Unit 17 Marketing Intelligence Assignment Solution

Introduction

In this assignment one has looked at different aspects of consumer buying behaviour, purchase decisions and the analysis of Airlines industry. Consumer behaviour is a complex process and this process is broken down into different steps and each step has been analysed in depth. Further factors affecting the decision process, different theories behind the buying by consumer have been analysed.
In the next task different marketing research methods have also been looked at and these applied to Sainsbury. Marketing research plan for Sainsbury has also been designed and its various aspects are also discussed. Marketing research is an important tool for the firms to launch new products, improve services. Essentially it is a way to get the feedback from customers and then applying statistical techniques to make sense of the data. It requires considerable expertise.
Lastly Airline Industry for UK has been researched and its market size, different players in the industry have been looked at. British Airways is chosen for the analysis as it the leader in the industry for UK in terms of fleet size and the revenues. Virgin as a competitor for the British Airways has also been analysed. Lastly threats and opportunities for the firm have also been analysed which the firm needs to keep in mind.

Task 1

A. Describe the main stages of the purchase decision making process and explain three (3) theories of buyer behaviour in terms of individuals and markets

Stages of Purchase Decision Making Process
There are five stages of consumer buying decision process. The first stage of buying process is the Need/Problem recognition. In this stage the consumer needs to realize that he has a need and needs to buy a product to fulfil these needs. This is an opportunity creating time for the marketer. They try to create the need for the customer and make them realize that they need to fulfil this need.
The second stage of consumer buying process is the information search. This stage comes after the need recognition. Once the customer realizes that he needs to buy a product that he searches for the information about the product from different companies and the benefit they offer. For e.g. if a customer recognizes the need for the washing machine he or she can search for all the brands and the types of washing machine available in the market. For a marketer in this the important thing is to establish their brand. Firm should have the strong brand among its competitors (Kamath, 2014). 
The next stage of buying process is the evaluation of the alternatives available after the information search. Once the consumer does the entire search he needs to evaluate the options available to him. Also this is an important stage for the marketer. If the firm is industry leader and is the best in the industry it doesn’t mean that each consumer will buy their product. Thus here the customer evaluates all the options and tries to find the option which matches best with their needs.
The next stage is the purchase decision. Here after the customer has evaluated all the options and found the best option according to his needs he making decision that he will make purchase decision. In this stage the customer actually decides whether he should continue with the purchase decision or cancel the purchase. In this stage the marketer should clarify and persuade the customer and remind that why he needed the product.
The next stage is the purchase. In this stage the consumer actually buys the product. All the stages prior to the purchase and that lead to the purchase are finished. Thus all the prior stages lead to the final purchase (Kamath, 2014). 
The last stage is the post purchase. Marketer role does not finish till the purchase. The last stage is the post purchase evaluation. In this stage the consumer gives the feedback about the product and the firm provides services to the product. This stage may not exist for the all the products. However for many products it is an important stage. The consumer if not satisfied can give bad reviews for the product and thus can lead to decrease in sales for the future
Theories for Buying Behaviour theories of buyer behaviour in terms of individuals and markets
Following theories of buying behaviour exist in theory:
Generic Theory of Buying Behaviour:  This theory states that the buyer goes through the normal process of buying the product. He will recognize the need that he needs a product and goes the process of searching for information, evaluating the products and then finally making the purchase. Thus the normal process of the buying process is followed.
Cultural Theory of Buying Behaviour:This theory states that the decision of the buyer is affected by the culture of the individual. Culture can play a significant influence in the decision of the buyer. All the individuals are part of one culture or the other and they follow a set of beliefs. These beliefs play an important role in the buying decisions of the individual. Also the social class, education, job and income plays an important role in the buying behaviour. It also says that there is exists an opinion leader who gives his opinion and it will affect the decision of the individual. Thus in this case the culture plays an important role in the decision making process.
Environment Theory of Buying Behaviour:Situation also plays an important role in the decision of the consumer. A consumer may not order something every time he goes to the same restaurant. Thus the choice of the food depends on the situation. An individual who is going on a date may not order the same food when he is visiting the restaurant with a normal friend. Thus the environment plays an important role in the buying behaviour the individual.

B. Main Factors Affecting the Buyer Behaviour

There are different factors which can affect the buying decision of the customers. First can be quality of the product. There are different produces producing the same type of product in the market with similar benefits. An example can be a washing machine. All the firm manufacture similar kind of washing machines. However quality of one firm can be better than the other firms. Hence the consumer needs to decide on the quality of the product he wants. Another factor which affects the decision is the cost factor. Cost can be an important factor and often the consumer tries to balance the cost and the quality of the product. In addition to this situation, culture also affect the decision of the buyer. Thus there is a complex mix of the decision variables which gives rise to the purchase decisions. It can be sometimes complicated to understand the real reason behind the purchase decisions.  

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

Corporate image, brand loyalty and repeat purchasing have a strong relationship among them but they are not the same. A consumer by do a repeat purchasing but he may not be brand loyal. He may be doing this for some reason. Corporate image is important for building the brand. A corporate may have good brand but may not have brand loyal customers. Corporate image is built by good products, services and marketing. A customer who is loyal to a brand will only buy product from one brand. A consumer may do a repeat purchasing even though he may not be loyal to the brand. Thus these concepts are entirely different but have similarities. A consumer may be buying the product again and again but it not may be due to the brand royalty but only the quality of the product or the cost of the product. For the same cost there could be no other product in the market with the same quality and hence the consumer may the same product. However if a new firm develops a similar product at a lesser cost then the buyer may buy the new product. Also it could be convenient for the buyer to buy the product as the shop could be near to his house. Thus the convenience can be factor for repeat purchasing, However in brand royalty investor will buy the same brand product irrespective of anything. He will not shift to another brand even if the other brand products can be of better or similar quality. Many customers are loyal to Apple brand and irrespective of the cost and the service they always buy the Apple products.
Corporate image is the image of the firm in consumers’ minds. However a good corporate image may not lead to buyer buying the firm’s products.

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Task 2

A. Evaluate different types of market research techniques and prepare a marketing research plan to obtain information in the scenario above

There are different methods of market research. It is divided into the primary market research and secondary research methods. Following are some of them methods which are widely used in the industry.
The first method is the Primary Market Research Method through Surveys. This method can be said to be one of the most popular methods to conduct research. In this method the firm who wants to conduct the market research prepares a questionnaire for the people. It can be direct questions to the people or can be feedback.  In a direct questionnaire people can be asked to fill questionnaire keeping in mind their past experiences. In terms of feedback one can get feedback from customers who visit restaurants, hotels and thus can use their responses to improve the questions. Surveys are useful ways to get the information. It helps to measure the user objectively as well as quantitatively. If one wants to measure specifically then surveys is an important tool (Zikmund & Babin, 2006). 
The other primary research method is the surveys through focus groups. In this a target group is brought together. These individuals share some common characteristics and thus they are asked different questions. They are also asked to discuss regarding the topic. The details of the discussion are noted down. This type of discussion gives the qualitative review of the topic. This type of discussion helps the firm to unveil new attributes and new dimension which were not relieved earlier.
Another method in the primary research method is interviews. This is also a qualitative type of method where one can get qualitative reviews about the products.
Other method of primary market research method is the experiments and the trials method. In this the firm goes out in the field and does some experiments and the data is collected. This type of research is mostly qualitative.
Another important primary research method is the observations. Here the firm can observe the behaviours of the individuals and the buyers and then analyse their decision making process (Papadopoulos, 2008).
Marketing research can also be secondary where firm takes the data from other firms and then does the analysis on the firm.

B. Design and complete a customer satisfaction survey for the scenario above and review the success of a completed survey

Plan: For environment of Sainsbury one needs to review the statement. To get to the feedback Sainsbury can design a questionnaire which will help to judge the statement.
One can have the following questions

• Do u think Sainsbury is the best retailer in town? Yes or no
• Do u think Sainsbury has the best the employers? Yes or no
• Do u think Sainsbury has the best prices in the world? Yes or no
• How is your experience shopping in Sainsbury? Good or bad
• Do u prefer any other competitor service?

One can ask the customers to fill the feedback form after their shopping from Sainsbury. One can keep a lucky draw for the consumers who fill in the feedback form.

C. Evaluate techniques that you will use to assess customer response.

After filling in the reviews Sainsbury need to analyse the customer responses. Many of the answers are in yes or no, good or bad. Hence the firm can give 1 for positive response and 0 for negative response.
In addition to the firm can get more statistics about the customers like age, income gender.  Firm can do analysis on the data using the statistical software. If majority of the people say yes then one can affirm the statement that the Sainsbury keeps the customer interest at the top. However if the firm get 0 for majority for of the people then the above statement cannot be hold true. Firm can use different confidence levels to ascertain the validity of the statement.

D. Assess the validity and reliability of your market research findings

The firm needs to design the questionnaire. The questions are mentioned above for the firm. In addition to the above question firm can give more questions for the customers whose positive response means yes for the firm and no means negative for the firm. Firm needs to hire the employees who will fill up the forms for the customers. Customers need to be motivated to answer for the firm. Hence the firm need to After the collection of the data firm needs to analyse the data. Firm can use the statistical software like SAS or SPSS to make the analysis. These software can easily help the firm to analyse the data (Zikmund & Babin, 2006). 
In addition to this firm can take qualitative answers like what do u think needs improvement. How the competitors are better than Sainsbury. These questions can be easily analysed separately and can help the firm to improve its services. .
Currently Sainsbury revenues have been increasing and it’s expanding in different areas. The firm is leveraging its strong brand name. Thus looking at the growth of the firm keeping in mind the competition it can be validated that the firm is keeping the consumers interests at the top which is leading to increased sales for the firm.

Conclusion

Consumer buying behaviour is a complex process and the firms need to struggle hard to understand different behaviours. Marketing for a firm is important and it involves marketing research, understanding consumer buying behaviour and analysing the competitor’s strategy and strength. These all aspects were analysed for different industries like Sainsbury and British Airways. There has been deep understanding on the topic and it has helped to understand the different dynamics of marketing. Consumer buying is complex and the firm needs to resort to different measures to make the buyers buy their product. Also it needs to analyse its competitors market and their consumer base. Firm needs to get feedback from its consumers regarding products and services. For a firm, to launch a new product requires consumer feedback whether there is demand for the product and this can be analysed from the marketing research. There are different tools available for research and the firm needs to decide on the method to do the analysis. Thus all the processes are complex and require a considerable experienced and judgment from the firm. As one can see British Airways is the leader in the industry but it cannot remain complacent as its competitors are slowly catching up and offering good services to the consumers. Thus the competitor analysis needs to be done a continuous basis and firm should analyse its increasing or decreasing market share.

References

Kamath, J. (2014). Factors influencing brand choice and consumption behaviours: a study on Irish juice market (Doctoral dissertation, Dublin Business School).
Papadopoulos, J. (2008). Consumers’ Behaviour and Marketing Strategy of Wooden Kitchen Furniture. In International Symposium on Wood Science and Technology (pp. 27-29).
Moschis, G. P., & Cox, D. (1989). Deviant consumer behaviour. Advances in Consumer Research, 16(1), 732-737.
Wilkinson, S. (2004). 10 Focus group research. Qualitative research: Theory, method and practice, 177.
Zikmund, W., & Babin, B. (2006). Exploring marketing research. Cengage Learning.
British Airways, 2014. Annual Report. Retrieved on 7^th Nov 2014 from http://www.britishairways.com/cms/global/microsites/ba_reports0910/
Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).  Retrieved on 7th Nov 2013 from http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?catid=80&pagetype=88&pageid=1&sglid=1

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