Marketing Practitioners - Growing Demand of Ready Meals from the UK Student Population - Assignment Example

? RESEARCH FOR MARKETING PRACTITIONERS WORD COUNT: 2856 0 Introduction There is a large and growing market for ready meals especially with the student sector. Students expect to buy food that they can eat outright or meals with an eating quality as if they had already cooked and prepared it at home. A complete ready meal is food which has ‘non-sporing pathogenic microorgnisms’ already destroyed. (James and James 2005, p. 717) Chilled ready meals market is seen to have grown in the UK as consumers look for an alternative to home cooked food. It represents 15% of the overall UK chilled foods sale, which is particularly attractive to students. About half of the dishes are made up of ethnic dishes, for instance Chinese and Indian, indicating an interest in exotic tastes, but some of the recipes are made up of Continental recipes, such as Italian. Italian ready meals are made up of pasta which has a healthy image and attractive to children and students. The vegetable-based ready meals sector is also growing and attractive to students. This is followed by the fish-based and then the meat-based. Considered health foods are primarily made up of vegetables and fish. The UK has been hailed as the most developed market in Europe when it comes to chilled ready meals. (Dennis and Stringer 2000, p. 14) In 1994, chilled ready meals had a per capita consumption of 1 kg., compared to Germany’s 0.3 kg, France’s 0.2 kg and Spain’s .1 kg. In other words, the potential for chilled ready meals is great in the UK and if this is reflected in Europe, it has great future potential for business venture. (Dennis and Stringer 2000, p. 14) Pizza sales registered a high growth of 10% during the period 1994-97. Manufacturers wanted to stimulate more demands for pizzas by introducing various flavours and in exploiting consumer’s growing love for exotic tastes. Some stores have introduced vegetarian pizzas to respond to the growing interest for health and diet foods by the student population. But traditional Italian recipes have really been so popular that manufacturers are refocusing on this segment, particularly the salads sector. Salads have become popular because they are seen as replacement for vegetables and can be eaten as snacks. That is a healthy snack for students in a rush. Mixed salads with new varieties of leaves have also been introduced to the craving palates of students. Manufacturers have introduced sandwiches, a favorite feature of student snacks. The British Sandwich Association released statistics stating that sandwiches have been hailed as the most popular fast food in the UK. It has a market of ?3.25 billion and fast growing at a rate of 13% annually. Sandwiches have been reported to represent 41% of the fast food sector, while burgers only represent 18%, and fish and chips only represent 12%. Sandwiches are a favorite snacks meal for the British, with the UK having the world’s highest per capita consumption of sandwiches. And this is true for men, women and children. (Dennis and Stringer 2000, p. 15) This paper is a proposal to outline a research programme to test a range of meals amongst the student population in the UK. The client is focusing on selling low value/medium quality product ranges, and is particularly interested in the market for consumers on limited incomes.   Their product consists of a range of nutritious, but reasonably priced ready meals – individual and paired servings – and is targeted on the UK student population.   2.0 Research Objective The purpose of this paper is to determine the growing demand of ready meals from the UK student population and to determine what particular dishes they require for snacks, lunch and dinner. For this company to meet its goals, it is essential that the food shall be tested by the students in a specific university which has been identified by the client. The university is a popular institution of higher learning with a very large population and can represent the student population in London. This research will determine the UK students’ preference and taste for ready meals. 3.0 Terms of reference The terms of reference are as follows: To identify the students’ requirements of ready meals This objective will seek to identify the students’ requirements for ready meals. We will determine the students’ favorite fast food, dishes or ready meals, and the ingredients students require of their ready meals. To examine which ready meals that reach students’ expectations will be used for product testing Since there is variety of ready meals sold in the market, we will determine what are the favorite ready meals students buy during snacks, lunch and dinner so that we will know what ready meals will be used in the product testing. To identify the difficulties in carrying out initial product testing among UK students in a particular university This research will identify the possible difficulties in product testing, for example, we have to determine the time, venue, and duration of product testing and how to draw interests from students who will participate in the product testing. The research will also draw a list of possible participants, students who are willing to participate in the product testing. To define the solutions for such difficulties There might be difficulties that are unexpected in the course of the product testing. The best way is to carefully plan the product testing, identify the parameters and possible risks and problems along the way, and proceed according to plan. To measure the extent and degree of the students’ preference for ready meals This will provide information of the students’ preference for ready meals. 4.0 Approach The research will focus on the student population, a market segment that can provide an analysis of the product and how it will be introduced to the target market. The students are targeted for the product testing because we believe they are willing subjects when it comes to experiments and are interested in knowing the results of what is still unknown. Moreover, food is a favorite subject for any segment, especially the students who are always busy and in a rush. One specific goal of this study is to find data and explain and analyse the data. Thus, this research has to find ways to explain what is still not clear. The research will encourage responsiveness among the students to gain their enthusiasm, for example, introducing the customer service approach. The approach is to present to the students a range of ready meals and get their opinion about their taste and preferences. The general categories of ready meals may include: Ready meals naturally low in carbohydrates or low carbohydrate versions of the standard product, targeted at dieters who are trying to restrict their carbohydrate intake. Single-serving prepared health food which is low on fat and calorie Low carb food to develop easier and more convenient for students who want low-carb diet. Those are considered general categories, but in the initial secondary research for this proposal, we found popular ready meals favorite among students, such as vegetable-based like salads which can be eaten during snacks or for dinner; pizzas and sandwiches are also student favorites. This research will be a combination of secondary and primary research. The literature review will first focus on secondary sources to find out what ready meals are in popular in the UK, particularly the students of popular universities. Secondary sources are also needed to refine the objectives of the research and to gather facts that will be part of the interview questions. We will be able to determine what ready meals will be used for product testing and the potential target audience for the product testing. Moreover, secondary research will provide information about potential customers and market segment, customer behavior, and the many issues about product testing and its possible repercussions in the actual introduction of the product to general populace. First of all, this Researcher will identify the university campus where we can conduct an on-the-spot product testing. Once, we have identified the university, the next thing to do is to talk the university administration officials about our plan to conduct the product testing. We will inform them through writing and ask their permission of our planned activity. We will coordinate with them with transparency and tell them that the purpose of the product testing is to gather data regarding the students’ preference and requirements for ready meals, or the kind of food that they want to eat for snacks, lunch and dinner. At this point, we will gather information from potential students who would like to become a part of the research. A list of the students who are willing to partake in the product testing will be on hand after a quick interview will have been conducted and acquiring the students’ permission about the testing. The next stage will include a qualitative research. This will need a focus group who will explore all the possible scenarios in the product testing and any problem that may come. The focus group will study the possible participants of the product testing and acquire information on possible customers of the product that will be sold by the company. The focus group will also help design the questionnaire and the interviews, and collect and analyze the answers and attitudes of the students and the potential customers with respect to the questions and objectives of the study. The actual product testing will be executed by an assigned team from the company, people who are well acquainted with the product and people who have experienced product testing in the past. The questionnaire shall be composed of open-ended and closed questions, with an estimated duration of ten minutes so that the student will not get bored in answering the questions. The quantitative research will collect information about customer opinion, attitude and behavior and responses from the answers in the qualitative research. Product tests, such as hall tests and experimentation, will be used to determine the students’ perception of branded fast food or ready meals that do not have brands. At the end of the research, both the qualitative and quantitative results will be analysed and tabulated to arrive at a possible conclusion and recommendation. Analysis of the closed questions will be inputted in an Excel datasheet, while open ended questions will be analysed by the group and overall head of the product testing. The focus group will have a significant role to play in the entire product testing until the analysis and the final stage of the project. 5.0 Issues for Inclusion in the Research Students’ perception of the new product Levels of satisfaction with taste of ready made meals among students in the UK Levels of satisfaction with price of ready made meals among students in the UK Levels of satisfaction with appearance of ready made meals among students in the UK Customer consumption of product Customer demographic (students’ age and sex) Attitudes towards distribution channels of product Attitudes towards advertising channels of product 6.0 METHODOLOGY Secondary data Secondary data is a kind of data that have already been conducted in the past; they are those that already exist in the literature. These data are reliable considering that they have already been tested on a particular segment and evidence had been collected that produce a corresponding conclusion (Bradley 2007, p. 86). Using secondary data has limitations because they are different from the data that can be taken from the product testing that is being proposed here. When we compare the data from the literature to the data we get from the product testing with the students, we can have fresh information from potential customers and potential market. Another problem is that data we want from various literature sources may not exist. We cannot have a comparison and no basis for our research. But for this project, the data exist which can help in the identification of problems and in fulfilling the objectives of the project and of the organisation that commissioned the product testing. This also means that the assumption that the data cannot be found is not possible. In our initial searches from online databases using keywords such as ‘ready meals’, ‘UK students’ meals’, ‘what ready meals UK students eat?’, we found a vast amount of information from journals, ebooks, and googlebooks, on the subject of ready meals, consumption statistics of ready meals, segmentation and demographic, among others. Secondary data is an important contribution to our study and a significant preparation to the product testing of ready meals with the students of UK as our sample. Qualitative research This research will use a structured or semi-structured interview in collecting qualitative data. Qualitative research can be obtained through a process known as ‘obtaining the best answer’. The ‘best’ answer means ‘most accurate answer’ (Brace 2008, p. 3) from the respondents. This way the researcher can obtain a most objective answer from a market research using a sample that know best about the product, and can provide an objective view without the researcher influencing the answer. This is what researchers need – the best answer to their question, although the best answer to interview questions is not easily obtainable considering that the respondents are volunteer sample whom the researcher just asked for favor in giving his/her time for the interview. Nevertheless, getting the best answer depends on many factors, for instance the method and the manner the researcher conducts the interview. Online interviewing is another method of collecting primary data. Emails can be sent to the participants. Questions will be contained in the emails and the participants will email them back to this researcher. This is cost-effective way of qualitative research although it may be time consuming. We do not know when the participants will submit their answers to the questions and send them back for analysis. (Stake 2010, p. 36) Quantitative Research Quantitative research uses scientific and experimental research, a conclusive type of research. It uses several studies and examines the effects of the study and an accurate conclusion can be reached. (Fraenkel and Wallen 2006, p. 7) Quantitative research can be used after the qualitative research, i.e. the researcher can determine whether the results and attitudes identified in the qualitative investigation are representative of the market segment. (Bryman and Cramer 1996, p. 11) Quantitative research can be used to track client satisfaction. For example, a focus group can identify and discover the students’ product requirements on ready meals, quantitative can help determine how great is the students’ demand for ready meals (e.g., sandwiches, or vegetables and diet snacks, etc.). Most researches involve a combination of qualitative and quantitative research. (Brand 2006, p. 102) 7.0 Analysis I. Analysis of qualitative data Qualitative analysis involves breaking the data into several bits and then putting the bits together. It means breaking and then dissolving (Bohm as cited in Dey 1993, p. 31). Qualitative analysis will break the results of the data, and find the characteristics and elements of the data. Without this analysis, the study will have to rely on impressions and intuitions, which is not a reliable process. Qualitative research also uses techniques such as observation, fieldwork, unstructured interviews, textual analysis, and more (Auerback and Silverstein 2003, p. 3). The technique is to get the data collected from the participants and record it as it is. This is what is known as “cut and paste” approach. The researcher does not have to alter the data gathered from the interview. It will use stages to be followed by the researcher and the focus group, for example: getting the right information required of the research; agreeing on a topic guide, a topic that will be discussed and agreed upon by all the parties in the research, to include the client, the researcher, the students, and the data encoder who knows IT); taking of notes and important matters in the course of the survey; video recording of everything that transpired in the product testing; analyzing the data; filing the data; and analyzing the data manually to get the correct information from the product testing. II. Analysis of quantitative data Quantitative data uses tabulation of the results. The method to be used will be cross-tabulations or percentage tables. The techniques used in the tabulation include: producing dummy tables; making decisions based on 4 elements, for instance, the base, side-headings and breakdowns, percentages, and weighting; and making the subdivisions small and drawing a meaningful conclusion (Blaike 2003, p. 10). In tabulating the responses, the researcher will assign a category, response category, and will input it in the software or Excel. Codes will be used for each response category. (Treiman 2009, p. 4) III. Drawing conclusions Quantitative and qualitative research will be used in product testing and the entire research to get the best answer or the most accurate answer in the survey. The diagram below illustrates how the research will be conducted: References Auerbach, C and Silverstein, L 2003, Qualitative data, New York University Press, New York and London. Blaike, N 2003, Analyzing quantitative data, Sage Publications Limited, London. Brace, I 2008, Questionnaire design: how to plan, structure and write survey material for effective market research, Kogan Page Limited, London, UK. Bradley, N 2007, Marketing research: tools & techniques, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. Brand, M 2006, “Marketing and competitive positioning”, in M Brand, G Braun, D Burand, A Hannig, K Hattel, & M Robinson (ed.), The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank, Washington DC, pp. 95-123. Bryman, A and Cramer, D 1996, Quantitative data analysis with minitab: a guide for social scientists, Routledge, London. Dennis, C and Stringer, M 2000, “Introduction: the chilled foods market”, in M Stringer and C Dennis (ed.), Chilled foods: a comprehensive guide, Woodhead Publishing Limited, England, pp. 1-16. Dey, I 1993, Qualitative data analysis: a user friendly guide for social scientists, Routledge, London. Fraenkel, J. and Wallen, N 2006, How to design and evaluate research in education, McGraw-Hill Education, New York. James, S and James 2005, C “Minimal processing of ready meals”, in D Sun (ed.), Emerging Technologies for food processing, Elsevier Ltd., Oxford, UK, pp. 717-728. Stake, R 2010, Qualitative research: studying how things work, Guilford Publications Inc., New York. Treiman, D 2009, Quantitative data analysis, John Wiley & Sons, London. Read More