This week’s tutorial poses three questions which will be discussed in the following:
1. Neutrogena is a manufacturer of personal care products for young adults. The company would like to extend its facial cleansers product line. Design (a) a qualitative and (b) a quantitative research design for the company focused on this objective
Based on the Product Life Cycle, Neutrogena is currently at the Mature stage where their primary concern is to defend their market share against other beauty giants such as L’Oréal. One way of maintaining market share is to continuously enhance a product or serve a market niche that is underserved or unexplored. According to Schiffman et al. (2014, p. 65), a concentrated marketing is crucial for products at the latter stages of the product life cycle because competition is at its peak with strong competitors who have comparably high amount of resources.
a. Quantitative Research
Based on the problem statement above, my team and I would like to propose a research objective which is to determine the main type of skin concerns that are prominent for young adults. Firstly, we have decided to use a quantitative research, consisting of a survey to study the types of facial cleansers desired by young adults. Pasek et al. (2014, p. 889) note that a survey or questionnaire must be worded correctly, accurately, and without bias in order to communicate properly with respondents. The sample we have chosen for this research consists of 100 young men and women in Subang Jaya at a ratio of 3:7 respectively to generalise the population of Selangor. The respondents are aged between 16 to 28 and are chosen based on a random sampling. In the questionnaire, the participants would be required to fill in details such as their name, allergies, age group, gender, skin type, skin concerns and frequency of using cleanser. In addition to these questions, the survey also enquires about the effectiveness and scope of reach of Neutrogena’s promotional mediums.
b. Qualitative Research
Burns, Veeck & Bush (2017, p. 144) define qualitative research as a research method that involves collecting, analysing, and interpreting unstructured data by observing what people experience and say. The qualitative research method we are going to choose is a focus group which allows various participants to discuss the concept of facial cleansers freely under the guidance of a moderator (Burns, Veeck & Bush 2017, p. 144). Such method allows the participants to brainstorm and give feedback to one another. The focus of our qualitative research would be to gauge the participant’s point of view about what new features, skin concerns and deliberations should be taken into consideration in the creation of the new product. An example of an open-ended question that would be asked is, “In your opinion, are there any ingredients listed in our skin care that irritate your skin? If yes, how does it affect you?”. It will involve a total of 8 participants, with 2 participants each from every age group found in the survey. The participants will be selected by choosing people of different skin concerns and skin types to ensure that we eliminate any biases.
2. Which methods of survey would you adopt to investigate the attitudes of a group regarding the shopping experience in Japanese department stores such as Isetan, Sogo and Mitsukoshi?
We will choose the Quantitative method which involves a questionnaire or survey. There are a few methods of survey which include person-administrated surveys, computer-administrated surveys and self-administrated surveys (Burns, Veeck & Bush 2017, p. 181). In our opinion, a computer-administrated survey, the online survey specifically will be chosen as our medium. There are several advantages to this choice. These surveys are inexpensive, easy to administer, and easily spread as most people own a smartphone these days. In Malaysia, the smartphone penetration rate is at 54% while users spend an average of eight hours online (Statista 2019; The Sun Daily 2019). Also, these surveys can be customized to actively engage participants through the input of a variety of media such as pictures, videos, graphs and diagrams so they won’t be bored throughout the session. Last but not least, online surveys are advantageous because the researcher can accumulate and monitor data on a continuous basis with the help of software.
Based on the above reasoning, we have come up with three sample questions which will be answered using a Likert scale (Very Unsatisfied, Unsatisfied, Neutral, Satisfied, Very Satisfied):
- How will you rate the responsiveness of front-line employees (cashiers, sales assistants) in Japanese department stores as compared to conventional departmental stores?
- How will you rate the quality of selection of goods sold in the Women’s department of Japanese department stores?
- What is your opinion towards the interior furnishings and design of Japanese departmental stores?
3. Nestle conducted extensive and accurate market research before deciding to put Nespresso in production. Using web sources, press articles, and the corporate website, outline your background research and provide the reason for the success of the famous espresso brand, which featured George Clooney and Matt Damon in a testimonial and has become a veritable case of successful marketing.
The reason for success of the Nespresso brand is Nestle’s achievement in determining the correct target market from the market segmentation. Slywotzky (2011) describes Nespresso as “the Armani of coffee”, which means that the brand caters to passionate coffee lovers who are able to afford higher-end coffee products. These people were usually white-collared professionals who do not have the luxury of time to prepare a cup of coffee from scratch. They were also most likely to be Gen X or Baby Boomers who had a higher median of disposable income and whom were more focussed on high quality than practicality. Nespresso (n.d.), states that their products are of unsurpassed quality, and that their unique capsules and machines offer the convenience of preparing coffee at the right water temperature, quantity, speed and pressure.
From the identification of their target market, they were able to select celebrities that would most likely to appeal to these two generations – Matt Damon and George Clooney, both whom are veterans in show business. Osei-Frimpong, Donkor & Owusu-Frimpong (2019, p. 104) observe that celebrity-endorsed advertising messages garner more audience attention, appeal, and ad recall as compared to noncelebrity-driven advertisements. In addition, celebrities whose likeability and familiarity resonate with their audiences also tend to have more power in influencing their purchase decisions (Osei-Frimpong, Donkor & Owusu-Frimpong 2019, p. 106). Agrawal (2016) notes that young people, are especially easily impacted by the actions of their idols, because they love to wear what their idols are wearing and using to try to emulate them. Apart from the ability to relate to consumers, the apt usage of humour in the advertisement also contributed to its success. Schiffman et al. (2014, pp. 258-259), note that humour is an effective way of helping consumers think more broadly and to understand complex and elusive relationships.
Written by:
Sak Jeng Mun (5506487)
Lin Yi Wei (5586483)
Li Yunzhe (5674268)
Huang Lei (5930571)
References
Agrawal, AJ, 2016, ‘The Benefit of Companies Using A Celebrity Spokesperson’, Forbes, 12 April, accessed 16/4/2019, <https://www.forbes.com/sites/ajagrawal/2016/04/12/the-benefits-of-companies-using-a-celebrity-spokesperson/#6fbeea923d5d>
Burns, AC, Veeck, A & Bush, RF 2017, Marketing Research, Global Edition, vol Eighth edition, Pearson, Harlow, England
Nespresso n.d., ‘Creating Highest Quality Grand Cru Coffees’, Nestle: Nespresso, accessed 13/4/2019, <https://www.nestle-nespresso.com/about-us/strategy/creating-highest-quality-grand-cru-coffees>
Osei-Frimpong, K, Donkor, G & Owusu-Frimpong, N 2019, ‘The Impact of Celebrity Endorsement on Consumer Purchase Intention: An Emerging Market Perspective’, Journal of Marketing Theory & Practice, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 103–121, accessed 12/4/2019, Scopus database.
Pasek, J, Jang, SM, Cobb III, Cl, Dennis, JM & Disogra, C 2014, ‘Can Marketing Data Aid Survey Research?’, Public Opinion Quarterly, vol. 78, no. 4, pp. 889–916, accessed 12/4/2019, Scopus database.
Schiffman, LG, O’Cass, A, Paladino, A & Carlson, J 2014, Consumer Behaviour, Pearson, Australia.
Slywotzky, A 2011, ‘Triggering Demand: How Coffee-Maker Nespresso Turned Drips Into Gushers’, Fast Company, 3 October, accessed 13/4/2019, <https://www.fastcompany.com/1781304/triggering-demand-how-coffee-maker-nespresso-turned-drips-gushers>
Statista 2019, ‘Smartphone penetration rate as share of the population in Malaysia from 2017 to 2023’, Statista, accessed 13/4/2019, <https://www.statista.com/statistics/625418/smartphone-user-penetration-in-malaysia/>
The Sun Daily 2019, ‘Malaysia ranks top 5 globally in mobile social media penetration, highest in region’, The Sun Daily, 31 January, <https://www.thesundaily.my/local/malaysia-ranks-top-5-globally-in-mobile-social-media-penetration-highest-in-region-DI468306>
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