Rate of Customer Satisfaction for Dietary Food Products by Tesco - Essay Example

? Rate satisfaction for Tesco’s Dietary food products Insert Insert Grade Insert Insert Section ResearchProposal Research problem Consumer awareness on healthy food products has been at an all time high in the recent years. Many consumers today would prefer to pick the foodstuffs in supermarkets or retail chains that offer diet friendly products. This is because there has been increasing concerns that foods with high calorie content, for instance, have been associated with several illnesses mostly related to heart conditions (Larson et al, 2009). Consumer awareness on healthy products have therefore changed perceptions and hence buyer behaviour. As a result, businesses have to change their strategies and offer consumers diet food products, as they are commonly known. Tesco PLC has been on a campaign to ensure that it supplies diet products on its shelves. However, as a marketing objective it is important to examine the customer feedback regarding their healthy food products. This study, therefore, examines the extent to which Tesco’s dietary food products have faired on in the market concerning approval ratings of the supermarket chain’s customers. Background The twenty first century business environment has been dynamic especially in the area of consumer behaviour and the availability of awareness information. The views of the general population have been changing with regards to issues of climate change, environmental sustainability and healthy living (Nielsen, Siega-Riz and Popkin, 2002). Consequently, attitudes result into concerted actions by individuals who are consumers in the various markets (Mattes, 2009). On the other hand, with globalization, competition has been rife among enterprises and therefore creating a shift to the issue of customer service performance excellence. In effect, any organization that is able to satisfy its customers through provision of quality products and services will continue to dominate markets. It is therefore important for supermarket chains like Tesco to constantly evaluate their quality objectives so that they are guaranteed of repeat purchases and attraction of new customers. Research has indicated that more households purchase behaviour on food products is dictated by the healthy nature of the products (Ottinger et al., 2003; Hartung and Rovida., 2009). This has raised the stakes for any organization that has been involved in the production and supply of food products. Research objectives To assess the perception of customers towards diet food products To examine the levels of customer satisfaction on Tesco’s diet food products To identify the demographic characteristics of customers favouring diet food products To predict the future trends in demand for diet food products in the United Kingdom To find out the desirable features in diet food products relative to alternative products Methodology The research will depend on a quantitative design for the investigation of the main variable. The use of quantitative techniques will therefore be employed to help attain the stated study objectives. The study will involve a number of data collection methods. This is to ensure that the studied phenomenon is closely investigated for a more reliable and accurate outcome. First will be the use of questionnaires as discussed in section 2. Secondly, the study will use observation method to closely examine the characteristics or features of the dietary food products and the information provided. Since purchase behaviour is also observable in the shelves, direct observation will appropriate. In addition, interviewing will be used in cases where further clarification may be required. The customers as well as retail managers will be investigated on the most popular diet products used currently. To be able to closely investigate the participants and get in depth opinion on the issue under study, the research will also use video recording, written notes or stenography. The instruments are for the purposes of obtaining clarity and picking the most appropriate data so that the objectives of this study will be authoritative and free of bias. The survey will also ensure that there is confidentiality of the customer information. Target Population The targeted population will include all Tesco diet food products consumers within the United Kingdom or those who have previously used the diet food products from the supermarket chain within the last month before the study. The target population will include all those who have been involved in any form of purchase and consumption of diet food products especially in the supermarket stores around the country within the last two months. In particular, the target population will involve all individuals in the market regardless of their age, sex, cultural or social backgrounds. They will be mainly loyal customers of the supermarket chain as contained in the customer information records or as determined by the frequency of purchase in the supermarket chain stores. Sampling Frame The expected sample size will be 50 individuals. A lot of emphasis will be stressed on the balance between ages, gender and social cultural background of the samples for clarity purposes. The different geographical locations will also be considered so that there is a good representation on the data that will be obtained. Sampling Method The sampling criteria will employ both judgment sampling as well as cluster sampling techniques for the attainment of the desired results as per the requirements of the objectives of this paper. Whereas judgment-sampling technique will be used for the identification of the customers who prefer diet products from the various Tesco stores around the country, cluster-sampling technique will be used to identify the stores with a higher number of customers and that have a large stock of mostly dietary food products. The reasoning behind this is that the survey is mostly interested in the purchase behaviour and trends of diet food products among the supermarket’s customers. This will ensure that the data obtained is representative of the prevailing situation in the United Kingdom food market for the company. The possible sources of sampling bias have been eliminated by this method. However, a main source of sampling bias may be in the area of clustering because it may not include the areas that have low consumption rates but may have an effect on future purchase trends of the diet food products for the company’s customers. Reporting and Presentation Procedures Reporting of data obtained will majorly be in statistical form. The main analytical tool is the SPSS and therefore the results will be reported in form of summarized tables with percentage response rates among the different customer classifications displayed. The presentation of the obtained data will be in simple forms of charts, tables and graphs for easy interpretation. The data collected will be scientifically testable for future decision making by the company and other industry players. The forms of presentation will also be designed to ensure that there is clarity and good visual effects. As such, the presentation procedures will engage the use of modern graphical representation programs. Section 2: Questionnaire Design As stated in the previous section, questionnaires will be the main data collection methods used in this study. The questionnaire used in this is largely structured even though a simplified form of structured questionnaire. The structure of the questionnaire is designed for easy use and flow of information. There will be a brief introduction on the main objectives of the study and how to provide the required information so that the answers provided by the respondents will be as objective as possible. Subsequently, there will be three sections: the general information, dietary food products and satisfaction experience sections. The general information section will mainly require the respondents to indicate their gender, age, marital status and educational levels. The section on dietary food products on the other hand will indicate the respondents’ views on the issues pertaining purchase and consumption of diet food products. Lastly, the last section of the questionnaire relates to experience and rating of the supermarket’s dietary food products. The questions are mostly choice based but there are instances, especially in the customer experience category, where there are open-ended questions for clarity. The questions are however constructed to ensure that the objectives of this study are met. Section 5: Conclusion and Recommendation The food service industry will continue to experience a lot of pressure to provide healthy products to its customers given the prevalence of diet related illnesses in the recent years (Terrence and Adrienne, 2009). The finding of this study is indicative of this trend with over 90% of the respondents approving the use of dietary food products. There are even more positive responses when it comes to the rates of recommendation to other consumers among the respondents. If the statistics obtained in this study is anything to go by; therefore, it is important to indicate that the future of dietary products seems bright and that there is a likelihood of frequent use among consumers in the coming years. From the respondents, it is also evident that there is no disparity between the either genders on use of dietary food products. However, in terms of age and marital status, there is a slight disparity in terms of use with the statistics obtained from the study indicating that the married and the youths have a high usage rates amongst the population. On the other hand, the more educated have been found to consume dietary food products more than the others (Heinrich et al, 2006). The possible explanation for this tendency may be the information that is available to the educated population. It is, therefore, important that the company provides information to the lesser educated users so that they are able to appreciate the value of diet food products. Another area that will need a lot of focus by the company will be in the area of customer service. According to the statistics obtained, it is evident that the level of customer service response is still lower regarding the complaints on the various products sold by the supermarket chain. There should be concerted efforts by management to ensure that the level of customer service is therefore raised for the betterment of the sales and marketing department of the company in the area of dietary products promotion. The data obtained in this study will therefore be beneficial to the company’s handling of dietary food products. Bibliography Hartung T, and Rovida, C., 2009. Chemical regulators have overreached. Nature, 460 (7259):1080-1. Heinrich et al. 2006. 'Local Food-Nutraceuticals': bridging the gap between local knowledge and global needs. Forum of Nutrition, 59:1-17. Larson et al., 2009. Making time for meals: meal structure and associations with dietary intake in young adults. J Am Diet Assoc, 109(1):72-79. Mattes et al.., 2009. Nonnutritive sweetener consumption in humans: effects on appetite and food intake and their putative mechanisms. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 89(1) p1-14. Nielsen SJ, Siega-Riz AM, Popkin BM. 2002. Trends in food locations and sources among adolescents and young adults. Prev Med, 35(2):107-113. Ottinger, et al., 2003. Discovery and structure determination of a novel Maillard-derived sweetness enhancer by application of the comparative taste dilution analysis (cTDA). Journal of Agricultural & Food Chemistry, 51(4):1035-41. Terrence ES and Adrienne A., 2009. Complementary and Alternative Therapies for Weight Loss. Primary care, 36(2):395-406. Read More