Up Move European Marketing Strategy - Research Proposal Example

UP MOVE Concept Marketing Consultancy Research UP MOVE Concept Marketing Consultancy Research Table of Contents Part Research Brief3 Background 3 The UP MOVE Concept 3 Timescale 4 Budget 4 Proposal 4 Part 2: Research Proposal 5 Summary 5 Objectives 6 Proposed Approach 6 Research Design 6 Data Collection 9 Questionnaire Design 12 Statistical Analysis 13 Estimation of Timeline 14 Proposed Budget 15 Particulars 15 Rate 15 Quantity 15 Amount 15 Qualitative Research 15 Standard (2hour) group discussions 15 £3000 15 6 15 £18000 15 Quantitative Research 15 Telephone interviews with 10% penetration sample 15 £60 15 100 15 £6000 15 Internet interviews with 70% penetration sample 15 £12 15 500 15 £6000 15 Product test conducted in venue with 50% penetration sample 15 £30 15 150 15 £4500 15 Project management/ data processing 15 £3000 15 1 15 £3000 15 Client service (including presentation) 16 £9000 16 1 16 £9000 16 Total cost 16 £46,500 16 Final Report 16 References 17 Part 1: Research Brief Background We are a leading brand in production of consumer fitness devices. We are currently investigating the reactions of the initial users and potential users of the UP MOVE device. The findings of this market research will help us formulate the UP MOVE European Marketing Strategy for 2015/2016. The key objectives of this research are to: determine why consumers like the UP MOVE concept Investigate the features consumers would like to be added in the UP MOVE device Find out the features that consumers would like to be removed from the UP MOVE device Therefore, we are looking to commission a market research agency to undertake a monadic branded product test to explore the reactions of initial users and potential users of the UP MOVE concept. The UP MOVE is a new product that we launched in November 2014. The new product enjoyed large sales over the Christmas period. The UP MOVE Concept Obesity and lifestyles related complications have been on the rise in UK and Europe in general (Knai, Suhrcke and Lobstein, 2007). This rise has been attributed to unhealthy eating habits and lack of activity. To reduce lifestyle-related complications, people have been encouraged to increase their activity. We developed the UP MOVE to help people track and improve their daily activities. UP MOVE is a device that can be clipped on your cloth as you move to track the movement (Jawbone, 2015). The device is easy to operate and comes in a variety of colours to suit the tastes of different consumers. The device has features such as activity tracker, sleep tracker and a smart coach. The sleep tracker tracks your sleep, the activity tracker monitors your activity such as number of steps taken, while the smart coach feature advices on the best activities to undertake to burn extra calorie (Knai, Suhrcke and Lobstein, 2007). This device is a fit for everyone irrespective of gender, occupation, and age. We are, therefore, looking to come up with marketing strategies that can help increase the sales of the device in UK and in Europe. Timescale A period of 4 months has been allocated for the marketing research exercise. This will enable the consultant to conduct a rigorous research and produce a comprehensive report. Budget We have set aside a budget of £60,000 (plus VAT) to cover for all research expenses that include planning, meetings, stationery, travelling, mailing and other resources required. The consultant should itemise all the costs and include hourly rates of the key personnel in their proposal Proposal We require a written marketing research proposal in response to this brief. The proposal must be clear and executable. The proposal should clearly outline the research design to be used, method of sampling, budget, timing and deliverables of the market research. The closing date for proposal is one month from the date of this brief. The proposal should be submitted through the director’s email provided Part 2: Research Proposal Market Research Proposal UP MOVE® CONCEPT Prepared by Our Market Research Agency (RMRA) This proposal is prepared in response to your February 19, 2015 “Request for Proposal for UP MOVE® Concept Marketing in UK” Summary We understand that you are requesting for proposals monadic branded product test to explore the reactions of initial users and potential users of the UP MOVE concept. We further understand that you want this data to help you formulate the UP MOVE European Marketing Strategy for 2015/2016. We also understand that you specializes is development of consumer technology and wearable devices. You requested us to recommend how we may help you understand the reactions of initial users and potential users of UP MOVE concept through a monadic branded product test (Jawbone, 2015). We understand that you are keen to; determine why consumers like the UP MOVE concept Investigate the features consumers would like to be added in the UP MOVE device Find out the features that consumers would like to be removed from the UP MOVE device We have hence prepared this proposal in response to the February 19, 2015 “Request for Proposal for UP MOVE® Concept Marketing in UK” sent to us by your director. Our proposal is to conduct a detailed qualitative and quantitative survey of the UK consumers to understand the reactions of the initial users and potential users of the UP MOVE device. To conduct the monadic branded product test, we will need 150 samples of the UP MOVE devices. We will need to averse ourselves with how the device operates and use them to demonstration purposes. Objectives The pupose of this market research is to investigate perceptions and opinions of UK consumers on the UP MOVE concept. Specifically, this marketing research will look to find out; Why consumers choose to buy the UP MOVE device, and why others have opted not to buy the device The features consumers would like to be added in the UP MOVE device The features that consumers would like to be removed from the UP MOVE device Proposed Approach The methodology we are going to adopt to develop survey instrument will be based on a combination of a focus group interview process and secondary sources (Teddlie and Tashakkori, 2009). The questions to be used in the survey and focus group interviews will be based on our secondary sources. Focus group will be used to investigate the opinions, perceptions, and perspectives of individuals towards the adoption of UP MOVE concept. With the help of your London-based office, we shall invite several consumers who use the UP MOVE device and those who do not to participate in a focus group (Jawbone, 2015). The people selected will be a representative of the population of the consumers in UK. The inputs from the focus group discussion will be combined with secondary sources to develop survey questionnaires. We shall distribute the questionnaires majorly online using emails. Further, we shall select the study sample from people following your activities on social media platforms such as Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, Tumblr, and Facebook. Those not following you shall be sampled too (Cooke and Buckley, 2008). Research Design According to Teddlie and Tashakkori (2009), the major types of research designs are qualitative and quantitative research designs. Combination of the two types of research designs gives the mixed-methods research design. Quantitative research design is concerned with assigning numerical values to research phenomena to form data that can be analysed to determine how the phenomena under study affect each others. Quantitative design is interested with finding the level of correlation between variables in the research. On the other hand, qualitative research is concerned with how a certain research phenomena is influenced by human attitudes and perceptions (Creswell and Plano Clark, 2011). Qualitative research requires fewer respondents than quantitative research but it is more detailed. Qualitative research is useful when one wants to uncover the feelings and attitudes towards the research phenomena. On the other hand, quantitative research is suitable in gathering facts such as the number of people who hold a particular opinion. The use of qualitative research helps the marketers to appreciate the feelings and the motivations of the consumers towards their products. However, the use of a small sample can lead to biasness and errors when the findings are generalised. There are several types of qualitative research methods adopted by researchers such as depth interviews, focus group discussions, accompanied shopping, and friendship pairs. In focus group discussions, researchers guide a discussion of 8 to 10 respondents on the research questions. The researcher should act as a moderator to ensure equal participation of all respondents. Depth interviews are unstructured and one to one interviews. Depth interviews are favoured when one wants to avoid peer pressure or when exploring personal and sensitive matters. Friendship pairs can be used when the respondent are unwilling to participate alone especially children. Accompanied shopping technique is employed when one wants to obtain behavioral information about shoppers attitudes at the point of sale. There are various techniques used to collect quantitative research data such as survey research, observation and experimentaion (Teddlie and Tashakkori 2009). Survey research helps the marketer to maximise the variables in the marketing mix. The research should enable the marketer to understand who is using the product, where it is being used, which brand is preffered, and when the product is taken. Survey research can either be administered by the research or self-administered. The research can administer the survey research telephone or through face to face interviews. Face to face interviews are conducted on the streets, in venue, at shop, or from door to door. Face to face interviews are good when one is interested with non-verbal cues (Teddlie and Tashakkori 2009). However, face to face interviews are costly and time consuming. On the other hand telephone interviewing helps the researcher interview a large sample over a wide geographical area. However, one is unable to read non-verbal cues in telephone interviews (Casteleyn et al., 2009). According to Teddlie and Tashakkori (2009), Self-administered surveys can be done through posta, internet or on pen and paper method. Postal survey is cheap alternative but generally produces low responses. Internet surveys are replacing the postal surveys due to the efficiency achieved in internet surveys. Internet surveys helps the marketers send multimedia items such as videos that help to improve the response rates. The various tyes of quantitative research projects include the usage and attitude study, concept test, product test, pack test, ad pre-test, tracking study, exit survey, customer satisfaction study, blind test, and branded test (According to Teddlie and Tashakkori 2009). In this research, we are going to adopt a sequential explanatory mixed design. This implies that, we are going to use quantitative research to quantify the data collected through questionnaires to help us make inferences on the correlation of consumer characteristics and their use of UP MOVE device. Qualitative approached will then be adapted to obtain participants opinion regarding features of the UP MOVE device. Therefore, qualitative data will be used to give meaning to quantitative data. Quantitative data will be used to have a general view of the popularity of the UP MOVE concept among different classes of consumers in the UK market. We shall hence apply qualitative research design to explain the patterns in popularity of the UP MOVE concept among different consumer groups. The main advantage of adopting the sequential explanatory mixed design is its clarity in analysis of data. Qualitative research design we help us explain abnormally in results obtained through quantitaive research design. The main disadvantage of this research design is that it is lengthy and time consuming; this is because one has to collect both quantitative and qualitative data. Data Collection We will employ the use of both primary and secondary data sources in doing the market research for the UP MOVE concept. We shall collect primary data through focus group discussions and consumer surveys. On the other hand, we shall obtain secondary data from our past commercial market research reports in UK, government census data, and geo-demographic data. We will draw proportional random samples from people following you on social media and those not following. We are going to invite ten people to our offices for focus group discussion. To conduct a focus group discussion, we will select a representative sample. The sample will be representative in the terms of sex, age, location, life-stage, and brand usage. We shall first design a recruitment questionnaire that shall be distributed through emails. We shall request the sample to provide their demographic to help us in selecting the right people for the focus group discussion. Our recruitment criteria shall be based on age, gender, weight, height, location, brand purchase habits, hobbies or sports, and type of employment. We shall inform the collected sample of ten people on the date of the focus group discussion at our offices. We shall thank all the participants who had expressed their willingness to particiapate in the discussion. During the focus group discussions, we shall employ subconcious techniques such as cartoons, and consumer drawings to explore the attitudes of the respondents towards UP MOVE device. Sampling We shall do our sampling according to the UP MOVE device usage across different marketing mix such as age, gender, region, and lifestyles. An total sample of 228 consumers will be selected. The sample will be composed of 114 males and 114 females as shown in the table below. The sampling plan is as illustrated below; Gender region Age Lifestyles Sample size Male/Female South East Below 20 Highly active 3       Least active 3     20-30 Highly active 3       Least active 3     Above 30 Highly active 3       Least active 3   London Below 20 Highly active 3       Least active 3     20-30 Highly active 3       Least active 3     Above 30 Highly active 3       Least active 3   North West Below 20 Highly active 3       Least active 3     20-30 Highly active 3       Least active 3     Above 30 Highly active 3       Least active 3   Yorkshire & Humber Below 20 Highly active 2       Least active 2     20-30 Highly active 2       Least active 2     Above 30 Highly active 2       Least active 2   East of England Below 20 Highly active 2       Least active 2     20-30 Highly active 2       Least active 2     Above 30 Highly active 2       Least active 2   West Midlands Below 20 Highly active 2       Least active 2     20-30 Highly active 2       Least active 2     Above 30 Highly active 2       Least active 2   South West Below 20 Highly active 2       Least active 2     20-30 Highly active 2       Least active 2     Above 30 Highly active 2       Least active 2   North East Below 20 Highly active 1       Least active 1     20-30 Highly active 1       Least active 1     Above 30 Highly active 1       Least active 1   East Midlands Below 20 Highly active 1       Least active 1     20-30 Highly active 1       Least active 1     Above 30 Highly active 1       Least active 1         114 Before mailing the survey questionnaires, we will collaborate with your London-based office about publishing the planned survey on their social media platforms. Those wishing to participate will be requested to submit their email upon completing a consent form. The survey questionnaires shall be developed using Quatrics® software and distributed by us through the emails collected. Upon completion of the questionnaire, the participant shall click “send” and it will be reverted back to us. We shall send follow up cards to non-respondents after one week of sending the questionnaires, and send the second remainder after the second week. All the respondents shall be required to respond within three weeks. Questionnaire Design We shall employ a closed ended questionnaire in this research. In the questionnaires, we shall make use of Yes/No questions, multiple choice questions, and scaled responses (Likert scale). We will try to avoid open-ended questions in the questionnaire for ease of analysis. We are going to divide the questionnaire into three sections (Choy, 2014). The first section will serve as an introduction of the questionnaire and its purpose. In this section, we shall assure the participants of confidentiality and anonymity. We shall further notify them that their participation is voluntary, but we shall encourage them to participate fully. We shall also inform the participants that the questionnaire will only take just 15 minutes to complete. We shall use the second section of the questionnaire to collect demographic data of the participants such as age, sex, and income category, area of residence, height and weight (Choy, 2014). In the third section, we will collect data on the participants and their knowledge or use of UP MOVE device. In this section, we will ask questions that will help us understand whether the consumers know about the UP MOVE device, how often the use it, what features they like, what features they dislike, and what they may prefer added to the device. We shall end the questionnaire with a “thank you” note appreciating the participants for responding to our questionnaire. We shall formulate the questions bearing in mind the objectives of the study. We shall do our best to avoid leading questions in order to guard against biasness. To enhance response rates, the questionnaire shall contain a maximum of fifteen questions, which we shall structure in a clear and non-ambiguous manner. Most of the questions on the questionnaire will be pre-coded,while some questions such as the features the consumers would like to be added to the device will be post-coded. Coding the responses will help us in analysing the data collected quantitatively. Statistical Analysis We will analyse the data collected both quantitatively and qualitatively. The advantages of using quantitative survey are that it can be administered and evaluated quickly. Responses collected in a quantitative survey are easily tabulated hence saving a lot of time and resources (Choy, 2014). Numerical data obtained through quantitative survey can be used to compare the results between different markets or groups (Constantinides, 2006). However, there are those characteristics of the consumers that cannot be measured using quantitative survey, such as perceptions and beliefs (Choy, 2014). It is difficult to reduce beliefs and perceptions into numbers and analyse them quantitatively. Such data requires to be linked to the context in which the consumers exist. Quantitative survey requires a large sample for the findings to be generalised (Choy, 2014). However, due to limited resources, it might not be possible to do a large scale research. Quantitative research may fail to provide an in depth description of the consumer experience with UP MOVE. Knowing how many people are using UP MOVE device and their location may not be enough to help the marketer understand their perceptions towards the device. These limitations of quantitative survey make it necessary to use qualitative survey to give more meaning to the data. Qualitative survey allows the researcher to explore the different beliefs and perspectives of the participants (Choy, 2014). The advantage of using qualitative survey over the quantitative survey is that one can understand better the underlying values and the factors driving consumers to certain behaviour (Choy, 2014). The open-ended qualitative survey helps the participants raise issues that matter to them, and were not anticipated by the researcher. However, the open-ended nature of qualitative survey brings about drawbacks such as being time consuming and a high costs (Choy, 2014). The data collected in a qualitative survey is difficult to analyse and can lack objectivity, especially when interviewers are insufficiently trained. Quantitative research will help to determine the distribution of the UP MOVE device in the market based on gender, age, occupation, lifestyles, and location. We shall adopt qualitative analysis to assess the perceptions, feelings, and opinions of the consumers towards the UP MOVE concept (Choy, 2014). Data analysed qualitatively will help you to understand the features on the device that need improvements, or how to better serve the UK market. Estimation of Timeline February 19, 2015: Received the marketing research brief from your director March 13, 2015 prepare the research proposal and submit it for your evaluation March 27, 2015 Receive notification from you of the award of the market research and the required funds April 2, 2015 publish on our website the impending market research survey April 2, 2015: Identify 12-15 individuals representing the UK population and invite them to participate in a focus group discussion at our offices based in London April 7, 2015: Conduct the Focus group discussion at our offices in London April 8 to 11, 2015: Review responses in Focus group and literature to come up with possible questions for survey questionnaires April 13 to 17, 2015: Prepare sampling frame and select samples. Send the participants requests to participate and a consent form April 20 to May 11, 2015: Distribute questionnaires and collect feedback from the participants. Send follow ups to non-respondents May 12 to 16, 2015: Computer entry May 18 to 23: Data analysis May 25: Submit the preliminary report to you for comments June 1 to 6, 2015: Incorporate responses you submit and develop the final report June 8, 2015: Submit the final report as you specified Proposed Budget Particulars Rate Quantity Amount Qualitative Research Standard (2hour) group discussions £3000 6 £18000 Quantitative Research Telephone interviews with 10% penetration sample £60 100 £6000 Internet interviews with 70% penetration sample £12 500 £6000 Product test conducted in venue with 50% penetration sample £30 150 £4500 Project management/ data processing £3000 1 £3000 Client service (including presentation) £9000 1 £9000 Total cost £46,500 The project will cost forty six thousand and five hundred pounds only *50% of the project cost should be paid upon signing of the memorandum of understanding, and the remaining amount shall be paid upon submission of the final report Final Report Four bound and one unbound hard copies of the report shall be prepared and submitted to your London office on June 8, 2015. References Casteleyn, J., Mottart, A. and Rutten, K., 2009. How to use data from Facebook in your market research. International Journal of Market Research, 51(4), pp. 439-447. Constantinides, E., 2006. The marketing mix revisited: towards the 21st century marketing. Journal of marketing management, 22(3), pp. 407-438. Cooke, M. and Buckley, N., 2008. Web 2.0, social networks and the future of market research. International Journal of Market Research, 50(2), p. 267. Creswell, J., & Plano Clark, V. (2011). Designing and conducting mixed methods research (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. Hague, P. N., 2002. Market research: a guide to planning, methodology and evaluation. London: Kogan Page Publishers. Hague, P., Hague, N. and Morgan, C. A., 2004. Market research in practice. London: Kogan Page Publishers. Jawbone, 2015. UP move. [Online] Retrieved from [Accessed on 20 February 2015]. Knai, C., Suhrcke, M. and Lobstein, T., 2007. Obesity in Eastern Europe: an overview of its health and economic implications. Economics & Human Biology, 5(3), pp. 392-408. Malhotra, N. K., Birks, D. F., Palmer, A. and Koenig-Lewis, N., 2007. Market research: an applied approach. Journal of marketing management, 27, pp.1208-1213. Mooi, E., & Sarstedt, M. (2011). A concise guide to market research: The process, data, and methods using IBM SPSS statistics. Springer Science & Business Media. Office for National Statistics, 2014. Population and Migration. [Online] Retrieved from : (Accessed 20 February 2015]. Puchta, C., Potter, J., 2002. Manufacturing individual opinions: Market research focus groups and the discursive psychology of evaluation. British Journal of Social Psychology, 41(3), pp. 345-363. Teddlie, C., & Tashakkori, A. (2009). Foundations of mixed methods research: Integrating quantitative and qualitative techniques in the social and behavioral sciences. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. Trott, P., 2001. The role of market research in the development of discontinuous new products. European Journal of Innovation Management, 4(3), pp. 117-126. Read More