from the IMA. In order to assess the factors influencing the expectations and the actual satisfaction of the IMA goers from the Dawg Bites, we run a number of tests that can be summarized as follows:  Correlation between frequency of going to the IMA and frequency of purchases H0: No association, H1: Association; Significance level= 0.00 rpearson = .394 ; Therefore, the correlation between the two variables is significant but it is not strong enough (Appendix F-1)  Correlation between frequency of going to the IMA and frequency of purchases of smoothies H0: No association, H1: Association; Significance level= 0.128 rspearman= .122 ; Therefore, we can say that there is a week positive correlation between the

two variables (Appendix F-2)  Correlation between frequency of going to the IMA and frequency of purchases of energy bars H0: No association, H1: Association; Significance level= 0.274 rspearman = -.88 ; Therefore, we can say that there is a strong negative correlation between the two variables (Appendix F-3)  Correlation between frequency of going to the IMA and frequency of purchases of bottled water H0: No association, H1: Association; Significance level= 0.24 rspearman = -.94 ; Therefore, we can say that there is a strong negative correlation between the two variables  T-test to investigate if there is association between gender and frequency of going to the IMA (Appendix D-1) H0: No association, H1: Association; Significance level= 0.05 T = -2.508 ; P-value= 0.013 ; Therefore, there is a significant difference in the frequency of going to the IMA between males and females. Males go to the IMA more often than females do  T-test to investigate if there is association between gender and purchase frequency from the IMA (Appendix D-2) H0: No association, H1: Association; Significance level= 0.05 T = -1.781 ; P-value= .077 ; Therefore, we can say that there is a significant difference between males and females as far as the purchase from the IMA snack bar is concerned. Males tend to by more than females do Chi-square test to investigate if there is association between class standing and purchase of some of the products offered at the IMA (salads, sandwiches, smoothies, energy drinks, fruit, bottled water, high protein, vegan, low fat, and energy bars) H0: No association, H1: Association; Significance level= 0.05 The appendices show that there is no significant relationship between class standing and the purchase of the aforementioned products at the Dawg Bites (Appendix E-1)  Chi-square test to investigate if there is association between class standing and the purchase of juice (Appendix E-1) H0: No association, H1: Association; Significance level= 0.05 X2= 4.857 ; P-value= .088 ; Therefore,  Chi-square test to investigate if there is association between living situation and the purchase of salads (Appendix E-2) H0: No association, H1: Association; Significance level= 0.05 X2= 3.128 ; P-value= .077 ; Therefore, Chi-square test to investigate if there is association between the living situation and purchase

of some of the products offered at the IMA (juice, sandwiches, smoothies, energy drinks, fruit, bottled water, high protein, vegan, low fat, and energy bars) (Appendix E-2) H0: No association, H1: Association; Significance level= 0.05 The appendices show that there is no significant relationship between living situation and the purchase of the aforementioned products at the Dawg Bites Chi-square test to investigate the association between some activities practiced at the IMA (such as cardio, racket sports, swimming, and other activities) and the frequency of purchase from the IMA H0: No association, H1: Association; Significance level= 0.05 The attached appendices show that there is no significant relationship between practicing these activities and frequency of purchase at the IMA snack bar The appendices show all the X2 relative to these activities are less than the critical value; therefore, there is no significant relationship between purchasing from the Dawg Bites and practicing different kind of activities(Appendices E-3, E-6,E-8, E-9)  Chi-square test to investigate the effect of playing basketball on purchasing from the Dawg Bites (Appendix E-7) H0: No association, H1: Association; Significance level= 0.05 X2= 5.881; P-value= .015 ; Therefore, there is a significant relationship between playing basketball and purchasing from the IMA Chi-square test to investigate the effects of the weights as the activity practiced at the IMA by people, and their frequency of purchase from the IMA snack bar (Appendix E-5) H0: No association, H1: Association; Significance level= 0.05 X2= 6.386 ; P-value= 0.012 ; Therefore, there is a significant relationship between practicing weight lifting at the IMA and purchase frequency at the Dawg Bites Chi-square test to investigate if there is an effect of the area of study on the frequency of purchase of food from the IMA snack bar H0: No association, H1: Association; Significance level= 0.05 X2= 3.072 ; P-value= .215 ; Therefore, there is no significant relationship between area od study and frequency of purchase from the Dawg Bites (Appendix E-10)  Multiple Regressions We considered that running the multiple regression would help us construct a generalized view of the importance of the factors that people consider before buying food at the IMA snack bar. The factors that we proposed in our survey were: Location, Price, Ambiance, Service/Staff, and Product Offerings. R2= .124 which means that only 12.4% of the dependent variable can be explained by the

independent variables. F= 18.196; P-value= 0.000 which means that the regression equation is statistically significant The results of the multiple regression were interesting because they showed that none of the factors (independent variables) is a significant variable except for the product offering and the price as the table shows. (Appendix G) Finally, an interesting graph to look at is the one combining the expectation of IMA goers and how much the IMA Snack Bar actually meets. The graph shows that the factors that people surveyed considered as crucial were mainly product offerings and the price (as was the result of the multiple regression). However, the Dawg Bites falls short in meeting the expectations of its customers as far as these two areas are concerned. According to the graph, there is no area where the IMA snack bar “wastes” extra resources. (Appendices C-1 and C-2 combined) Limitations Before taking a look at some of the conclusions that could be drawn from the above data, it’s important to also take into account some of the limitations of the study we conducted. The University of Washington has roughly 40,000 undergraduate and graduate students. An ideal method for a population of this magnitude would be some sort of simple random sample. However, due to time constraints and the nature of the class, we instead used a convenience sample that was nonrandom. In an attempt to try and make the results as random as possible, we split the 150 surveys among the 5 of us, and each of us handed them out on different days and at different points in time. In general, we walked up to random students and faculty entering the IMA and asked them to fill out our survey. Given that only a percentage of this population utilizes the IMA, the sample size we drew was still only 150 people. This means that our sample population is not necessarily completely representative of the total population that uses the IMA due to its small size. If we were conducting a full-scale survey, ideally we would want to use a larger sample size to reach out to as many University students as possible, perhaps by e-mailing a Qualtrics questionnaire out to a student roster. In addition, the data we have concerns only current IMA use. The IMA has recently undergone a number of renovations, including nearly doubling the size of its weight room downstairs and various other improvements. That, coupled with continuing increases in the amount of students coming to the University every year, will most likely result in changes to the IMA user demographic, making our own data relevant for only a short period of time. A final potential error in our analysis could arise from bias and error. Though the form was only a single page, front and back, many of the respondents were not very keen on having to waste time filling out a long form and it wasn’t hard to notice that little time

was spent on actually taking time to think about each question we posed. We may not have been able to accurately capture the opinions of certain IMA users who might only go on set days of the week or at set hours during the day due to non-coverage error. For the purposes of this class however, our data still produced some viable results. Recommendations There are several recommendations that could be drawn from our study results. In order to reduce costs by saving shelf space on products that are not as popular, Dawg Bites management should re-evaluate their product offerings. In the willingness to purchase category, we noted several points of interest. Smoothies were ranked high, with many respondents either willing or very willing to purchase them. In addition, both juice and energy drinks also scored high on willingness frequency. Dawg Bites should pay particular attention to perhaps increase product selection in these three areas that respondents have shown interest in. While our survey results showed the willingness responses of 150 participants to purchase different items, in reality looking at actual sales volume is a more accurate measure. As discussed above, the small sample size we used is not completely representative of the IMA population. In addition, ranking of willingness to purchase an item given on a survey and the actual purchase of such items are two completely different things. Instead of looking only at the product willingness frequencies given in our study, management should also take into account historical sales figures. The most accurate representation of how popular an item is lies in how well it sells, not how willing consumers say they are to purchase it. It would be beneficial to cut out products that are not selling at as high of a volume as other products to make the stand more efficient. This ties in with streamlining overall product offering. Students primarily visit the IMA to do some form of workout, whether it be cardio, swimming, playing sports, basketball or weightlifting. Unlike the residence halls or the HUB which feature on-campus dining areas, the IMA snack stand is meant for exactly that – snacks. Students do not visit the IMA with the intention of eating a meal, they come to exercise. That being said, selling meal items like sandwiches and salads is less efficient for the snack stand. Dawg Bite management should take a look at monthly product sales and discontinue meal-oriented items like salads if their sales are low, freeing up more space for more snack items. Also taking to time to market certain offerings to living situation groups could be beneficial. Every living situation represents a market that needs to be approached differently. The simplest are the dorms. These students already eat the majority of their food at on-campus establishments. Putting up posters throughout the various residence halls showing the Dawg Bites product offerings could increase awareness. For commuter students, Dawg Bites might take advantage of the IMA’s proximity to the E-1 parking lot, a place where many commuters park daily. Many of these commuters are probably tired after working through rush hour traffic to get to early classes,

and aren’t aware of a close coffee stand until the HUB. Dawg Bites already sells espresso and coffee, so perhaps through advertising in a publication like the Daily, it could increase awareness about this product offering. It’s less than a five minute walk from the E-1 to Dawg Bites, and tired students and faculty in the morning would be able to get a quick cup of coffee to start their day off. In terms of marketing to the Greek community, one possible way might be to take a look at some of the many Greek philanthropic events that get put on each year. There are about 30 fraternities and 16 sororities on campus, the majority of which put on outdoor philanthropic events. Involving the IMA in some sort of sponsorship with some of these events would increase awareness of Dawg Bites. Dawg Bites management could specifically target sports-related philanthropies (for example, Anchor Splash by Delta Gamma is a body-building competition and Derby Days by Sigma Chi involves many outdoor field games). Perhaps allowing some of these events to be held on IMA facilities with Dawg Bites providing some smoothies or other snacks as part of a sponsorship would be an inexpensive advertising opportunity. Because we’ve determined that all five store variables (location, ambiance, service, product offering and price) are significant, it’s important for managers to re-evaluate these areas. Location is not something that can really be changed, but ambiance can be gauged by how clean the café is kept and how appealing it looks to outsiders that might want to stop in. Service can be tested by taking a look at how employees interact with customers and product offerings is again, something that can be tweaked to appeal to IMA customer demands (and can be measured by sales). Although all of these variables scored well, there is always room for improvement and management should constantly be re-evaluating their employees and the look of Dawg Bites. One of the lowest rated variables, however, was price. Naturally students tend to lack an excess of disposable income. This means that they will be particularly conscious of how expensive the food they’re buying is. Lowering product prices may actually end up increasing sales volume. In addition, streamlining product offerings as mentioned above will help Dawg Bites to become more efficient in their sales, in turn reducing costs and allowing them to perhaps lower their prices even more, while still turning over a profit. In terms of possible product offerings that might be introduced, there was a correlation between gender and willingness to purchase products at the IMA. One of Dawg Bites’ biggest draws lies in its selection of smoothies, and the different flavors that are offered. It would be useful for management to take advantage of the popularity of these smoothies. Jamba Juice has a “femme booster” geared towards females specifically. An imitation of some form of a “femme booster” would allow Dawg Bites management to take advantage of the gender correlation discussed earlier. We also found a correlation between willingness to purchase and those who played basketball or lifted weights at the IMA. Both weight-lifting and basketball are high energy, intensive activities. Including more varieties of protein smoothies would appeal to both of these

demographics. In addition, offering a wider variety of energy bars, fresh fruits and other energyboosting items might appeal to those looking for a bit of extra food before they work out. The IMA might even consider selling a limited selection of workout supplements for students interested in lifting weights. Passing out samples of various flavors of the smoothies to IMA users at random points throughout the day would increase word of mouth buzz over the drinks as well. There is also a point system for the smoothies that not many people know about, where if you purchase a certain number of smoothies, you get one free. Increasing advertising about this, possibly in the Daily, would help take advantage of the smoothies’ popularity.