Customers Perception of the New Products Introduced in the Market - Research Proposal Example

Title Name Course Lecturer Date MARKETING RESEARCH SURVEY REPORT This was the first research that was carried out before the release of the new product in the market. The research was carried out mainly in the urban areas and partly in the rural areas. The researcher targeted the age between 15years and 45 years students as well as other professionals and a working class group of individuals. Letter of transmittal To the business Here are the findings of the report that was requested covering the reactions of people towards a new product and the attitude of people towards online buying and selling of the products by companies. Disclaimer statement This report is intended solely for individual use to whom it is addressed. If it gets in the hands of any other person wrongly, it should be returned to the addressed immediately. This report should not be copied, distributed, disclosed outside the business. All these actions are strictly prohibited. Executive Summary This report has been prepared in order to find out the response of customers to a new product when it gets in the market and also how well are people ready to embark on the online business of buying commodities. To effect the process of finding out more about this problem the researcher targeted mostly those people in the professional, trade, management, education occupations and even students also were interviewed in the process of collecting data. This report will present the results that were obtained after the data collection process. According to the report the researcher found out that the most popular sites that the respondents use in buying and selling commodities included: www.olx.com,www.bizna.com and www.bot.com. However, some of the respondents had no idea about online business and others showed late reception of the new products. This is clearly showed in the results and data analysis section. According to the data analysis that the researcher embarked on, it was noted that online buying seemed to favour most of the retailers because it is cheaper to acquire goods through the internet without incurring the cost of travelling. The aim of every retailer is to make a high profit while minimizing on cost, hence the high percentages realized in retailing sector. The researcher also noted that there were a number of limitations that needed to be looked at as far as research is concerned. One major limitations which has been found out is companies showing a high focus on the people in the urban areas and neglecting the market in the rural areas. This has been found to be a great challenge especially to the marketing department in most of the organisation. Table of content Table of Contents Letter of transmittal 2 To the business 2 Executive Summary 2 Table of Contents 3 Problem definition 4 Research objectives 5 General objectives 5 Specific research objectives 5 Methodology 6 Findings 7 Data analysis 8 Limitations 10 Conclusion 13 References 14 Problem definition This was to find out the response of customers to a new product when it gets in the market and also how well are people ready to embark on the online business of buying commodities. The researcher also wanted to estimate the age range where people embrace a new product in the market and also the range where people strongly embrace the purchase of goods through the internet sites. Several studies on how to increase a firm’s market share have been carried out in order to help the business managers to establish the strategies that they ought to embrace so as achieve their sales objectives. This report has been prepared to address the issue of customers perception on the new products introduced in the market. The research is quite aware that for any firm to achieve a considerable profit margin it has to ensure that its product is accepted in the market. For this to be achieved the firm ought to embark on strategies that will enable the company’s product attract as many consumers as possible. Moreover the report will seek to find out the extent by which consumers embrace the internet marketing while buying any given commodity. Research objectives General objectives The main research objective of the study was to find out the response of customers to a new product when it gets in the market and also how well are people ready to embark on the online business of buying commodities. The researcher also wanted to estimate the age range where people embrace a new product in the market and also the range where people strongly embrace the purchase of goods through the internet sites. Specific research objectives In carrying out this research, the researcher intended to attain the following specific objectives:- i. Find out the attitude of the customers towards a new product launched in the market ii. Asses the performance of the product in the market in terms of how often are customers ready to try a new product when it is newly launched. iii. Determine the major challenges that hinder many customers from embracing a new product and that which makes them prefer local purchase. iv. Identify the attitude of customers towards online method of selling and buying goods v. Identify the most popular sites that people access to order for goods vi. Assess the approximate age that is willing to try a new product and that which often do their buying online. Each of the above research objectives were sought out by ensuring that the questionnaires had a portion that asked questions based on each objective. Methodology This research was carried out in August 2014 as the first research of the new product that was introduced in January 2014. In total, the research had at least 2000 respondents. The research took the form of questionnaires and online survey where most of the respondents responded through the social media. The researcher targeted mostly those people in the professional, trade, management, education occupations and event students also were interviewed in the process of collecting data. The researcher distributed the questionnaires house to house and also used the student leaders in institutions of Higher learning to distribute the questionnaires to the rest of the students. A twitter and Facebook page was also sponsored to help perform the online survey. The completed questionnaires were collected by the students’ leaders and handed them back to the researcher. For those that were given from house to house the research personally collected them. The online survey took the form of close-ended questionnaire where the respondents were to respond with a like or dislike and a brief explanation of the respondent’s answer. At the end of the survey, the researcher collected the results and analysed the various responses. The collected data was analysed through the use of the Microsoft software such as the SPSS. Findings At the end of the survey, some of the findings that were realized showed that about 46% of the respondents who worked in the management and professional sectors embrace strongly the online business as most of them purchase their products from other countries through the internet. They gave reasons of time effectiveness when it comes to buying goods online. They said it was easy for them to order goods as they continue with their jobs without having to travel to the respective suppliers/sellers. About the new product about 40% of the professionals and those who work in the management showed a high inability to try a new product when it’s newly launched. The description was that most of the products that are new in the market are of low quality as it is the first time the company is trying it in the market. Once the commodity gets in use for a couple of years, that’s when the sellers are able to learn what the customers like and that which they do not like about the product and hence they improve its quality. The research showed that about 75% of the students like trying new products immediately when they enter the market. Most student gave a similar answer that their reason for going for the latest commodity is that its more classic and they always want to update themselves to the current. In the questionnaires most student are viewed as a good source of information since they are in the frontline in the purchase of new commodities and hence other people gather information from them. About 49% of the retailers and students were neutral about online purchase. Relatively 49% of the people interviewed were positive about online business of buying and selling. The researcher found out that the most popular sites that the respondents use in buying and selling commodities included: www.olx.com,www.bizna.com and www.bot.com. However, some of the respondents had no idea about online business and others showed late reception of the new products. Data analysis Data analysis was carried out using Microsoft excel. The respondents analysed in the data were those that were interviewed in the process of the survey. Fig.1.0 Data Analysis The table shows that the retailers highly embraced the new products in the market and the online buying. This is so because retailers are always looking out for the new products in the market so they can sell them to their customers before they flood the market. Online buying also seemed to favour most of the retailers because it is cheaper to acquire goods through the internet without incurring the cost of travelling. The aim of every retailer is to make a high profit while minimizing on cost, hence the high percentages realized in retailing sector. Buying online depend most on the quantity in question and hence the financial status is key. The researcher realized the students like buying locally because that one is easy to buy whatever quantity one need and at the same time, students demonstrated a high percentage in response to the new product in the market Respondent New product % Online Buying % Strongly agree % Strongly disagree % Neutral % Students 49 20 35 12 55 Professionals 46 66 30 40 49 Management 48 70 46 44 52 Education 36 42 39 22 62 Retailers 60 70 59 20 30 1 The Bar graph above is a graphical representation of the research details with professionals and managers showing a high response in buying online but relatively low reception of a new product in the market. The retailers have an almost equal balance between buying online and receiving the new product in the market. The students have a very high reception of the new product but a very performance on the online buying. Limitations Some of the limitations that were found out were as follows: i. When most of the companies embark on online business, they only target the bulk buyers scaring away those that may be interested in buying in small scare ii. A great percentage of the people living in the rural areas are not even aware of something like online business. To them, they know only the open air market buying and selling and hence they remain a market unutilized by companies. iii. The research found out that the people who get firsthand information about a new product in the market are those living in the urban areas. This is because companies concentrate to the market in the urban areas. Recommendations After carrying out the research and analyzing some of the findings of the research ,the researcher came up with a number of recommendations that will help a business to know a better way of enlarging the market. The researcher addressed the following: i. When the business is raising a strategy to sell goods online, they should consider: The quantity available. The business should consider small scale buyers and large scale buyers. This would increase the market for the goods since many people would be able to buy the commodities to the expense of their ability. Most of the students showed disinterest with the online buying because in some way it’s inappropriate to their individual needs. There should be a strategy that will incorporate every client, rural or urban. This as well would contribute to a wider market as most of the customers in the rural areas remain unaware of online business. The business can partner with the communication companies to teach the community about it. This can be an easier way because currently almost 90% of the population is using phones. The business can partner with the communication companies to be created for a wizard on how to order goods online, how to pay and how to receive the goods, then that idea is communicated to the community. Cost of goods. The goods sold online should be equivalent to those that are sold locally so as to encourage, people to have it as an option. When online purchase is very expensive people will always choose the local way of doing business even when the online business is the most appropriate. ii. When introducing a new product in the market, the business should consider the following : Competitors. Every business has its own competitors. It was found out that the competitors played a big part in making or destroying the business. The reason why the professionals and the management seem not to embrace a new product at first is because most products are counterfeit from the competitors. It takes time for them to trust a new product in the market unless it is testified upon by a number of people. Target customers. The research found out that a high percentage of the customers are young people. In as much as the company would introduce a commodity that target the elderly, there should b e a portion share for the young people to boost marketing. For example in the textile industry, before a new fashion is realized by the elderly, it is fast sported in the youths in which later the elder people take up the fashion therefore the youths act as a good advertising tool. Conclusion It can be concluded that as the businesses introduce a new product into the market the firm should consider the size of the market being targeted as well as the type of buyers in the market. This will enable the business management to ensure they are able to reach out to their consumers as quick as possible. According to the results obtained from the study, it is clear that consumers perception on the product introduced in the market matters a lot as far as the market share of the product is concerned. Moreover at the end of the survey, some of the findings that were realized showed that about 46% of the respondents who worked in the management and professional sectors embrace strongly the online business as most of them purchase their products from other countries through the internet. They gave reasons of time effectiveness when it comes to buying goods online. Travel is easy and convenient as it is possible to get commodities at your particular place of operation. Similarly, it was concluded that research is very important to be carried out before the new product is introduced in the market. It helps the business to know the attitude that could be expected and hence raise better strategies of marketing than those of the competitors. References 1. Zeithaml, V. A., Bitner, M. J., & Gremler, D. D. (2006). Services marketing: Integrating customer focus across the firm. Read More