LAS VEGAS WORLD MARKET CENTER FASHION SHOW

INTRODUCING THE FASHION DESIGNER FOR STARS N STRIPES FOREVER COLLECTION SHARON ST.LAURENT

Week 11 EOC: Final Project

FINAL PROJECT: Survey Analysis for Tops n Bottoms

 

Survey Analysis and Hypothesis:

Would more customers be attracted to stop in the store if a sign said?

"FREE SAMPLES FROZEN YOGURT, Tops n Bottoms to fit your taste!"

I chose to do my surveys at this store called Tops n Bottoms Frozen Yogurt because of its name and location so close to the freeway. Every time I got off the freeway and drove by it I thought it was a Fashion Clothing store for tops and bottoms to wear. But to my surprise I found out it offered frozen Yogurt instead! It is attached to a Dance Studio where they get most of their customers from.

My biggest problem that I noticed for this company was about the days the dance studio is not open it appears like they are losing business on those days.

The 2 days that I chose to do the surveys at the store I got a great response by around 50 customers. It was busy because there were dance lessons going on with parents and their children at the attached Frozen Yogurt store.

First I was able to interview the Manager to find out why this is called Tops n Bottoms and then it made more sense to me. He said it is because the counters are set up with some toppings when you first come in (or bottoms-like crust) before you add the frozen yogurt from their variety of flavors and finish it off with a top layer! I notice that they offer Free Samples of Frozen Yogurt but don’t advertise it anywhere. 

Designed by Sharon

• Being in the Fashion Retail Management program at the Art Institute I wanted to offer some ideas to advertise.
• I noticed they didn’t have on aprons but they used to wear them.
• I presented my ideas and designs to make aprons to the managers who liked some of them.
•  I proceeded to do my surveys with customers coming and going.

The survey questions are a mix of some open ended questions with multiple choices.





SURVEY QUESTIONS

 

1  Which age group do you fall in?

A 10-16

B 17-25

C 26-35

D 36-45

E  46-55

 

2  What is your Gender?
A  Male

B  Female

 

3  What kinds of toppings do you like on frozen yogurt?

 4    What type of topping on frozen yogurt do you like the most?

 5    What new flavors would you like this company to make available or introduce?

6   What flavors of frozen yogurt do you like most?

A Vanilla

B Chocolate

C Fruity

D Your choice-____________________________

7   What is your favorite time of day to eat frozen yogurt with toppings?

     A Morning

     B Afternoon

     C Evening

     D Anytime

8   What kind of specials or discounts would you like to see at this store?

A- 2 for 1

       B- None they already have enough

C- Special discounts for dance studio members

9   On a single buy, how much would you spend on these products?

A- $ 2.00_

B- $ 3.00_

C-$ 4.00_

D-$ 5.00-up

 

10 Do you like to use this product after your daily activities?

A-Yes

B-No

C-Sometimes

 

Below are some graphs to help illustrate the results of the surveys by consumers both at the Frozen Yogurt store & the attached dance studio.

 

 

 

 

The Tops n Bottoms Frozen Yogurt stores opened in May of 2013. They have 2 locations in Las Vegas and I chose the one in Southwest Las Vegas. They get their yogurt from Honey Hill Farms which is dedicated to high quality. I enjoyed the rich flavorful blend with a wide variety of flavors to choose from including low-fat and nonfat products.

In Conclusion:

After doing my surveys I found that most of the people wanted more variety of flavors to choose from and especially their favorite tasting ones. Most of them knew that they offered free taste samples and thought it would be a good idea to advertise with signs for those driving by proving my hypothesis.

Because it is a small company they don’t have a large selection of flavors or toppings yet. But the customers said they would spend more money purchasing new flavors if they offered them. The average single buy purchase spent on these products according to the survey is $3.50.

The surveys proved that 60% would like to get a dance studio member discount for frozen yogurt purchases. The company already offers some discounts but 30% would like to see more 2 for 1 coupon offered.

The name of this company is difficult for most people driving by to understand what it is they are selling. I hope that some of my suggestions will help make them aware of the need to better inform the public through advertising who they are. Then as sales increase they would need to add more flavors according to my interviews with consumers.

 

 

Week 9

Week 9 EOC: The Dark Side of Market Research

I chose to research information on the "Dark Side" of marketing research about the newest alternatives for cigarette smoking and health reports. Unlike other tobacco products, e-cig advertisements are published with fewer restraints.

 According to researchers at the University of Pennsylvania they believe e-cig marketing can increase a viewer's urge to smoke cigarettes and other tobacco products. It seems like medical journals or companies that sponsor research report mostly positive results, leaving out the non-findings or negative findings.

Statistics Reports that nearly 3,300 youth under the age of 18 try their first cigarette. “Each day, an estimated 2,100 youth and young adults who have been occasional smokers become daily cigarette smokers.”

The tobacco industry still continues to spend billions of dollars yearly on cigarette advertising and promotions while at the same time masses of adult cigarette smokers are trying to quit.

Some are questioning about the so called myth stating that e-cigarette aerosol is not harmless water vapor? But does it contain nicotine and other toxins?

Statistics reported that more than a Quarter-Million Youth Who Had Never Smoked a Cigarette Used E-Cigarettes in 2013. There are many states that allow sales of e-cigarettes to minors.

Millions of  Americans, including children, live in states where they could be exposed to either secondhand smoke or e-cigarette aerosol in worksites, restaurants, and bars.

There has been an illusion about the filtration preventing health problems from smoking for years.

"It has been determined by studies that cigarette smokers have a higher risk of developing several chronic disorders which can lead to heart attack." http://www.heart.org/

I didn’t realize until this research, how the American Heart Association has affected our country by reducing the number of deaths that result from tobacco use. They had a part in the non-smoking on airline flights and contributed to our smoke-free communities.

Cited Works
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/tables/trends/infographics/index.htm#lowest
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fast_facts/index.htm#use 
http://www.researchgate.net/publication/11469295_The_dark_side_of_marketing_seemingly_Light_cigarettes_successful_images_and_failed_fact

 

 

Week 8 EOC GRAPHIC QUESTIONS

EXCEL SURVEY

 

 

What did I learn from doing this assignment?

I learned how to do a spread sheet and graph data from a survey report.

http://www.esquire.com/features/drinking/esq-survey-of-drinking-0910

According to the Esquire Survey of Drinking, "More than 5,000 of you recently completed our survey on where, when, how much, and with whom you drink." The graphs above show some of the results.

 

• The first step to making the graph was done in MS Excel program by converting the survey data and percentages to a chart for each question.
•  I have 3 charts from different questions asked on the survey.

 

 



 

WK 7

Week 7 EOC- Final Project Pitch

I have 3 stores that I am working on to see if they would let me survey to help promote their products that aren’t selling too well in their store or to solve problems they may have. I would like to help solve a merchandise problem for a store that would appreciate my help to increase sales but I am waiting for approval for a store that I used to work for and I think would benefit from my surveys. I need approval from the Manager that has been on vacation and hope to find out this week.

This is a store that shares home goods and fashion merchandise under the same roof so I could help them by finding out what products have been more difficult to sell recently. I helped build the schematics for this store and built the displays for the small and big ticket items. I understand their mark down system and how quickly they can turn merchandise since they are an off price department store chain.  So they may not need help with their displays promoting sales too much.

So what I do think I might be able to help them with is the shrinkage problems from damaged merchandise and ticketing price modifications.  Maybe some kind of modification and restructuring for the Return Policies for merchandise could be re-evaluated. I would like to find some kind of reward system that can be offered to customers that haven’t made returns for a given amount of time.

In the surveys I would like to find out why people return merchandise most often and under what circumstances they would be less apt to make a return. Maybe a store floor monitor could be available at various times to circulate around the different departments to prevent damages and ticket pricing problems.

 

Week 6

EOC Week 6: What did you learn? From your project? From the class discussion?

I learned from the class discussion and the project how to be more creative in the marketing pitch for a new product such as our perfumes. I realize more how valuable our story can be about the product and appreciated the classmate’s creativity in creating an enticing picture with their story. They shared some interesting new ideas for designs and packaging that seemed very attractive for consumers appeal.

It was interesting to learn that packaging can be more important than the price points depending on the cost to make the product and overhead. Our teacher made some valid points that gave me a new understanding regarding types and shapes of containers to design for a new product. He gave an example of salad bowls that are sold in the grocery store in round plastic containers and compares them to a square bowl that would not be appealing to consumers.

I have enjoyed the last 3 years here at school working in teams to get feedback from the other young creative minds to collaborate ideas for new designs and products. This helped because everyone had different survey questions to evaluate consumer’s wants and needs to create their new product line. Our teacher had a lot of knowledge about fragrances and colognes that was interesting too. He defined the differences between cologne, perfume and other fragrance products that helped me to understand how to determine their value. The advertising clips from youtube he showed us in class really showed me a different side to marketing a classy product for the high end price points and again it was the story along with the endorsements!

 

EOC week 6: Deeper meaning of the film BIG

After watching the film Big, develop a 300 word blog answer the following question:
What marketing research methods were demonstrated in the film?

I have seen this Movie “Big” several times over the years and have enjoyed it because it always made me feel good. After watching the short scenes today in class it made me aware of the value of having fun while marketing new products. I didn’t look at it from a marketing perspective before just entertainment. It seemed to show the comparison of the different marketing techniques that were being used in this story. One of the first ones I recognized being used was exploratory research. Defined as, “Researchers usually undertake exploratory research with the full expectation that more research will be needed to provide more conclusive evidence.” (Zikmund 44)

Tom Hanks plays the role of a 13 year old boy who wishes he was bigger and wakes up in a young adult’s body. When he gets a job with a toy company he is given the position of researcher for the company. His friend can't believe that he gets paid to test toys. This new perspective for the company causes chaos for the employees that go by the old market methods in the book. They are used to analyzing annual reports and demonstrating growth for the company with charts and diagrams.

 The store owner is doing his own research hands on at his store on the weekends when he stumbles on Josh, an adult (Tom Hanks) playing with the toys. When he is playing with the toys he discovers the pros & cons and creates new ideas for toys in the company. He is actually researching and not even knowing that is what he is doing. He helps the company to re-evaluate their product sales to make a better profit.

Cited Work:

Zikmund, William G., Barry Babin. Essentials of Marketing Research, 4e, 4th Edition. Cengage Learning, 04/2009. VitalBook file.

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