Unit 17 Marketing Intelligence Assignment - Sainsbury SuperMarket

Introduction

The Marketing Intelligence is about the market and its various concepts which helps in understanding the decision making process of buyer and how the techniques of research are used to make market plans for the business. The given Unit 17 Marketing Intelligence Assignment Sainsbury SuperMarket will be discussed and its market plan will be developed. Sainsbury is the supermarket of UK which holds third position in the industry. Various theories of buyer behaviour and factors affecting buyer behaviour will be discussed which helps the companies in decision making up the strategies for business. A customer satisfaction survey will be conducted with the help of questionnaire and its success will be reviewed.

Task 1

1.1 Describe the main stages of the purchase decision making process

Making a purchase decision is not easy; it requires taking decisions even before, during and after the purchase process. There is a fully fledged process of customer buying which has been explained below:

Identification of need: This is the first step of the whole process where the needs are identified by the buyer. Purchase is only made when there is some need to the buyer. The buyer has many needs but not all the needs are converted into buying. Only those needs which the buyer thinks is important to get fulfilled are converted into the buying/ purchasing. Internal stimuli can be the main force which drives this need into buying. For e.g. when a person is hungry, he realises that he need to have food and then the process goes on to the next stage. External stimuli are also responsible for the same like the advertisements creates the need for a particular product among people (Hirvensalo & Vaarnas, 2014).

Search of information: This is the second stage where the customers search information for the product or service they need to purchase. This means that a customer will do a research for purchasing the product. For e.g. If a customer needs to purchase a mobile then he would refer different retailers, advertisements and family/ friends to search about different mobiles available in the market.

Evaluation of alternatives: This is the next step where the buyer will evaluate different alternatives available in the market. Here the marketers play a main role in influencing the customers towards a specific brand or product/ service. Every customer evaluates the product/ services on different criteria like quality, price, company, reviews, etc.

Decision for purchase: When a customer evaluates different alternatives, he chooses the product/ service which fulfils his need in the most appropriate way. The final decision is made on the basis of many factors like the value delivered by the product, features of the product, quality, price, etc. The selects the final product on the basis of any factor which is most important to the buyer.

Behaviour after making purchase: After the product being purchased, the post purchase behaviour is evaluated which means that how the product and service is making him satisfied or is unable to make him satisfied. The level of satisfaction will determine the repeat purchase from the same brand/ company (Göb, 2010).

1.2 Explains theories of buyer behaviour in terms of individuals and markets.

Marketing is used to affect and influence the buyer behaviour for products and services of a particular brand but buyer behaviour is not easy to understand. It is a complex process. Understanding the buyer behaviour well by the marketers will be able to help them in targeting the right customers and products and services to them.  There are different theories which are supportive for the customer and business as they influence the customers for buying the products and services of the particular company (Göb, 2010).These theories are given below:

Generic theory of buying behaviour: For making decisions, many customers follow generic theories of buying organisations behaviour. According to this theory, a customer will identify his need for a particular product or service and then research for the best product or service available in the market to fulfil the need in the best appropriate way. Various factors like price, quality, brand name, etc are responsible for the final decision made.

Economic theory of consumer behaviour: This theory lays emphasis on the customer’s economic condition which influences his decision of buying products and services. The main objective of this theory is to maximise the utility for the consumer and the limitation is that the consumer has limited resources. These concepts help the businesses to determine that how the customer will get maximum utility from the available resources with him and then they offer products and services (Jooste, 2009).

Business buyer behaviour: from the marketer’s point of view, the business buyer behaviour has to be studied. For this, the stimulus which determines the need of the buyer is to be understood well. The changes in the demands of the customers bring changes in the products or services produced by the businesses.

Stimulus response model: A tested model of buyer behaviour is the stimulus response model. There are marketing stimuli like Price, product, place and promotion and other stimuli like Economic, social. Political and technological which produce certain responses by entering into the black box (given in the diagram). When the stimuli are in the black box, the marketers study them. Also there are certain buyer’s characteristics which influence the buying process by perceiving the stimuli in the different way (Jooste, 2009).

In the end, the responses are given by the buyer in the form of product choice, purchase timing, purchase frequency, etc. These responses are influenced by the marketer’s efforts and customer’s characteristics like personal, social, psychological or cultural characteristics. The model will be clear from the below given diagram.

1.3 Explain the factors that affect buyer behaviour

The buyer behaviour is been influenced and affected by many factors which are been categorised as Psychological factors, cultural factors, personal or social factors. These factors are explained below in detail

Psychological factors	Social factors
These are the factors which influence the customer’s buying behaviour and it includes motivation, perception and attitudes. Motivation means the drive which influences the customer to purchase or not to purchase a particular product or service. Perception is what makes an individual interpret particular information in particular way i.e. negative or positive. Every individual have different attitudes for different situations, products or services and it decides his actions for purchasing a particular product/ service (Collado, et. al., 2012)	Social factors are the social groups, family, friends or roles and status in society to which a person belongs. These influence the buying decisions of the customers to a great extent.  Among all the groups family is the one which influence the most because it is the family in which a person is born and learned all the values. The friends groups influence an individual to use a certain product so that an individual do not feel separated from the group. Like this social factors play an important role in making up customer’s decisions.
Personal factors	Cultural
Personal factors are mainly based on the personal characteristics of the consumer which influences him to take a decision for buying a product/ service. These factors include age, sex or income status of an individual. It also includes lifestyle, occupation and personality of a buyer which makes up the preferences of the customer.	These factors relates to the culture and environment to which a buyer belongs. These factors include culture and subculture. The society and social class to which a person belongs also affects the buying decisions of the customers. Culture makes up the preferences of the people to buy a product or service. For e.g. McDonalds adopt the culture of the country in which it starts its operations. It makes McBaguette burgers only in France because the people in France want that taste, also it makes burgers with Indian spices only in India to match the taste of the consumers (Collado, et. al., 2012)

1.4 Evaluate the relationship between brand loyalty, corporate image and repeat purchasing

A brand is a logo, name, colour, design or any other feature which makes a product or service identified and separated from other companies. Brand loyalty is the dedication of a customer for the brand. When a customer is loyal towards a brand, it means that the customer is satisfied and the customer has desire for the same brand. He prefers to chose and purchase the same brand again and again. A loyal customer does not wish to make purchases from any other brand because he is much more satisfied from the existing brand he is using (Ramsay, et. al., 2013)

By corporate image, we mean the image in the mind of the people for a particular brand or company. Every company establishes itself and moves ahead in the market with a view of particular image with which people can identify it and the company can make progress with the same image. It also promotes itself with the same image so that the customers are attracted towards them if they want to get associated with the image of the brand (Alwi, 2015). Repeat purchase is when a customer purchases a particular product again, after using it for the first time and gets satisfied by consuming it. The companies have to make their brand image so good in the minds of the people and they should try to provide maximum satisfaction to the customers by meeting their expectations so that they can retain them for future. Making a good corporate image and brand loyalty provides two main advantages to the company:

Retention of the customers: Brand loyalty is something which does not drive the customers to purchase a product/ service of some other brand. This helps the company to drive customers for repeat purchases and also to retain them for a longer period of time (Alwi, 2015).

Profitability: retention of customers for longer period of time will help the company to earn more profits because the existing customers will be retained and the new customers will be created by word of mouth of the existing loyal customers and by promoting the brand. Profitability is attained because of large no of customers who are satisfied with the company’s products.

These three terms Brand Loyalty, corporate image and repeat purchase are interrelated because the corporate image of the brand influences customers to buy the product of a company for the first time and then after getting satisfied by the usage, a brand loyalty is created which make happen the repeat purchases. Repeat purchases is also dependent on many other factors like ease of customers, satisfaction derived from the particular brand, shortage of good substitutes. It can be said that good corporate image will lead to brand loyalty which leads to repeat purchases from the customers. The corporate image of the brand can be built with the help of advertisements and promotions (Alwi, 2015).

Task 2

2.1 Evaluate different types of market research techniques

There are many techniques for market research but the businesses use three- four methods mostly to perform the market research. The selection of the right technique will be based on the money to spend and purpose of research i.e. the type of data which is to be extracted from the research. There are many options to conduct a research; some of the techniques are discussed below:

Surveys: Surveys include direct asking questions from the customers regarding any topic or experience or views of the customers. These are taken or conducted though questionnaires mainly and then the received data is analysed to get the final results. On the basis of sample questionnaires analysed, the results are extracted and the conclusion is made of the research. The results are more reliable when the sample size is large enough (Jensen, et. al., 2016) There are many types of surveys which include:

Mail survey: These surveys are held by sending mails to many people and getting their response. Teh response rate is very low because many people do not even check mail and many do not bother to respond but these are cost effective.

Telephone survey: These surveys are held over a telephone where the customer may or may not give time to the surveys. The response rate is low because it is not easy to convince people over telephone to participate in a survey.

In person survey: These are the traditional one to one surveys which are conducted mainly at the places which has higher no of people like in markets, malls, etc. Here the customer is physically present and the questions are asked. The response rates are high but it includes so much of time and costs too.

Online surveys: These surveys generate responses through online mediums and the responses many be unreliable but this method is cost effective and simple.

Focus Groups: Here, the questions are asked from a group of people which are been prepared in advance. The cameras are set generally to record and observe the responses of the group of people. These generally lasts for one- two hours.

Observation: Here, the responses of the customers are recorded through observation. Their behaviour is observed and videotaped that how they buy a product. It helps in knowing the pattern of consumer buying (Jensen, et. al., 2016)

Personal interview: Personal interviews are conducted to know the qualitative answers in detail from the customers. They are used for getting the subjective data but not from a large no. of population as it takes a lot of time. But these present valuable data on customer attitudes.

2.2 Use sources of secondary data to achieve marketing research objectives

There are two types of data Secondary data and primary data. Secondary data is the one which has already been extracted by someone else and it has been used earlier. It is been extracted from company annual reports, research studies, journals, websites, etc. primary data is the one which is raw and collected for the first time with the help of interviews, surveys or observation to get the response of people and to analyse those responses to get the result.

The given case is of Sainsbury which is the retail supermarket standing on their position worldwide, according to the Kantar World panel (Ruddick, 2015). According to the latest figures, Sainsbury accounts for 16.4% of grocery market share in UK. This shows that Sainsbury has been successful in providing customer satisfaction because of which leading people are still preferring Sainsbury for the great shopping experience.

The data shows that it provides effective services and products to its customers which are of great quality. The commitment of Sainsbury to provide best products and services at reasonable prices has been proved and that is why the customers are loyal towards the brand. According to (marketforce, 2015), Sainsbury rated as the most favourite retailer in UK where around 52% of the customers of the customers chose Sainsbury as their preferred retailer.

According to the above composite Loyalty index Sainsbury topped the charts followed by ASDA. It is seen that Sainsbury grew its market share over the time and below given chart shows the share in market of UK of Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury and other retailers (Sainsbury, 2012).

Thus, it is clear by analysing the secondary data that Sainsbury focus on the expectations, demands and needs of the customers by providing them the products and services meeting their needs and expectations. Sainsbury has the main objective of satisfying its customers by knowing their needs and expectations and by fulfilling them in the best possible manner. Secondary data can be used by Sainsbury to achieve its objectives. Teh data which can be used for the same is retail trends, customer satisfaction changing preferences, market research reports, technology trends in the market and more. These will help Sainsbury to understand the customer and the market and to fulfil their needs to fulfil its own objective of satisfying the customers.

2.3 Assess the validity and reliability of market research findings

Reliability Validity refers to the factor which shows how much valid the information is which has been used in the research. It also shows that the data has been collected from the genuine sources or not because the fake sources could affect the research findings as well as the image of the organisation. It will also affect the sales numbers and profitability of the organisation as a whole. True and genuine data not only make the research effective but also helps company to make strategies and to earn more profits and market share in the economy (Mohamad, et. al., 2015). Maintaining the reliability and validity in research enhance the accuracy of the research on which the marketers can believe and take further actions for enhancing the performance of the company. It is very important to maintain validity and reliability in the research for getting perfect outcomes and trustworthy findings which can be used by the company to plan the company’s further actions and strategies (Jensen, et. al., 2016)

2.4 Prepare a marketing research plan to obtain information in a given situation

Research plan is important to market the products and services of the company and an effective research plan could create wonders for the company’s products and services because the company can search and have information about the market, its environment, changing customers’ tastes and trends and more factors which can affect the future growth of the organisation.  Sainsbury should also develop a market plan which could help it in achieving its goals and objectives and help in gaining a competitive edge in the market (Shi, 2015). The Research Plan of Sainsbury is given below:

Marketing Plan of Sainsbury

Objectives:  this is the first step where Sainsbury has to define the objective for which the market research plan has to be made. Sainsbury need to conduct a research plan for finding out and for identifying the satisfaction level among the customers of Sainsbury by using the products and services of Sainsbury (Shi, 2015)

Research Method: The research method for this research is mixed research method in which both qualitative approach and quantitative approach has been used for collecting the data.

Data collection: the data for finding out the satisfaction level of customers is collected through primary and secondary sources. The primary sources will be the questionnaire from where the data will be collected from the customers of Sainsbury for finding out their satisfaction level by using the services of the company and this data will be evaluated in the quantitative form while the secondary sources are the already held researches whose reports will be able to determine that what are the statistics and what is the satisfaction level of customers. The other information in qualitative terms is collected through journals, websites and more for determining the satisfaction level of the customers (Olsen, 2012)

Sampling: The sampling technique is random sampling in which the questionnaires are distributed to the no of questionnaires and a sample no of questionnaires are selected randomly to evaluate them and to reach a conclusion. The sample size of this research is 75.

Reliability and validity: The data collected is valid as it is been referenced properly. Also the responses collected are password protected to not to disclose the identity of the respondents. The customers of Sainsbury are approached for the research and so the reliability of the research is high and it is genuine.

Analysis and evaluation: the analysis of the data collected will be done through statistical tools.

Strategies: The data analysed will be used by the company to make the strategies which could easily satisfy the needs and expectations of the customer and to meet the trends and recent changes in the market which could satisfy the customer in a better way.

Budget: a budget should be decide by Sainsbury to implement the strategies which are made according to the results of the research. The budget is limited and it has to be utilized properly in order to implement the strategies effectively. The budget decided for this market research of Sainsbury is £500 (Pun & Heese, 2015).

Implementation of the strategies: The strategies are implemented according to the budget decided. A follow up can be done by monitoring the strategies and their effects on the business of the company.

Findings of the research: Sainsbury gain important information from the market research which could help it in increasing the satisfaction level of consumers by providing effective services to meet the needs of the customers by using the data collected from the research.

3.1. Carry out an assessment of market size trends within a selected market of your choice.

Market size trends are important to be assessed so that the company’s can change their operations according to the latest trends in the market. The size of the market is determined by analysing the demand and supply in the market. Once the market size is determined, the strategies suitable to satisfy the customers can be developed. The market in UK is very huge and the businesses have a very good opportunity to capture more and more share of markets by delivering effective services to the customers and by adopting innovative ideas which could attract the customer’s attention. Sainsbury also have to analyse the preferences and expectations of customers so that they can develop their strategies according to it (Pun & Heese, 2015)

There are many fashion brands in UK which are fighting for market share. The fashion industry of UK is huge and the top brands include Zara, Marks & Spencer, Primark and more. Marks & Spencer is taken for discussing this task which is a British multinational clothing brand which deals in fashion clothing and accessories. Marks & Spencer selects its markets by segmenting the markets. The segmentation has been done on the basis of income, sex and age of the customers. It designs its products for high and medium income customers. It makes products for both men and women and targets the young aged people because they are more attracted towards fashion apparel and accessories. The market share of fashion industry in UK is 6% which has the value of 66 billion pounds (just-style.com, 2014) Marks & Spencer is at no. 2 at present in the fashion retail brands of UK and its value is more than 7 billion pounds.  The international al business of the brand is also on rise but it is facing many challenges due to the emergence of competitors but the opportunity is high with Marks & Spencer because the customers spend most of their income on clothing. The brand focuses on building new strategies to capture more market shares by providing the products meeting the tastes of the customers.

3.2. Describe a plan and carry out a competitor analysis for one of the following organisations.

The analysis of customers is very important to know the real situation of the market. It provides the details about the competitors, their business value and strategies which are used by them to capture customers. The competitor analysis is very important to make the strategies of the organisation in the same industry. The analysis of competitors for Nokia can be done by following the points below:

Identification of competitors: First of all the present no of competitors should be recognized which are giving fierce competition to Nokia in the market. This will help Nokia to develop its strategies keeping in mind the available competitors in the market (Shi, 2015)

Identify the market share: The market share owned by the competitors should be identified by Nokia so that there presence in the market can be known and Nokia can build strategies for meeting the level of competition.

Building strategies: Nokia can do SWOT analysis which will let it know about the current strengths and weaknesses and the future opportunities and threats of the brand. This information after the analysis can be used by Nokia to perform in the market. It can build up strategies by using its strengths and taking precautions from the possible threats. The strategies can be planned by keeping in view the strategies of the customer. For example, the biggest competitor of Nokia is Samsung and Samsung has the strategy of launching new products and models after every few months so that the customer have huge variety to chose his product. Nokia have to keep this strategy of Samsung in mind while building its own strategy to capture more customers and satisfy maximum customers (Shi, 2015)

Implementation of strategies: Nokia will have to implement the strategies once they are build so that it can have competitive edge in the market of mobile phones.

Control: Once the implementation is done, the company have to review its strategies to make sure that the strategies are getting successful in achieving its objectives.

3.3. Using the selected organisation above, evaluate the opportunities and threats for a given product or service

Nokia is a multinational company which manufactures mobile handsets. It employs around 62000 people across world and operates in more than 150 countries. In the year 2014, the company’s pone business was acquired by Microsoft but the presence of Nokia is still there in the consumer electronics market. The opportunities and threats of Nokia are evaluated below:

Opportunities

Increase in the no. of customers: The opportunities of Nokia includes the mobile market which is growing at a very fast pace year by year. So Nokia has a very good opportunity to capture more market share by providing best products to the customers meeting their needs and expectations.

Demand for smart phones:  Nowadays customer’s need for smart phones are on increase. New designs, new features, innovative technologies are the one which attract the customer towards the product (Göb, 2010).

Threats

More no of competitors: The no. of competitors are increasing day by day which are providing new and attractive technologies to the customers. They provide a big threat to Nokia.

Growing popularity and business of Apple: Apple provides quality a status symbol to the customers which helps in increasing its business across the world. It is providing latest features, security and technology to the customers which attracts the customers (Göb, 2010).

Conclusion

The report is about the marketing concepts which helps the companies in making the strategies to maximise the customer satisfaction and to maximise the revenue of the business. The case study has been discussed of Sainsbury in which a market research plan is made by following mixed method where a questionnaire is prepared to gather primary information and for secondary information websites and journals are referred. Competitor analysis is done for Nokia and its opportunities and threats has been evaluated which shows that Nokia has a big threat as there are many competitors in the industry and opportunity as the demand for smart phones is increasing.

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