Franone Should Consider - Beliefs Play a Major Role in the Consumption of Water - Research Paper Example

Marketing Research Introduction and Methodology The population around the world is increasingly increasing their awareness on importance of taking water as a dietary measure. Especially with the knowledge that water is essential and the zeal of keeping fit always, water has become quite an important commodity in the world. On the other hand, population has hit many water sources including rivers, seas, oceans and wells with cases of oil spills, industrial waste among many other pollutant drawing people away from consuming the water. This is therefore leaving no doubt that what remains is bottled water as the option for the major population. However, in recent times, there has been a hitch in the bottled water industry; there has been a growing backlash against bottled water. This is due in part to the growing environmental awareness of the impact of bottling and transporting water when many homes in Europe already have drinkable tap water. The value of this sector has been declining currently. Leading brands of bottled water include Volvic, Evian and Highland Spring. About 30% of bottled water is drunk once a day or more, with a further 30% of consumers drinking bottled water 1-3 times a week. An area of concern for companies that promote bottled water is the perception about poor value for money. A third of people believe that bottled water does not seem to be much different from tap water and so is not worth buying whilst another third of people see it as a healthier alternative to sugary drinks (Toluna, 2009). Task 1: Franone, a water-distributing company, has several leading brands of bottled water around the world and specifically in its UK portfolio. It has however, experienced a fall in sales of almost £30m or 23% between 2007 and 2009. This therefore, warrants a thorough conduct of an in-depth programme of marketing research to find out what may be needed to prevent further decline of bottled water sales. More specifically, the research is to help understand how to maintain the company leading position in the market and want to identify attitudes, preferences and needs of adults who currently consume branded bottled water. Owing to this fall of sales, Franone hired a consultant to conduct a research on what would have been the problem and why the sales went down. The research was to be among people above the age of 16 who could purchase and afford water for themselves and who are featured as water consumers. The research was to undertake a research project for Franone, a water-distributing company on attitudes towards the bottled water market. The project entails both qualitative and quantitative research, in the form of depth interviews and a survey questionnaire. The research objectives of this study mainly relate to the bottled water market. It looks into detail trying to find out what may be needed to prevent further decline of bottled water sales (IBIS World 2008). More specifically, they are keen to understand how water-bottling companies can maintain their lead position in the market and want to identify attitudes, preferences and needs of adults who currently consume branded bottled water. The objectives include: Establish which consumers’ behaviour, social influences and attitudes are relevant to the mineral water market. Establish the major cause of the growing backlash against bottled water. Find out what may be needed to prevent further decline of bottled water sales. Task 2: To come up with beliefs regarding the behavior of drinking bottled water (Lauren and Kim 2002), and establish the root cause of the problem for the decline in sales, four interviews conducted in-depth were, carried out particularly amongst respondents. The age above 16, age group is most likely to buy bottled water whilst the over-55s are the least interested. This argument purported the concept that the earlier group was relevant to be of use in conducting the research interviews. Therefore, keen interest was on consulting with adult men and women under the age of 55 years old but above 16 years of age. However, it was not strict to the age limit but the consumer of bottled water. Some of the variables in the sample population also were the nonusers who would be of value in providing different views on the same and help in answering the questions. The interviewees were selected from refreshment centers including hotels, motels, inns and other places where bottled water was sold for consumption. This would bring in support of the hypothesis for the study, which would be celebrated in assessing whether the attitudes and behaviors had an influence on the consumption of bottled water. The interview will last at least 30 to 60 minutes a venture to save time for the respondents and avoid bore dome. This is estimated as a great time that would be of value in providing answers to the interview questions and ample time to think over, which is what the research requires for effective completion. The interviews will start early next month with each group of participants assigned a day or two to complete the research in due time. The respondents will also be, interviewed separately to avoid compromise of information with a conducive and convenient environment for each to provide required information. The recruitment of participants was precisely for those who currently purchase and drink bottled water (Owen 2006) once per week or more. At least eighty per cent of the research sample was female and people at the age of 16 years old or more but less that 55 years of age. Approximately Sixty per cent of the sample was in the Cl-C2 socioeconomic group. Additionally, twenty per cent of research interviewees were, drawn directly from nonusers well aware of the product category. Dialogue by the Interview Participants Group A participants said that drinking bottled water is better because it is free from impurities and therefore excellent for all age groups feeling that water from the taps had a lot of impurities that could not be good for one’s health. On the same note, they added that they prefer bottled water because it has no additives that could be harmful and it was pure to drink. For most of them, they also had the feeling that bottled water was great because it was cheap and could be accessed easily from the nearest retailer. Some of the participants in this group said that they preferred bottled water because it is purely alcohol-free and that even drivers could use this healthy drink to quench their thirst. Most of them hailed the fact that bottled water can be portable and this is therefore excellent for travel. For Group B participants, they were not very different from group A but they added some few issues and they said that they preferred bottled water because it is truly refreshing nature. To them, the purity of the water and the portability were not big issues than the quenching of thirst. They believed that one drinks water because they want to quench their thirst. On the contrary, they felt that for health purposes, they had to boil tap water and it had a weird taste and not that quenching feeling that bottled water has, which is why they prefer the same. They added that it is also a healthy drink because it is calorie free unlike many other soft and energy giving drinks very popular in the market and they hailed it saying that for people willing to cut their weight, they would better rely on bottled water than the normal energy giving drinks. Group C agreed with group B the most as compared to the points raised by Group A but to them, there were additional issues for instance, giving bottled water a plus because it offered many alternatives for tastes and that it was no different from tap water in taste yet it was great and healthy. Group D was mainly; used in testing the popularity of bottled water and it was from this group that data was availed on where these people learned the idea of bottled water. Majority of the participants agreed that TV adverts were an essential influence to them as to what brand of bottled water they would consume. However, a good percentage of them felt that it was an idea adopted from family members and friends. They negated the idea that doctors had any influence on their drinking of bottled water saying that most doctors advised people to boil water. Data Analysis Process Data Analysis Followed To analyze the data, the research used qualitative techniques because most of the data is qualitative. It entails people’s beliefs and attitudes towards bottled water, which affect their choice of consumption, and these are all in qualitative forms. The analysis will be determining the reasons for and against the consumption of bottled water. The process involved four main stages including: Data cleaning Initial data analysis Main data analysis Final data analysis Data cleaning in this study involved cleaning out the unreliable data and discarding the data, which was not required and would not be valid for the study. The second stage was initial data analysis that involved the assessment of the data with regard to the original research questions to ascertain whether the data was valid for use in the analysis. The data was compared to all objectives relating to this study. The third step was main data analysis, which was the significant part. This was analyzing data to relatively, help answer all questions developed for this research. Finally, final data analysis was conducted to include the other reports of the study. Interviews for this study as well as questionnaires included the data records from respondents. The questionnaire provided descriptive, extensive data and further elaborated gathered information on bottled water consumption. The analysis of the questionnaire involved the development of summaries of the data according to the questions of the research (for example (attitudes on bottled water, the beliefs relating to bottled water consumption among others). Research staff did an examination of the interview information, observation reports, and questionnaire data to enable effective practices and handle barriers to effective practice, including developing consistency between the questionnaires and the reports. Data analysis in this research began following each interview, as researchers reviewed respective sources of information in helping identify recurring patterns and themes. Subsequent interviews were adapted focusing on emerging themes of the study. Tentative interpretations and Data were discussed in periodic meetings within the entire period of the research. Areas of major concern in this research were a) Establishing which consumers’ behaviour, social influences and attitudes are relevant to the mineral water market b) Establishing the major cause of the growing backlash against bottled water and c) Finding out what may be needed to prevent further decline of bottled water sales. Key Themes Emerging from the Interviews The key themes emerging from the study are among others a) individual beliefs play a major role in the consumption of water. Some respondents said, “Bottled water is tasteless” meaning that they preferred tap water. b) marketing bottled water especially in this new age influenced its consumption and c) major influences emanating from peers, family members and friends influence the level of bottled water consumption among individuals. From some respondents they said, “My family cannot afford a meal three times a day, leave along bottled water, we depend on tap water” Brief reflection on the quality of data in terms of its reliability and validity Data verification in this research involves looking into issues of validity and reliability. Validity and reliability are powerful concepts and well handled in this research. To assess as to whether the diverse groups of respondents among all the bottled water users and non-users of all calibers profoundly considered the basic dimensions in formulating their Behavioural intentions, a key component analysis of the social norms and beliefs relevant to mineral water (Day and Deutscher 1982, p.192-198) practically was undertaken. The responses made by the interview participants were valid and on line with the questions asked. A follow up was also done using telephone calls to clarify on the issues that were not clear regarding the topic of bottled water consumption. These responses were also deemed reliable because the respondents were already briefed on literature review on exactly what was required in the study. On the same note, they were promised confidentiality therefore provided enough data and valid for data analysis. The performance of the interviewer was superb in this research because the interview had already a brief of the research and some of the questions to be used in the research therefore making it simple and clear in the interviews. The effectiveness of the questions asked was also on time and reliable because they looked into some of the contentious issues regarding bottled water consumption. The questions were structured according to the research objectives making them valid and reliable in answering the topic at hand. Generally, the analysis and interpretation of the data was also reliable since it concentrated on the research objectives therefore increasing the reliability of the research at hand. Some data from some respondents however was not valid since they were influenced by their self esteem trying to put their self on a high class and proclaiming that they took bottled water but denying the same in questions later in the study. To control this, such questionnaires in the study were discarded because they lacked uniformity and could not be of help in the data analysis and in presenting authenticated findings. Data Assembly Data assembly is the researches stage in which data is gathered. The data gathered in this case could be the note taken for instance in the interview process. The note in this case could have been, done by the observers. The observer is the one who serve as observers of the research moderator or the participants. The research was deep into the interview schedule therefore concentrated on the interview notes to be summed up in the later process. In assembling the data, the research was, done as well as contributed by several actors. The first factor was the group participants. They did a great job in the research being contributive and enthusiastic on providing the required information. The participants were great and willing to answer questions, make jokes to make the interview fun. However, there were times when the participants were not serious requiring the moderator to be stricter. The moderator did a great job getting the research done easily, breaking the ice during the research, creating a friendly environment, as well as a good relationship particularly with the participants. In the research, the assembly started with a simple question of often the research respondents took bottled in a period less than past two weeks. This was to ascertain and measure how often these people took bottled water. The assembly progressed with the categorization of respondents into ten established consumption categories. The ten Behavioural categories then were, used as a great basis for a Behavioural-intention index construction. As a cross reference, the research respondents were, asked also how often they had a drink mostly the bottled water presently, and there was little difference existing between stated current intentions and behaviour over the next month. The main purpose of this question was methodologically measuring the behaviour of drinking bottled. Additionally, the research would have gone a step ahead by collecting empty bottles of bottled water to help in gathering substantial information, however, time was not enough because the research was done fast making time limited and such an exploratory study was difficult to take. Administration the questionnaires were random and the collection followed suit before coming with the data for later analysis. Individual beliefs were identified with at least seven factors featuring as innate beliefs that affect the beliefs of taking bottled water and twelve factors relating to individual attitudes that were also affecting the consumption of bottled water. Theses were ranked as below: Reflection Looking at the data analysis and the evaluations conducted for the entire research there are strong similarities across the four user groups most importantly within the first three components the four groups are, influenced significantly by ideal media personalities. The reflection looks into all the three objectives of the research as the questions were answered together and answers to respective questions reflected on almost every objective under study. Here is a recap of the three objectives. The first major objective was to establish which consumers’ behaviour, social influences and attitudes are relevant to the mineral water market. The second was establishing the major cause of the growing backlash against bottled water. The final objective was finding out what may be needed to prevent further decline of bottled water sales. All these are incorporated in the discussion under reflection. Task 3: The depth interview findings are relevant and extremely potent when it comes to designing a questionnaire. This is because they will have a positive influence from the findings. The questionnaire design is such in a way that the information on the research objectives including establishing which consumers’ behaviour, social influences and attitudes are relevant to the mineral water market, establishing the principal cause of the growing backlash against bottled water and finding out what may be, needed to prevent further decline of bottled water sales. From the findings on these objectives, a questionnaire will be easy to draft and, therefore, it will summarize the established information gaps, which are needs to structure a great questionnaire. Franone, as a leading company in producing brands of bottled water in its UK portfolio, can benefit Marjory from this research. After experiencing a fall in sales of almost £30m or 23% between 2007 and 2009, the situation shows clearly that the case might be identical of reduced consumption of bottled water out of the behavioral and attitudinal effect. The research in this case is already containing information on the conducted in-depth programme of marketing research and has found out what may be essentially, needed to prevent further decline of bottled water sales. To maintain their lead position in the market, the company needs to produce water in line with the attitudes, preferences and needs of adults who currently consume branded bottled water. It needs to take care of the 19 concepts regarding normative beliefs and attitudinal beliefs as espoused in this research to take care of the respective preferences and help maintain the consumers of bottled water. The client should also seek to strategize better on marketing bottled water especially in this new age, which means that they will be a through marketing strategy. This is what will take into account the attitudes and believes as highlighted to affect the consumption of bottled water. This will handle the challenges prevailing, in the end, increase sales, and handle the decline of bottled water sales. Conclusions and recommendations Through the transcript taken in the process of the interviews and the two-step data-analysis process, the findings were found. Since the research geared towards understanding either the social influences or behavior, on the consumer behavior of taking bottled water, the evaluations were that these two have an impact. It is actually evident that beliefs play a major role in the consumption of water. This is therefore a major point for Franone to consider in its marketing for the bottled water. The issue is inputting the belief component in the marketing of the brands of bottled water and coming up with better ways of convincing people to take bottled water in pursuit of increasing sales. This research made it practically possible to disapprove the assertion that the market growth in water consumption and the decline of the same basis upon the company concept because the evidence strictly suggests that utilitarian or instrumental values are now more relevant than status-derived kinds of benefits. It is a great research to help a bottled water company meet the challenges of sales backlash and increase the same in due time. References Bonfield, E 1974, Attitude, Social Influence, Personal Norms and intention Interactions as related to brand purchase behaviour, Journal of Marketing Research 1 (2) p.11 Bourne, F1964, “Group influence in marketing” in R L day Ed. 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