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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Week 5

WSJ Privacy

"A Journal investigation finds that one of the fastest-growing businesses on the Internet is the business of spying on consumers." (Julia Angwin) As I read about the different companies that are taking personal information about consumers from the internet sites, it makes me wonder where it will all stop. One company www.lotame.com uses software called beacon that captures typing on websites from people. They research, collect, organize and invest that data information. They claim they don’t know people’s names or identities just their data profiles.

 Since tracking technology is advancing so fast that there are new tools that scan instantly on the web that can assess people’s location, income, medical information and purchasing history. It used to be that monitoring was limited mainly to "cookie" files that were recording the websites people visited. Now profiles of individuals are being bought and sold on stock-market-like exchanges.

When a person surfs the Internet the information is sent to tracking companies and advertisers. Not to mention data brokers and advertising networks. It has been reported that dictionary.com has installed the most cookies. They say the information they gather is anonymous and the Internet users are identified by a number assigned to their computer.

The third party tracking files became possible in 1994 called cookies for the purpose of user convenience by remembering contents of Web shopping carts. The U.S. courts decided that it is legal to utilize the cookies. The Journal found out about the use of flash cookies and beacons (web bugs) that are placed on a computer when a user visits a website. This beacon can tell what is being typed and where the mouse is moving.

 “The Journal examined the 50 most popular U.S. websites, which account for about 40% of the Web pages viewed by Americans. (The Wall Street Journal also tested its own site, WSJ.com.)

Cited Works

"Emily Steel, Jennifer Valentino-DeVries and Tom McGinty contributed to this report."
 Julia Angwin at julia.angwin@wsj.com

Week 4

 

WEEK 4 EOC

In Chapter 6 of our book Secondary data is defined as, "Data that have been previously collected for some purpose other than the one at hand." (Zikmund 122) Some of the advantages are that gathered and recorded data by someone else gives a head start on historical information that has already been assembled. It may not require any additional access to research respondents or subjects. Secondary data has been compared to quantitative and qualitative. Another advantage of secondary data is its availability; it is faster and less expensive than acquiring primary data. Researchers may use electronic retrieval to access data stored digitally. Instead of doing the field work they can get demographic information and estimates.

Some of the disadvantages of using secondary data are that they may not be designed specifically to meet the researchers' needs. Researchers need to decide what is the most important and pertinent data to their particular project. When they evaluate secondary data the researchers should look for data that applies to the population of interest, time period, correct units of measure, and covers the topic of interest in detail. Researchers need to make sure that secondary information is relevant, useful, and reliable.

There are three general categories of research objectives: fact-finding, model building, and database marketing. (Zikmund 126) “The most common reasons why secondary data do not adequately satisfy research needs are (1) outdated information, (2) variation in definition of terms, (3) different units of measurement, and (4) lack of information to verify the data's accuracy.” (Zikmund 124) Researchers need to verify data whenever possible.

Some internal and proprietary sources of secondary data come from managers often get data from and accounting records. “Data mining is the use of powerful computers to dig through volumes of data to discover patterns about an organization's customers and products.” (Zikmund 141)

In Chapter 7 the definition of surveys is, “A method of collecting primary data based on communication (questions and answers) with a representative sample of respondents.” (Zikmund 146) The type of information that may be gathered in a survey is consumer knowledge and awareness of products, brands, or issues. Some survey research is considered descriptive research.

There are two major sources of error in survey research, “random sampling error (A statistical fluctuation that occurs because of chance variation in the elements selected for a sample) and systematic error (Error resulting from some imperfect aspect of the research design that causes respondent error or from a mistake in the execution of the research.” (Zikmund 149)

 

Cited Works:

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

Week 3

EOC:

After watching the documentary on the 25th anniversary of the making of 9 to 5 movie that was developed from the concept "Secretaries want to kill their bosses", it appeared to show that there was a lot of research involved. The market research techniques used to develop this screenplay included several interviews with real secretaries and other office workers from the real world. The employees of offices each had a different story about their bosses but similar problems. The research included mostly internal research in-house to get it done quickly, since the project required close collaboration of many employees within offices of different companies. It also helps keep the cost down for the budget of the project whether it is limited or not. Sometimes it may protect the innocent when secrecy may be a concern.  The decision to go outside or stay inside for research depends on these particular issues. (digitalbookshelf)

Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were used to get information to make this movie. Qualitative research requires less interpretation and quantitative research adds strength by numbers.

The ethical issues that were part of the plot line of the actual film were that women were treated like sex objects and could get ahead if they pleased the boss. He told them that they wouldn’t be able to get advanced into higher positions in the company because they are a woman. That only the men can get those kind of raises. The boss was always making sexual advances verbally and even touching them physically. He used them to fetch things in the office and run errands for him. He acknowledged they were smart and knew how to keep the office in order but made them feel cheap.

The ethical dilemmas referenced were taking matters into their own hands by destroying their boss. The girls from the office ploted together to teach the boss a lesson on how to treat his employees with respect. They gave him a taste of his own medicine by tying him up and enslaving him. They were resolved by research, interviews and surveys.

Cited Works

https://digitalbookshelf.artinstitutes.edu/#/books/1111439931/pages/48558398

Week 2 Sample Survey

10 Questions
Multiple choice or open ended
Survey questions:

What is your Gender?

A- Male    B    Female

	2. Which age group do you fall in?
	A- 10-16  B- 17-25  C- 26-35  D- 36-45  E- 46-55  F- 56+

3	What type of perfume do you like the most?
4	Which brand company perfume product do you have an interest in?
5	If you were going to buy a brand name perfume what would be your selection?
6	What scent do you like most? A-vanilla B-floral C-spices D-musk
7	Do you think that using perfume would make you feel more attractive?
	A- yes  B- no  C- somewhat
8	Would you value perfume as a part of your social life?
	A- yes  B- no  C- somewhat
9	On a single buy, how much would you spend on a perfume?
	A- $35  B- $49  C- $75  D- $90  E- $120
10	Where do you like to shop for colognes or perfume?